To be clear, electric vehicles are not a silver bullet. In cities, bikes are often the better option. However, they do save carbon, and as such, they are one of the many puzzle pieces of the big puzzle that humanity needs to put together in order to survive as a civilization. There will be no single solution because it is such a devilish complex and widely ramified problem. For a matter of survival, we need to grasp every puzzle piece we can.
Also, emissions from cars are a surprisingly large proportion of individual emissions - much larger than many people are aware of. They are like 120 Grams per kilometer per person. If you drive a combustion car to a supermarket nearby to get a pizza, the CO2 cost of the travel there will likely be higher than that of the food.
Not to mention that cars seem to be one of the largest sources of microplastic. Me personally am hoping for a lot more infrastructure built to suit walking, biking and taking the train. Imagine free public transit that properly covers the city, is free and goes frequently enough you dont even need to worry when you arrive at the stop. Its real convenient and has much much less emissions.
I am not so sure about that one. If your pizza has a 80 gram ham topping, and you drive four miles and back, I’d guess it is still the car use which weights heavier. Even if avoiding meat is better, of course.
Ultimately, one has to do the math. Carbon reduction is essentially a quantitative endeavour, and many outcomes when one actually measures and counts are counter-intuitive. For example, ship and truck transport of food over large distances can cost far less carbon than your car trip to the supermarket.
To be clear, electric vehicles are not a silver bullet. In cities, bikes are often the better option. However, they do save carbon, and as such, they are one of the many puzzle pieces of the big puzzle that humanity needs to put together in order to survive as a civilization. There will be no single solution because it is such a devilish complex and widely ramified problem. For a matter of survival, we need to grasp every puzzle piece we can.
Also, emissions from cars are a surprisingly large proportion of individual emissions - much larger than many people are aware of. They are like 120 Grams per kilometer per person. If you drive a combustion car to a supermarket nearby to get a pizza, the CO2 cost of the travel there will likely be higher than that of the food.
Edit: typo
Not to mention that cars seem to be one of the largest sources of microplastic. Me personally am hoping for a lot more infrastructure built to suit walking, biking and taking the train. Imagine free public transit that properly covers the city, is free and goes frequently enough you dont even need to worry when you arrive at the stop. Its real convenient and has much much less emissions.
Depends if the pizza has dead animals on it or not
I am not so sure about that one. If your pizza has a 80 gram ham topping, and you drive four miles and back, I’d guess it is still the car use which weights heavier. Even if avoiding meat is better, of course.
Ultimately, one has to do the math. Carbon reduction is essentially a quantitative endeavour, and many outcomes when one actually measures and counts are counter-intuitive. For example, ship and truck transport of food over large distances can cost far less carbon than your car trip to the supermarket.