Jeremy Clarkson: Just been for a walk round the farm and I’m a bit alarmed by how few butterflies there are.

Something is afoot.

Danny Wallace: Diesel-smelling Top Gear host who threatened climate protestors misses butterflies.

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47 points

He’s right about electric cars not solving anything but wrong about politics not solving it. Science has already provided the solutions like over a decade ago but no one is willing to implement it.

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31 points
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I’m really tired of this pervasive fantasy where people actually think we can get rid of all cars and bring public transport to the masses in the space of a year.

We live in a car centric society and changing that is going to take a decade at the minimum.

EVs are our best solutions currently, we don’t have time to wait for trains or hydrogen. We should absolutely start trying to phase cars out completely but that doesn’t negate the fact that saying “EVs don’t help” is essentially being an oil barons mouthpiece.

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16 points
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changing that is going to take a decade at the minimum.

And that’s way too optimistic. Given the life expectancy of modern autos, the “quick” option of EVs will be a couple decades or more.

Building car-centric towns and cities has taken most of a century of constant growth. Now those cities exist and we no longer have the growth so rebuilding them is a much bigger job. We’re talking many decades, likely a century or more. In the meantime we can’t afford to be stuck with ICE.

Although maybe you’re not from the US so the problem is not as severe. Here in Massachusetts we also have the advantage of so many towns and cities being built out before cars. We’re “behind” on being car-centric so hopefully can fix that trend more quickly

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8 points

changing that is going to take a decade at the minimum.

And that’s way too optimistic

Best time to start was years ago, second best time to start is now. Maybe we can start by voting in favor of the next public transit initiative in our respective local elections.

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8 points
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(Hydrogen is very much not a solution. It takes way too much energy to make and it’s very dangerous to store.)

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15 points
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Science is pushing electric cars for a reason. Clarkson’s an idiot.

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5 points

No it’s capitalism and the car industry that wants to continue selling cars that are pushing for EVs.

Cars in general are bad for the environment and the people around them. EVs are a bit better than internal combustion, but it’s not a miracle.

EVs still emit tons of rubber particles because of tire shedding, they are heavier and require more energy to move around, they still require vast amounts of paved parking and roads, and they can still crush pedestrians and animals.

If you have to have a car, it should be an EV if possible, but it would be better to reduce the amount of cars in cities and around us.

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9 points

So we agree the man with 10 v8 engine cars should move to EVs or public transit rather than having 10 cars? Because he’s saying fuck that.

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4 points

If you have 10 cars and buy an 11th thats electric you’re not really solving anything. The problem is overconsumption moreso than method of propulsion, the bulk of a car’s lifetime emissions are a result of manufacturing rather than daily use.

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