In an attempt to solve the climate crisis that is responsible for:
Up to one million species being threatened with extinction, many within decades. Climate change has altered marine, terrestrial, and freshwater ecosystems around the world. It has caused the loss of local species, increased diseases, and driven mass mortality of plants and animals, resulting in the first climate-driven extinctions. (UN)
Experts approximate the rapid loss of species we are seeing today to be between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate. (WWF) 🦧 🐅 🐢 🐻❄️
The UN calling the world’s first climate-change-induced famine. Madagascar’s government agrees it is a result of the west’s carbon-fuelled lifestyle. (Finanical Times)
The world already seeing twice as many days where temperatures exceed 50C than 30 years ago – this level of heat is deadly for humans, and also hugely problematic for buildings, roads, and power stations. It makes an area unliveable. (The Guardian)
Some estimates state that there will be as many as 1 billion environmental migrants in the next 30 years, while more recent projections point to 1.2 billion by 2050, and 1.4 billion by 2060. (UN International Organization for Migration)
The researchers found that only 2.8 percent of the planet's land surface are ecologically intact--or have the same flora and fauna--as they were 500 years ago; in pre-industrial times, before major human impacts had occurred. (India Times)
the production of electric cars has been stimulated, the European Union has banned the consumption of single-use plastics, and a few states in the USA (the first being New York) have banned single-use plastic bags.
A momentous event that would have paved the way for the eradication of climate crisis is the Paris Agreement. Unfortunately, the many goals nations agreed to accomplish have not been reached, which is why society is resorting to other solutions that are more dependent on the action of a single country, rather than overseeing a collective global effort in utilizing the solutions proposed by the agreement mentioned above.
Today's article will be investigating the effectiveness of the million-dollar industries of electric cars whilst taking on a lens that examines the global economic implications of relying on such technology in eradicating the catastrophes posed by climate change.
There is quite a debate surrounding who invented the first electric car. Several sources claim that German engineer Andreas Flocken invented it in 1888 (Wikipedia), others say English inventor Thomas Parker in 1884 (Energy Saving Trust), and others state Detroit inventor Charles Kettering demonstrated his electric automobile starter on a Cadillac's motor in 1912 (Studebaker National Museum).
Regardless, highway vehicles release about 1.5 billion tons of greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere each year—mostly in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2)—contributing to global climate change. Each gallon of gasoline you burn creates 20 pounds of GHG. That's roughly 5 to 9 tons of GHG each year for a typical vehicle. (Fuel Economy)
Electric cars are believed to be the eco-friendly alternative to petroleum-powered cars, however, how flawed is this belief? To what extent do electric cars diminish greenhouse gases?
👍 Here are the main arguments in favor of electric cars:
According to the New York Times: "Electric S.U.V.s produced 37 percent of the emissions of a gasoline-powered counterpart, and a B.E.V. pickup created 34 percent of the emissions of an internal combustion model. (Because gasoline-powered pickups consume more fuel than smaller vehicles, switching to a battery electric pickup results in a greater reduction in emissions.)"
Additionally, "Across its life cycle, a typical electric car in Europe produces fewer greenhouse gases (GHG) and air pollutants or noise, compared with its petrol or diesel equivalent. Emissions are usually higher in the production phase, but these are more than offset by lower emissions in the use phase over time. According to EEA report on electric vehicles, GHG emissions of electric vehicles were about 17-30% lower than the emissions of petrol and diesel cars." (European Environment Agency)
There has been a societal progression toward implementing policies in favor of EV consumption over petrol vehicles. However, this transition is thanks to the administration of subsidies...
