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Why the downvotes? Building and maintaining big roads, bridges, parking spaces has a huge social and environmental impact compared to increasing public transpor

Why the downvotes? Building and maintaining big roads, bridges, parking spaces has a huge social and environmental impact compared to increasing public transportation.

RodericDay 9y ago
People don't like to be reminded that buying mansions with solar shingles and electric sports cars are far more about making consumers feel good than about meaningfully saving the planet in any sense. Trickle down environmentalism is just like regular trickle down economics.
WorldMaker 9y ago
Public transportation is preferable to cars, but let us not paint electric cars as having any more negative externalities than their internal combustion brethren. (The steel/aluminum/plastics of a car's exterior/interior/chassis are shared by cars regardless of drive train and still the overall impact of those materials dwarfs the environmental impact of battery technologies.)
- ant6n 9y ago
  > let us not paint electric cars as having any more negative externalities than their internal combustion brethren. I wrote: > EVs reduce direct pollution, but there are still a lot of negative externalities.
  - WorldMaker 9y ago
    Sorry, I wasn't specifically directing that comment at you. There are a lot of people that will read what you wrote and assume you mean there are more negative externalities than the equivalent internal combustion car. Certainly you see that sort of talk/mythology a lot lately. I read your comment that way at first, but realized that was not what you had meant, but I can certainly see people downvoting it for assuming that is what you meant.
chc 9y ago
It's a digression, the topic is brought up in nearly every HN thread where somebody mentions the word "car," the ensuing discussions generally have the character of a religious debate, and that comment brings nothing new to the discussion. Being correct isn't enough to make a comment worthwhile. ETA: For what it's worth, I think the downvotes on this comment are fair too. It doesn't need to be reiterated that tired, off-topic comments are tired and off-topic every time somebody makes one. I answered because I feel bad when I see somebody confused, but this is another example of a comment that probably deserves to be downvoted even though it's correct.
- ant6n 9y ago
  Then you should downvote the GP claiming that EVs should receive taxes subsidies becayse they "are environmentally friendly".

Why the downvotes? Building and maintaining big roads, bridges, parking spaces has a huge social and environmental impact compared to increasing public transportation.

RodericDay 9y ago

People don't like to be reminded that buying mansions with solar shingles and electric sports cars are far more about making consumers feel good than about meaningfully saving the planet in any sense. Trickle down environmentalism is just like regular trickle down economics.

WorldMaker 9y ago

Public transportation is preferable to cars, but let us not paint electric cars as having any more negative externalities than their internal combustion brethren. (The steel/aluminum/plastics of a car's exterior/interior/chassis are shared by cars regardless of drive train and still the overall impact of those materials dwarfs the environmental impact of battery technologies.)

ant6n 9y ago
> let us not paint electric cars as having any more negative externalities than their internal combustion brethren. I wrote: > EVs reduce direct pollution, but there are still a lot of negative externalities.
- WorldMaker 9y ago
  Sorry, I wasn't specifically directing that comment at you. There are a lot of people that will read what you wrote and assume you mean there are more negative externalities than the equivalent internal combustion car. Certainly you see that sort of talk/mythology a lot lately. I read your comment that way at first, but realized that was not what you had meant, but I can certainly see people downvoting it for assuming that is what you meant.

chc 9y ago

It's a digression, the topic is brought up in nearly every HN thread where somebody mentions the word "car," the ensuing discussions generally have the character of a religious debate, and that comment brings nothing new to the discussion. Being correct isn't enough to make a comment worthwhile. ETA: For what it's worth, I think the downvotes on this comment are fair too. It doesn't need to be reiterated that tired, off-topic comments are tired and off-topic every time somebody makes one. I answered because I feel bad when I see somebody confused, but this is another example of a comment that probably deserves to be downvoted even though it's correct.

ant6n 9y ago
Then you should downvote the GP claiming that EVs should receive taxes subsidies becayse they "are environmentally friendly".