Submitted by Ok_Champion6840 t3_10mm3pt in UpliftingNews
alc4pwned t1_j64iss8 wrote
Reply to comment by kalaminu in Amsterdam’s underwater parking garage fits 7,000 bicycles and zero cars by Ok_Champion6840
You say that as though you think cars are the primary cause of climate change. Even in a very car dependent place like the US, personal vehicles only make up like 11% of total CO2 emissions. EVs will lower that significantly. I think a lot of people are hyper-focusing on cars and ignoring many of the much bigger problems. Comfortable western lifestyles are incredibly carbon intensive in general, even in the Netherlands.
SubjectiveAlbatross t1_j64u9nl wrote
It's a bit more than 15% (and probably higher once you account for all the supporting infrastructure and induced sprawl). Moreover the "it's only xx%!" schtick is itself disingenuous. I've seen an Australian argue for example that "we're only responsible for 1%, we shouldn't have to do anything!" (completely ignoring in that case their high per capita emissions), the problem being that if you take these locality/sector exceptions to the full logical extent then nearly everything is exempt and very little gets done. 15% is a significant slice of the pie, and there's very little else that's "much bigger".
alc4pwned t1_j64wyer wrote
That’s if you use emissions from all “light duty vehicles”. They break it down further in the pdf, for “passenger cars” it’s more like 9%. I think the 11% was assuming you add some portion of light duty trucks to that as well but I don’t quite remember.
I’m not saying 11% +/- isn’t significant. But the transition to EVs and renewables is already going to dramatically reduce that number. So perhaps it would be more productive if Reddit devoted half as much energy as they do to cars to other sources of emissions.
[deleted] t1_j660lct wrote
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kalaminu t1_j64mexd wrote
Ofc they're not but my point still stands. Doin nothing will be more expensive in the long run, both in financial terms and human costs.
The sensible ones of us know that the real polluters and wasters is big business who have done a very effective job of convincing the public they need to recycle when we all know that waste is their #1 product. And don't get me started on the super rich buzzing around on their private jets pumping out more co2 that whole countries.
alc4pwned t1_j6501r3 wrote
> The sensible ones of us know that the real polluters and wasters is big business who have done a very effective job of convincing the public they need to recycle when we all know that waste is their #1 product.
That’s not sensible though, that’s also just shifting the blame. Those businesses are producing goods/services for us. The emissions required to manufacture a TV you bought is a part of your carbon footprint. The emissions generated by the banking system or by Reddit servers etc are also part of our carbon footprints.
Minneapolisveganaf t1_j64mtle wrote
Animal production is probably the biggest and easiest thing we could do to lower the footprint.
Flying for vacations. Just don't do it.
But the problem is that basically every person who can fly or eat a mostly meat diet does. Neither of which is necessary.
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