So even on Lemmy people defend Tesla because “why not protest against coal” and “but this is EV”. Sigh.
People DO protest against coal, and to a much larger extent.
Tesla is a shitty scam company which deserves nothing but bankruptcy. Their factory is destroying huge areas in Brandenburg and uses massive amounts of water in an area where there is severe drought. Brandenburg even has deserts forming for those who are unaware. Even if you would accept Tesla, the factory is placed in the worst place possible.
Apart from the environmental aspects, the company is famous for being atrocious regarding workers rights. That crypto bro scam firm should just get the hell out.
Why are the climate protesters against electric vehicles?
Climate protesters have expressed concerns about Tesla’s plans, which entail cutting down approximately 250 acres of forest in a rural community of fewer than 8,000 residents near a nature conservation area.
Should be noted that basically all of that forest is a tree farm monoculture.
Now they moved to protesting the water usage of the factory, which is high, but quite low compared to other industries and farms in the area.
I mean, fuck cars in general, but protests that focus on bullshit facts are not helping the cause.
The water usage is a huge issue. The region has suffered a severe drought from 2018-2022. There is some issues with a chemical bubble in the ground that require a careful and coordinated pumping by all water utilities and well operators in the area to not suck it into the aquifer.One water utility had to deny all building permits for new houses, schools, businesses because Teslas water consumption capped the legally and sustainably permittable water extraction in the area.
There was a huge shitshow around the permits Tesla gained with direct political interference from the state government to overlook legal requirements in particular in the context of water. Tesla is fighting to deny access for the water utility to the chemical analysis of the water they extract at their wells.
There is a risk that Tesla could permanently destroy the water supply for hundreds of thousands of people if they are not made to observe the legal requirements and cooperate with other stakeholders for water in the region.
Well that’s a big problem nowadays isn’t it? They’re stated problem is an excuse. They’re not protesting due to this impact or that impact, if they were they wouldn’t be wishy washy about which thing they don’t like. If you ask me, they’re protesting Musk but pretending it’s about something more substantial.
In addition to other answers, keep in mind that Tesla gets credits relative to how far below the average carbon footprint their cars are and sell those credits to manufacturers of cars with more emissions. So in a way a part of the reduced liferime emissions are “gone” before the cars drive for the first time
Highly doubtful. EVs still have a high footprint, especially those obese ones that we’re making in the West.
Go protest to the people who give the permit to cut down those trees, those are the problem. If tesla listen to the protest, another company is going to cut those trees.
If that area is marked as forest instead of industry/residential, no one can cut it, end of thread.
But as usual, protestors are barking up the wrong tree (pun intended)
It’s a battery factory that was built there despite environmental concerns.
I think the main things that attracted the ire of environmentalists are:
- When the building permits were still being negotiated, Tesla just started clearing land illegally
- A battery factory requires lots of water, this one was built in a region already low on groundwater
- There have been several instances of spilled chemicals
- The sewage coming out of the factory has been contaminated (phosphorus and nitrogen) beyond allowed thresholds for two years
- The local water supply company is reportedly near its limit, but Tesla wants to expand the battery factory and clear additional land
.
But the situation is a bit muddy. Early protests around 2021…2022 often had a share of far right wingnuts trying to recruit people. That’s lessened, though. This specific protest was definitely swelled in numbers by the factory expansion and land clearing plans, but is also part of a planned day of protests by the “Disrupt Tesla” group. They have a web presence here: https://disrupt-now.org/en/.
EVs are a good next step but they still use tires that break down leaving microplastics in the environment and a study showed they may even leave more.,
It doesn’t have to stay that way, and probably won’t. Batteries improve by 5-8% per year. We’re also reaching the point where, with better charging infrastructure, we don’t particularly need longer range. Weight can go down rather than range going up.
There’s no reason EVs have to be heavier than ICE cars, and they probably won’t be in the next few years.
Electric cars do not address any of the main issues cars bring to our society, which are:
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Pollution – Cars are responsible for a significant amount of global and local pollution (microplastic waste, brake dust, embodiment emissions, tailpipe emissions, and noise pollution). Electric cars eliminate tailpipe emissions, but the other pollution-related problems largely remain.
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Infrastructure (Costs. An Unsustainable Pattern of Development) – Cars create an unwanted economic burden on their communities. The infrastructure for cars is expensive to maintain and the maintenance burden for local communities is expected to increase with the adoption of more electric and (someday) fully self-driving cars. This is partly due to the increased weight of the vehicles and also the increased traffic of autonomous vehicles.
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Infrastructure (Land Usage & Induced Demand) – Cities allocate a vast amount of space to cars. This is space that could be used more effectively for other things such as parks, schools, businesses, homes, and so on. We miss out on these things and are forced to pile on additional sprawl when we build vast parking lots and widen roads and highways. This creates part of what is called induced demand. This effect means that the more capacity for cars we add, the more cars we’ll get, and then the more capacity we’ll need to add.
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Independence and Community Access – Cars are not accessible to everyone. Simply put, many people either can’t drive or don’t want to drive. Car-centric city planning is an obstacle for these groups, to name a few: children and teenagers, parents who must chauffeur children to and from all forms of childhood activities, people who can’t afford a car, and many other people who are unable to drive. Imagine the challenge of giving up your car in the late stages of your life. In car-centric areas, you face a great loss of independence.
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Safety – Cars are dangerous to both occupants and non-occupants, but especially the non-occupants. As time goes on cars admittedly become better at protecting the people inside them, but they remain hazardous to the people not inside them. For people walking, riding, or otherwise trying to exercise some form of car-free liberty cars are a constant threat. In car-centric areas, streets and roads are optimized to move cars fast and efficiently rather than protect other road users and pedestrians.
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Social Isolation – A combination of the issues above produces the additional effect of social isolation. There are fewer opportunities for serendipitous interactions with other members of the public. Although there may be many people sharing the road with you (a public space), there are some obvious limitations to the quality of interaction one can have through metal, glass, and plastic boxes.
(Batantly copypasted from the pinned thread on r/fuckcars)
(Batantly copypasted from the pinned thread on r/fuckcars)
Please don’t do that. I have no problem with this kind of content in that echo chamber, but presenting it as objective truth calls into question huge portions of this that are either purely subjective to blatantly wrong.
Which portions are wrong? They are all correct. EVs are still a major source of pollution, in particular microplastics and particles. The upkeep of car infrastructure is insanely expensive. For Germany it is expected that every public parking spot costs 8.000 € a year to the economy. The space battle in urban areas is blatantly clear…
Where do they say it represents a form of ‘objective truth’?
But I agree walls of text are not nice, at least try to summarize it a bit to make it readable…
Germany factory
We finally know where they make Germany.
How do you say “SCRAMBLE!” in Deursche?
This is dumb. We need to build, build, build if we’re going to avert catastrophe. We need to build electric vehicles, batteries, solar panels, wind mills, electric transmission lines, grid storage, synthetic fuel plants, nuclear power plants. We will fail if people wring their hands over every new construction project. That forest won’t mean shit if the ocean boils.
Ah yes the mindset that got us here, lets solve the problem we got by not showing any restraint as a society, by just building even more shit we dont actually need.
Half the things in your list are completely unnecessary for avoiding climate catastrophe and only serve the purpose of further increasing our energy and industrial greed.
