SUVs, commercial airlines, and industrial beef? I wouldn’t lump those in as industries that only exist to grow capital, because they are producing useful products and services for consumers beyond the super rich. I get the feeling that these were included solely for environmental reasons.
Not defending the environmental impact of SUVs and beef here, but commercial airlines can be better for the environment than cars. On average, it seems an airline emits about a quarter of a pound of CO2 per passenger per mile, which is about a third of what a passenger vehicle gives off (not per person, but not everyone vacations in groups.) Plus, they’re conveniently fast.
I’m confused… Aren’t there EV SUVs now? Why is he calling out SUV and not, say, pickup trucks? Even so, why say any specific car type vs. just saying ICE vehicles?
I could be wrong, but I think there are other possible reasons SUVs were mentioned. I think having more walkable cities would part of (or at least adjacent to) the degrowth movement. As such, SUVs are kinda the poster child for the vehicle size arms race which makes roads less safe for pedestrians and cyclists.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see pickup trucks on that list too, however they do have a somewhat more plausible use case.
SUV
calling out SUV’s specifically for multiple reasons - ICE SUV’s are the worst, having the low fuel efficiency of work trucks, while being less safe than trucks or cars for passengers or pedestrians. EV SUV’s are just taking the same problems - truck frames, lots of weight, poor visibility - and adding an EV powertrain to ameliorate the fuel inefficiency. But since they have to haul around all the extra SUV weight, they’re at best a poor compromise instead of a large improvement.