Globally, only one in 50 new cars were fully electric in 2020, and one in 14 in the UK. Sounds impressive, but even if all new cars were electric now, it would still take 15-20 years to replace the world’s fossil fuel car fleet.
The emission savings from replacing all those internal combustion engines with zero-carbon alternatives will not feed in fast enough to make the necessary difference in the time we can spare: the next five years. Tackling the climate and air pollution crises requires curbing all motorised transport, particularly private cars, as quickly as possible. Focusing solely on electric vehicles is slowing down the race to zero emissions.
Cool, what about those who don’t live within biking distance?
My work is 37 km of rural highway from my house. I biked it once years ago, took me 1h45m one way. Not a reasonable option.
Yes, biking 37km each way is pretty extreme. However, if you haven’t already, I’d suggest questioning whether you should be making some changes in your life. Using rough calculations for a fairly efficient & economical car ($0.25CAD/km for gas, maintenance, and depreciation), your commute is costing you $18.50CAD/day (more if you drive an SUV/Truck)! That means if you could move closer to work so you could bike, you could pay an additional $350/mo in housing and still be ahead. Or, you could look for a new job that pays $4,600/year less net (probably ~$6,500/year gross) and be ahead. And if you could give up your car completely, those numbers could more than double!!
It’s possible after reviewing the numbers, you’ll conclude that it’s not worth it to make any changes in your life, and that’s fine! Work in agricultural and other rural industries is important. It’s just that so many people aren’t even ware how much their 20min commute costs them, let alone what it costs their local government (roads aren’t cheap) or the environment in general.
I live with my mom. I cannot afford rent in the town that I work in, and the two other nearby towns require a car just the same as the one I’m in now.
I cannot afford to move. When my mother dies I will likely become homeless.
Once again, the problem boils down to the billionaires not paying people enough.
I agree that our capitalist society sucks. Your only choice is work within it or die.
You answered one of the questions and almost certainly no rent + $350 < rent. You didn’t answer the other question and I see from another comment, you make $40K/year. Where I am in Ontario, that’s not much more than minimum wage ($16.55/h×7.5h/d×251d/year≃$31K/year). I’d highly recommend reviewing whether your pay and job satisfaction is worth what you spend on your commute!
If you’re still interested in long-distance commuting by bike, an e-bike is worth considering.
You’d likely get to work in “around” an hour with little effort. The cost savings from not having to buy gas for those distances would easily offset the cost of the bike + electricity used for charging.
Cool. What about all those people who live within 5km of where they need to go, and are generally alone in the car.
Just because it doesn’t apply to you in particular doesn’t mean you can’t support and champion a cause that would help in the grand scheme of things.
The comment I replied to implied that if people in Montreal can do it, why can’t I? I was merely addressing the implied accusation.
Besides, if you want a champion the guy making $40k/year isn’t it.
The billionaires got a lot of money to spend on transit and infrastructure and densification, but everytime this shit comes up somehow the guy who barely clears the fuckin poverty line is the one who has be a champion.
the guy making $40k/year isn’t it
Why not? Once regular people do environmentally friendly things, we’ve essentially won, because that means the environmentally friendly things is the most reasonable and cost effective things. As in, we’ve normalized the desired behavior.
Getting a billionaire to change isn’t going to work, that’s like trying to push a goat in the direction you want them to go. That hasn’t worked in the past, and it’s not going to start now.
Focus on where the efforts are most likely to actually have an impact. We should be improving mass transit, pushing cars outside of cities, and encouraging cycling. That will cut road maintenance costs, drastically reduce traffic, and improve the health of the average person. Let billionaires do what they want, let’s make cities something people want to live in. That starts by focusing on the guy that makes $40k/year and making sure he can get to work and back efficiently.
