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The Environmental Impact of a Car - No Exit
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No Exit from September 7, 2022
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this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2023
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I feel like a lot of these are still relevant even if primary travel is switched to trains or whatever.
Except for that the environmental cost per head goes way down compared to cars.
It’ll still fall into the problem the comic fell into. No solution to assisted travel is perfect. Even horseback has a negative effect since they can trample humans and animals, and oft traveled paths would still be plant free.
Point being, don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.
What are you calling good? If you’re worried about horses trampling animals (incl. human), that would sound like letting perfect be the enemy of good.
Cycling is nearly perfect by comparison and I’m happy to make EVs and public transport the enemy of cycling.
That's exactly what he means, you don't really want to treat things less than perfect as enemies.
It's not useful modelling/labeling and you just create the notion that you can not be appealed to.
It depends on how far from perfect they are. It’s reckless and socially irresponsible to not treat EVs as enemies.
Get asses on bicycle seats, and I am pleased.
Are bikes made from locally sourced materials, which are environmentally friendly to collect?
If you mean to ask does globalization exist, of course.
Given that globalization exists, bicycles are the winner in this context as well because there are many more manufacturers and bikes are orders of magnitude less complex (thus fewer components to import). Unlike cars which are complex enough to have components that are big and/or heavy shipped all over the globe. Bicycles are made on your continent with minimal shipping weight. The simplicity of bikes also means fewer components that can break.
The most significant problem with bicycles is the Chinese are making copious bikes with non-standard low-quality components not built to last. Cheap Chinese-made bikes have a shorter lifetime than others and the components have compatibility problems so the whole bike gets scrapped.
These issues are not inherent in bicycles themselves. Buy a sustainable domestically made bike with standard parts, not a cheap €100 Chinese import.
How are those bikes being transported? Hundreds of miles on the back of other bikes?
This answer would vary for every warehouse-retail shop pair. I pulled my current bike out of the trash and restored it. My previous one was designed locally in my city & manufactured in Poland. Likely shipped by rail.
Sounds like a non-perfect solution then.
Unlike cars, there are both imperfect solutions and perfect (or near perfect) solutions among your choices of bicycles. Don’t import one from another continent. If you want perfect you have the option of living in the same city as a bicycle factory.
Fair point. Every time I sit through rush hour traffic, I think "thousands of people are all headed in the same direction every day, and we can't build a more optimal system?"
Yes, except many orders of magnitude smaller. Unlike EVs.