"The priority should not be to replace every car with its electric equivalent but rather to rethink #mobility in general.
"Placing so much focus on the automobile and even now the electric automobile is not the way that we solve our mobility problems, but rather it's time to invest in #transit, in #cycling, in walkable cities, to get people out of #cars altogether," they said."
#EV
https://www.euronews.com/next/2023/09/17/why-tech-companies-are-wrong-to-think-electric-cars-are-a-solution-to-climate-change
@CelloMomOnCars Why not both? One of the biggest impediments to addressing the #ClimateCrisis is resistance from consumers unwilling to lower their quality of life. we can fight through it or accommodate it. #EV s are a suitable accommodation while we also fight for better transit options. We should not drop support EVs just because they are not the total solution.
@CelloMomOnCars You go work on making your cities even denser and more transit friendly. I'm going to try get my neighbors out here in the country to trade their full-sized trucks for something more environmentally friendly. When #LAmetro or #Bart makes it to SLO county we can talk again.
Really awesome that you're doing that!
We're past the age of one size fits all now, what works in one place may be a terrible solution for another.
@antares @CelloMomOnCars I’d give anything for public transit here. Eventually I won’t be able to drive anymore due to my eyesight, and I, like a lot of elderly, will be dependent on others for transportation to dr. appointments, grocery shopping, etc. it would be nice to have train and bus service, like we did in the 30s-50s, but nope.
Find you the local public transit committee and speak up at their meetings. Bring your friends. Local democracy only works if you show up. Join that committee if they invite you (or invite yourself!).
This will take time, but if you have that luxury of time and apply it, you can win.
@antares @CelloMomOnCars my government has cut public transportation, all but cancelled it’s expansion and is royally messing up their flagship infrastructure project, and turning attempts to reduce pollution into culture wars wedge issues. We still have another year before a general, Ev although not perfect is something the individual can do. EV’s currently tend only to be 10% heavier like for like, France is taxing heavier cars in cities, regardless of platform, which is a good idea.
Could that be the UK?
Paris is charging heavier cars a higher parking fee.
The Netherlands - as I'm sure other European countries - charges more a higher annual vehicle tax for heavier cars.
Cities are also starting to simply eliminate parkingn spaces. I mean, there are other things to do with public space than the storage of private property.
@CelloMomOnCars @antares yep, ran out of characters. Infrastructure costs in the UK are also higher than the rest of Europe, which doesn’t help, we’re a long way behind
There’s a lot European countries are doing, in fact I posted a video about some if the stuff France is doing here:
@antares @CelloMomOnCars Why the assumption that moving society toward a less car-centric infrastructure model necessarily means a lower quality of life?
At a certain point people are going to HAVE to accept that addressing climate change in an actually meaningful, proactive way, REQUIRES a fundamental change in how society is ordered. This is nonnegotiable, regardless of how people feel about it.
I agree that I would find an urban area with fewer cars to have a higher quality of life than the equivalent area with more.
However after two decades away, this country bumkin is thrilled to finally escape the crushing, crowded, noisy, built up environment of the city to get back to having an acre(half a hectare) out on dirt road where I have the space to grow my own food, not have to fight my neighbors about the value of established trees that might hit their building, and can see the stars at night. At least for me this is a higher quality of life than any city no matter how well designed.
@CelloMomOnCars @antares No, I'm in total agreement with you. My comment was directed at the other person.
@antares
Certainly, electric cars are part of the solution. They can't be the only solution, though, for many reasons. Besides the finite nature of the materials required, there's the mobility justice issue - not everyone can drive - and there is the safety issue - the extra weight on EVs make them more dangerous to everyone else on the road, just at a time when we want people to choose other ways to get around. We don't want to be locked into that metal box any more.