I wanted to write this down so the next time someone complains I’m lacking nuance or whatever, I can have the space to put things down properly.

So, electric cars are going to save the planet: and specifically, we should buy a Tesla, because Elon Musk is going to bring “the light of human consciousness” to the stars, or something.

OK, let’s engage with that. I have a few questions for anyone who believes this.

First: in all of human history, please state one example of a time when individual consumer choices that did not occur as a result of government mandates or rules worked to solve a systemic problem. For example, the depletion of the ozone layer was resolved by banning CFCs, not independent consumer choice.

Second: it’s probably non-controversial to say that most human enterprise requires extractive industry. To build a house, you need at the very least some trees and maybe clay. Building complicated machines like phones and cars requires a huge array of materials from a number of extractive industries. Can you name a single large-scale extractive industry project that did not end up guilty of incredible malfeasance? This can be phrased another way: worldwide, there are too many examples of extractive industry causing more harm than good. How will electric cars avoid this? For example, how is clearing forests to make electric cars a net positive for the environment, when trees capture carbon and cars do not?

Third: A single car can hold, on average, 4-6 people. A passenger car of the DC Metro can hold about 175 people (albeit, someone uncomfortably) in a little more than the same space. Please explain how 29 Teslas are better for the environment than a single light rail passenger car. For example, how much asphalt (itself produced by extractive industry and not great for the environment) will be required to maintain the roads for 29 cars, versus light rail?

BONUS QUESTION: given the problem of induced demand, how will a greater and greater number of cars - which necessitates a disproportionate amount of road construction - not contribute to not only environment destruction (tearing down carbon-capturing plants to make room for new roadways) but to the “urban heat island” effect?

TO BE VERY CLEAR: you should buy an electric car, if one meets your needs. Specifically if you are a suburban commuter who does not travel extensively (or only travels along big roads/interstates where charging stations are more plentiful) you almost have no reason not to. It’s an obvious choice.

THE POINT HERE IS NOT TO DISSUADE YOU FROM BUYING ELECTRIC!

The point here is that your desire for an exciting consumer experience that our society and culture has jammed into your brain from birth as the only way - followed by literal decades of reinforcement of this idea - is not the answer. It’s a short-term step. The realities that exist outside your consumer gadget-lust are very real, and you - we - cannot stop at “well I personally lowered my emissions buy buying a new F150 EV”. Thinking that is the end of the problem is the problem.