@GhostOnTheHalfShell @blogdiva
bullshit
every ICE vehicle -> EV
and then the game becomes moving the power plants off fossil fuels. which is being done
of course mining resources for EV batteries is a concern
much less of a concern than fossil fuel extraction
especially in regards to climate change
that difference matters
of course it's not perfect
as if anyone concerned with magical impossible perfection is thinking clearly or remotely a serious person
I repeat and will continue to repeat the only way to step off the path of destruction is the immediate reduction of all energy use, and resource use. The equation that you and I get told repeatedly is a false one..
Renewables come with a permanently destructive permanently, toxic permanently, life ending legacy.
In order to build it, we have to kill the planet.
@GhostOnTheHalfShell @benroyce @blogdiva What's your source on permanent destruction and toxicity? I'm pretty sure that isn't true.
Batteries and renewable capture equipment (wind and solar) can be recycled. Relatively easily, in fact; for batteries, we can grind them and re-extract the useful elements easier than we can pull them out of the ground, and for generators, we can tear them down and refurb them.
I don't dispute that initial extraction costs money and lives (though I compare it to fossil fuel extraction in that regard). But we can't recapture the output of a fossil fuel reaction and turn it back into fossil fuel; we can grind a battery and make a new battery, over and over, for a very long time before the elements stop cooperating.
@mark @GhostOnTheHalfShell @benroyce @blogdiva This is my understanding too.
We can recycle old batteries to make new ones. It is cheaper to do this than digging more materials, once we get enough supply of old batteries.
Battery tech is also getting better. We are on the cusp of being able to replace lithium with sodium for electricity grid storage, and sodium doesn't require mining in the way lithium does.
The key here is that all the extraction for EVs is a one-time (mostly) operation that will replace fossil fuel extraction, which is not a one-time operation.
And before anyone thinks I'm a EV shill: I hate all cars. I think they should be completely outlawed from cities and heavily reduced elsewhere. Am I going to get my wish in my lifetime? I very much doubt it. EVs are an improvement over internal combustion in every material way.
Once we have EVs, we need to fix the toxic tires and road markings. Then onward.
