Quote:
Originally Posted by Spuds
The problem is all the effort goes into selling people things because that is where the money is. "You can buy green energy! You can buy a green car! You can buy a green house (not to be confused with a greenhouse, but that would be cool too)!"
Back when Tesla had just the Model S people used to say how they bought a car that is good for the earth or whatever. For years I had to explain that no, you bought a status symbol so you could tell everyone you cared about the environment, even though making it was very energy intensive. If they really wanted to reduce their carbon footprint they would have stopped eating meat for all the reasons you already know. They of course look at me like I am crazy...
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This is true. Although, many companies have bought into selling organic because they realized the extra cost was not a hindrance to acceptance, or even that greater profits could be realized. Similarly, many vegan products designed to replace meat for people looking for a meat taste comes with a premium price, so who knows? Maybe there is an untapped market that could be utilized, but in general, I agree that for vegans to win, many people have to lose, and that will be the bigger fight.
Elon Musk has had some interesting responses as to why he isn’t vegan. He also backtracks multiple times when getting deep into the green nature of the cars and flips to two arguments: oil is finite, so switching to EVs isn’t about if but when, so let’s not wait; and EVs are better, which he goes on to explain that being green is just a bonus. He is right, but he does promote that they are green, and of course they will be even more green when the industry scales up, and there is more local mining and processing. But the other truth to your statement is the fact that for the masses, large battery EVs aren’t a necessity; they are a luxury, yet at the same time, this is expected, and we will see smaller battery EVs in the future, especially if power density improves and recharging improves. Even if it doesn’t, for the vast majority of people who drive less than 30 miles a day, a small battery is more than enough.