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Sustainable food production is key. Fresh water availability is key. Electric cars are a necessity for no one. EVs and renewable energy sources are being sold t

Sustainable food production is key. Fresh water availability is key. Electric cars are a necessity for no one. EVs and renewable energy sources are being sold to us as a comprehensive solution when they are just a small part of any realistic approach to the ecological challenges we face.

actionfromafar 3y ago
I think EVs can have beneficial second order effects. I’ll take some progress over no progress. (But currently we aren’t even slowing down the coming “train crash”, we are merely decreasing the acceleration into the wall of food shortages and other horrors.)
- walleeee 3y ago
  Agreed. The problem is it's too easy to look at electrification efforts, pat ourselves on the back, and stop there.
slashdev 3y ago
This is so naive, I don’t know where to start. Fresh water is not that big of a deal, it’s plentiful and cheap in most places. Desalination works really well, look at Israel. Cars are required for most people to live their lives and make a living. I don’t know how you expect we’ll just magically do without.
- walleeee 3y ago
  This is so naive I don't know where to start. > Fresh water is not that big of a deal, it’s plentiful and cheap in most places. Desalination works really well, look at Israel. Half of the United States is in a more or less permanent water crisis which will get worse every passing year if we don't dramatically change use patterns. Not to mention the rest of the world. Desalination works, but it's energy- and materials-hungry. Energy is not getting any more abundant unless we have a breakthrough massively raising the sinking cap on civilizational EROI, e.g. fusion. > Cars are required for most people to live their lives and make a living. I don’t know how you expect we’ll just magically do without. Cars have been around for a little over a century. Somehow we managed before that. Even now, there are only 1.5 billion cars on the planet. Most human beings alive today do not have access to a car. I wonder how they do it?

actionfromafar 3y ago

I think EVs can have beneficial second order effects. I’ll take some progress over no progress. (But currently we aren’t even slowing down the coming “train crash”, we are merely decreasing the acceleration into the wall of food shortages and other horrors.)

walleeee 3y ago
Agreed. The problem is it's too easy to look at electrification efforts, pat ourselves on the back, and stop there.

slashdev 3y ago

This is so naive, I don’t know where to start. Fresh water is not that big of a deal, it’s plentiful and cheap in most places. Desalination works really well, look at Israel. Cars are required for most people to live their lives and make a living. I don’t know how you expect we’ll just magically do without.

walleeee 3y ago
This is so naive I don't know where to start. > Fresh water is not that big of a deal, it’s plentiful and cheap in most places. Desalination works really well, look at Israel. Half of the United States is in a more or less permanent water crisis which will get worse every passing year if we don't dramatically change use patterns. Not to mention the rest of the world. Desalination works, but it's energy- and materials-hungry. Energy is not getting any more abundant unless we have a breakthrough massively raising the sinking cap on civilizational EROI, e.g. fusion. > Cars are required for most people to live their lives and make a living. I don’t know how you expect we’ll just magically do without. Cars have been around for a little over a century. Somehow we managed before that. Even now, there are only 1.5 billion cars on the planet. Most human beings alive today do not have access to a car. I wonder how they do it?