Oh my, oh my! Just when I and possibly millions of other admirers of the infernal combustion engine were wrapping our heads around its' demise, now we learn that electric vehicles may not be the solution after all. This is according to Steve Kannon's "Editor's Point of View" in yesterday's Woolwich Observer. I am truly shocked.
Apparently the world literally does not have the vast quantities of precious metals necessary to produce both electric cars and their batteries. Metals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and aluminum will require massive new mines and all the environmental hazards associated with them. This includes "...soil contamination, air and water pollution, emission of hazardous gases, land degradation, and water scarcity." The title of Steve's Point of View is "Green or greenwashing? It doesn't matter as long as growth is sacrosanct".
Then of course there is the less than minor problem of electricity production to charge all these new car batteries. Steve's suggestion that it is likely that fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil will continue to be the major sources of electricity production in many countries kind of negates the benefits of electric vehicles.
I'll be honest here. I hope that Steve is wrong but he does present a strong case combined with irrefutable logic that continued economic and human growth is unsustainable. Is that what electric vehicles are at least partially about i.e. greenwashing in order to be able to keep up our unsustainable growth mantra?
you are brilliant Mr. Marshall, I believe the entire modern system is guilty of "Greenwashing" (I looked up the definition) ever since the Earth Summit (UN Conference on Environment and Development) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. The actual level of corporate and professional guilt (crimes against humanity) depends on what level and degree the Fascist COMMUNISTIC parts were accepted.
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