If we take the science seriously, there is little time for half steps or dalliance. We, as a planet, will need to take drastic measures or our atmosphere will reach saturations of methane and CO2 at a pace that we won’t be able to slow.
Measures we will have to seriously consider will include eating a lot less animal and fish protein, only driving cars infrequently or shorter distances, planning our cities and towns for increased density to prioritize walking and bicycling, and slowing our appetite for oil-based materials (plastics, fertilizers, pesticides, etc).
Maybe you have heard these ideas before and you’re thinking “sure, sometime in the future that might help”. Yet, we’re rapidly reaching an uncomfortable moment where the future won’t include the same degree of conveniences we have always imagined would be there for us and our children.
Many have come to assert that electric vehicles are here to save the planet. One would have to acknowledge that EVs don’t have an internal combustion engine and don’t have a tailpipe of exhaust venting into the planet’s atmosphere. These clean burning, no emissions vehicles will drastically reduce our air pollution problems attributed to the transportation industry.
But, there is a major flaw we aren’t acknowledging. The simple facts are that manufacturing cars/boats/planes, even EVs, involves a massive amount of pollution, environmental destruction, and un-recyclable waste.
The manufacturing of automobiles requires great amounts of minerals, plastics, and metals to be removed from the ground, shipped to assembly locations and then shipped again to the customers who will then purchase them from their local dealerships. Huge oil-burning ocean tankers transport parts and finished vehicles around the world. It is a vast production and distribution network. Once a vehicle is purchased, it then regularly consumes untold quantities of oil or electricity to power these vehicles.
The extraction of these resources from the earth and processing these materials requires killing forests and digging huge holes in the ground that then pollute our limited fresh water supplies. And, the processing of these materials (oil to plastic for instance) emits pollution into our already questionable quality atmosphere. Once the vehicles are assembled and purchased, the gasoline is then burned and sent through our tailpipes without effective remedy into our planet’s air. Or, if you are lucky enough to have purchased an electric vehicle, your vehicle is now increasing your demand for electricity which in most countries is generated largely from coal, natural gas, or even trees (aside from the less polluting nuclear, hydroelectric, solar, and wind power).
Depressingly, even if the planet were to switch all vehicles to electric tomorrow, simply continuing to manufacture electric vehicles coupled with increased power generation demands, would still leave the planet with a significant amount of environmental damage and pollution.
Mister Musk has bet on a future where electric cars seem to be a climate change saviour. And, I am sure you would not be surprised to find out that launching rockets into space is incredibly fuel intensive. Maybe the thinking is that earth is past saving and we might as well have a viable “exit strategy”? One piece of the Musk empire that may yet prove successful is his solar panel company, Solar City. But, that is still under some debate.
Electric vehicles (automobiles, ships, and planes) are simply (profitable) half steps toward a more sustainable future. Yet, why can’t we think more ambitiously about how we can take the most consequential steps to shrink our pollution problems and prepare ourselves for drastic rather than iterative measures?
In the last 100 years our cities have focused their road networks away from rail stations and toward dependence solely upon the automobile. Roads are expensive and (along with glass, concrete, and building construction) lead toward a shortage in sand, oil, and other materials. Unless you are lucky enough to live in a city that has a thriving subway or railway system, it may seem like an impossible task to remove automobiles from the transportation priority list. So much of the time, effort, and money of the 20th and 21st centuries have been spent on building roads, highways, and suburbs that rely upon the automobile.
Yet, now is that time when public transportation, bicycles, and walking are our future. We are no longer strangers to the ideas of remote work. The quicker we embrace public transportation, a bicycle, or our own two legs, the faster our communities can move toward a less polluting and more sustainable future. Our choices to live differently are not surrendered to the distant decisions of government or business. It’s up to us to choose locations to live and to form new habits that take us away from our climate-destroying path of destruction. Seeing the automobile industry fade out of business is really the best for us all in the long term.
