• mojo_raisin@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    arrow-down
    30
    ·
    4 months ago

    EVs can’t save the environment. EVs are made from oil (tires, plastics), and the metals they are made from are extracted and shipped using huge machines also made from and burning oil.

    Switching from pumping oil to mining Lithium isn’t a net improvement to the environment.

    Any mode of transportation that is heavy and uses tires is going to be a major source of microplastics.

    It is not possible to expand into sustainability when it’s our massive scale that is at the core of our unsustainability. Degrowth is our only chance.

    • kevindqc@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      22
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      I’ll take the lesser evil of local pollution over sending billions of tons of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere every year.

      I doubt degrowth will ever happen unless it’s caused by population collapse due to mass casualties.

      • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        4 months ago

        I think education alone curbs population growth towards negatives, and that policies can easily decrease population growth far into the negative, as many modern nations have illustrated. Mass casualties aren’t realistic or necessary.

      • mojo_raisin@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        4 months ago

        8 billion is unsustainable, our population will decrease drastically in the coming century. We can choose whether it’s via degrowth (a controlled, intentional, intelligent reversal of the economic growth of the last decades) or famine, disease, and war.

        I fear you’re right that degrowth will never happen and we’re just going to march toward collapse.

      • mojo_raisin@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        4 months ago

        Rail as part of degrowth is a great idea. Rail as part of expanded exploitation of natural resources is not.

    • guacupado@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      4 months ago

      Switching from pumping oil to mining Lithium isn’t a net improvement to the environment.

      We did both before EVs were a thing.