And to Russ Mitchell's point, if you're getting an #EV because it's a fancy new toy, perhaps reconsider your why, as #consumption and #affluence go hand in hand with the #ClimateEmergency.

But also, as I hear again and again from climate scientists, we must stop burning fossil fuels. The burning is our biggest problem.

Do EVs still get power from fossil fuel-run plants? Yup. But that will soon change.

There's no perfect #ClimateSolution. But a used or rented EV is a great place to start.

This next part is a cognitohazard that Philosophy Grads argue about, so don't worry about it: it's just a dude's opinion.

So fast forward like 2500 years, to the 1970s, where #PeterSinger, one of the major #ethics philosophers of our time, wrote an infamous paper called "#Famine, #Affluence, And #Morality" in which he proposed that it was wrong to partake in luxuries, or in general to spend money that you didn't need to spend, was LITERALLY EVIL, because you should be getting that money to charities like UNICEF to fight starvation in the third world. This, he argued, was choosing mild comforts over the lives of others, and that our society is fundamentally flawed for considering charity to be a nice thing when chooses to do and not a moral obligation.

There are a few problems with the notion, including the one we throw at #Bostron and his #EffectiveAltruism crime-cult, lack of Systemic awareness, but the underlying ideas are sound enough that it's a valid argument.

This. "a growing body of work suggests that a “polluting elite” of those on the highest incomes globally are vastly outweighing the emissions of the poor."

Note that it is sufficient to have $100 000 annual income to be in the "global elite".. meaning there are plenty of people in Europe and Finland who are part of it without realising it...
1/n
#ClimateChange #affluence #environment #Inequality

"https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/31/emissions-divide-now-greater-within-countries-than-between-them-study"

Solar Power: Abundant or not?

So, yes, "as much raw incident sunlight falls on the Earth in 1 hour as all of humanity uses in 1 year."

Sounds like a lot. About a 7,000-times surplus.

But when you start doing the maths, it turns out that 1) the amount of usable sunlight is far, far lower (about 100 -- 200x present human energy usage) and 2) baked-in assumptions of human energy consumption growth based just on population growth and a modest levelling-up for the global poor chews up about 1/5 of that surplus.

More depressing truth/reality here:

https://joindiaspora.com/posts/f9899b600300013a2eb4002590d8e506

And no, the message isn't that renewables aren't realistic. It's that our expectations aren't.

#energy #solar #solarPower #DoTheMaths #population #affluence #renewables #limits #LimitsToGrowth

Scientists’ warning on affluence

Worldwide growth in #affluence has continuously increased resource use and pollutant #emissions far more rapidly than these have been reduced through better #technology. The affluent citizens of the world are responsible for most #environmental #impacts and are central to any future prospect of retreating.

PDF
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16941-y.pdf

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16941-y

#ClimateCrisis #Capitalism
Thx @silmathoron