The adoption of electric vehicles can be seen in (but not limited to):
China 🇨🇳 : "By 2035, all new vehicles sold in China must be powered by 'new-energy', the Chinese authorities have said. Half of them must be electric, fuel cell, or plug-in hybrid – the remaining 50%, hybrid vehicles. There have been subsidies on offer to encourage Chinese motorists to buy new-energy cars since 2009, and by last year they accounted for around 5% of all new car sales. Globally, approximately half of all electric and other new-energy cars were sold in China." (World Economic Forum)
Norway 🇳🇴 : In Europe, the most successful country in switching to electric vehicles is clearly Norway; in fact, this oil-rich country is a statistical outlier. Norway has pushed manufacturers towards electric vehicles by imposing strict pollution limits and insisting all new cars sold by 2025 must be emission-free. This is the “stick” of the policy. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Norway’s carrot comes in the form of subsidies. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Norway’s carrot comes in the form of subsidies. (EuroNews Green)
United Kingdom 🇬🇧 : The government has confirmed the majority of new cars sold in Britain will have to be electric by 2030 despite Rishi Sunak’s decision last week to delay a ban on petrol and diesel cars by five years. Under the long-awaited zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) mandate, 80% of sales must be fully electric, or another alternative, within seven years. Carmakers would have to pay £15,000 for each petrol or diesel engine above that threshold, the Department for Transport said on Thursday. (The Guardian)
👎 The repercussions of electric cars are the following:
One source of EV emissions is the creation of their large lithium-ion batteries. The use of minerals including lithium, cobalt, and nickel, which are crucial for modern EV batteries, requires using fossil fuels to mine those materials and heat them to high temperatures. As a result, building the 80 kWh lithium-ion battery found in a Tesla Model 3 creates between 2.5 and 16 metric tons of CO2 (exactly how much depends greatly on what energy source is used to do the heating). This intensive battery manufacturing means that building a new EV can produce around 80% more emissions than building a comparable gas-powered car. (MIT's Climate Portal)
Furthermore, the production of electric vehicles is not solely unsustainable, it is hazardous. As stated by the Chicago Policy Review, mining companies expose nearby communities to high levels of toxins that are especially harmful to children. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, they violate human rights via unsafe working conditions. There is also a lack of regulation over the large volume of water necessary to mine lithium, causing water shortages for local farmers and causing harm to the surrounding ecology. Moreover, cars require large amounts of steel, lead, plastics, and other chemicals whose production contributes to high greenhouse gas emissions. Although EVs do not directly emit fossil fuels, the energy generated to charge an EV predominately comes from fossil fuel power plants. Power plants account for two billion metric tons of CO2 per year, a value that could exponentially grow with greater use of EVs.
My opinion surrounding Electric Cars 🚙 :
Another notable consequence of EVs is that they are exceedingly costly, A
Another consequence of EVs is that they are exceedingly costly to consume. Forbes ranks the Fiat 500e as the most affordable electric car, however, there are various additional costs to consuming this product that will pose economic strains such as "Annual Cost of Leasing, Annual Cost of Insuring, Annual Estimated Charging Costs, Annual Service Cost, Annual Cost to Run" that sum up to £10,274 which is the equivalent of $13,057.43. According to a Statista statistic that exhibits the "Countries with highest average monthly salaries in Africa in 2022 (in U.S. dollars)" Morroco is the leading country with a salary of $2,031 meanwhile, the 10th country in this infographic, Uganda, has an average monthly salary of $738. If the citizens of the most affluent African nation according to this data, cannot afford the smallest EVs, and they must save up money over a prolonged time, which entails having to sacrifice a weighty magnitude of money for electric vehicles, there is very little incentive for them to "go green" when they are susceptible to more demanding and immediately felt issues such as poverty.
An argument that should be taken into consideration is what incentive Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs) have to transition into sustainability if they are making their income on petroleum, or environmentally damaging activities. Western nations have taken advantage of finite natural resources, in exchange for maximizing their profit, and building their economies, and wealth. Many argue that the climate crisis is a reverberation of Western nations' fallacious proceedings, and capitalistic aspirations, at the expense of the well-being of their population, the stability of ecosystems, and the ambiguous existence of future generations.
Can we therefore condemn LEDCs for wishing to close the substantial wealth gap between themselves and the world's opulent countries? If you don't have access to potable water, or to a sanitary medical facility, you will not prioritize whether your car is electric. The only manner in which the whole world can become sustainable and environmentally friendly is if nations of all economic status work together, and financially support the most vulnerable populations.
To address the pertinent question of this article, nations must thoughtfully collaborate to create eco-friendly technology that reduces the amount of pollution and greenhouse gases that are emitted during its production process, can cohabit alongside animal and plant species without detrimentally affecting their living conditions, is sustainable or at least easy and affordable to recycle; does not put a financial strain on low-income communities, or obliges individuals to sacrifice facilities they use to make a living for themselves with the aforementioned technology.
What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below! 🤗
I really hope you enjoyed this first opinion editorial on an environmental issue, and if you have any suggestions to improve, I would love to see what feedback you have for me! Please leave me a comment at the end of this article to let me know what you think, and thank you to those of you who have already shared your thoughts with me via the comment feature or privately.
Sending virtual hugs and lots of happiness your way! 🧸 🌻 🤪
As always, this is an amazing article! Keep doing what you're doing! ✨