#BBCNews - #Canada #wildfires : At least 30,000 households in British Columbia told to #evacuate
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66562610 #BCWildfires
@fulelo Everyone in Kelowna, B.C. told to evacuate due to wildfires.
A city of 132,000 people. For we geographically-challenged U.S.ians, that's like everyone in Dayton, OH having to evacuate.
Or Pasadena, CA.
Or Elizabeth, N.J.
Or Fargo, N.D.
Poor Canada.
I no longer care about the economy. Everything else comes second. We need to stop burning fossil fuels NOW.
@msbellows I've been in that state of mind for years, since "Inconvenient Truth." Deaf ears. @fulelo
@GottaLaff @fulelo I mean, Zoom exists, so we need laws banning commuting or business travel with very few exceptions.
TOMORROW, in the U.S., we can mandate that all federally-funded roads and highways with three or more lanes dedicate one full lane (separated with physical barriers) to bicycle, e-bike, and similar vehicles. In addition, mandate all freeways have one lane exclusively for hybrids and electrics (then, after ten years, only electrics).
Limit households to one gas-powered car plus one hybrid (then over ten years, shift that to one hybrid car only).
Ban carbon-powered motorsports, both professional and recreational. If we're feeling generous, allow three years to transition to electric versions of the same sports.
Transfer one-third of the military budget to railway and light rail projects. Eliminate airline and aircraft production subsidies, and reduce airport capacity and the FAA budget by 80% as rail capacity increases, but no more than ten years.
Transfer another third of the military budget to sustainable energy implementation (ie, deploying the tools we already have, rather than squandering time on new research).
Heavily subsidize sail-boosted cargo ships. Ban cruise ships from moving (people can get drunk, eat too much, ignore local culture, and catch COVID equally well moored in Florida).
Sadly, we may also need to commit a small genocide of Spanish orcas, because sailboats are infinitely more sustainable than powerboats and we can't have killer whales constantly biting off sailboats' rudders. But, dammit, everyone has to make sacrifices!
(That last point wasn't serious, btw.)
But we need to get real serious, right now. Not soon; NOW. And in ways that hurt.
@msbellows @GottaLaff @fulelo poor people can't just by a new car. You'd need to fix public mass transit first
@msbellows how would you go about limiting family to one gas-fueled car? Do you have any other example of purchasing choice being regulated in the USA? (I don't have a clue about other countries laws in this area)
@lakelady DMVs could refuse to register more than one carbon-powered vehicle per residential address, for starters. As for "purchasing choice" being regulated, just visit any U.S. WalMart and ask to buy a fully automatic weapon, some child porn, and a gram of heroin. :-)
@msbellows good points. The question then becomes how to convince enough voters that this would be an idea they'd be willing to work with. There's gonna be a huge gap between good public transport (especially in rural areas) and dual job families having only one car. The issue is totally different if you live in a larger city where not driving is common.
@lakelady I agree completely.
https://c.im/@msbellows/110923435372248064
@falken @GottaLaff @fulelo That's why I would allow one gas-fueled car per household, but only one. There aren't enough hybrids and electrics to go around, so once all the sustainable cars are bought up, there still will be 80% of people, across most wealth levels, struggling with one car and starting to care a LOT about public transit, electric vehicle production, walkable neighborhoods, and remote work.
We've been trying your alternative for decades, and it's not working fast enough. In my view, the key is to be bolder and make sure the changes affect everyone, not just the poor.