August 2012
Transportation
Another Look at Electric Vehicles
by Donna Merlina
Yes, electric and alternative fuel vehicles have a definite place in our world when used for trains, school and transit buses, delivery vehicles, work vehicles and the like, but what about for individual use?
Are electric and alternative fueled cars “environmentally friendly,” as Nissan and other auto manufacturers would have us believe??
Sounds a bit too good to be true, and it is! Consider this.
In an effort to be kinder to the environment, the country of Sweden, a world leader in “green” cars, successfully promoted electric and alternative fueled cars on a wide scale. And the result? “To everyone’s surprise, greenhouse gas emissions from Sweden’s transportation sector are up.” (“The Green Revolution Backfires: Sweden’s Lesson for Real Sustainability” by Firmin DeBrabander: published by Common Dreams.org).
Why? Because the alternative fueled vehicles are more cost effective to run and now the Swedes feel good about driving, or at least less guilty, and are driving more than ever before! Greenhouse gas emissions from the country’s transportation system are now up, rather than down, obliterating the energy gains made by switching to “green” vehicles.
As Jane Holtz Kay, architecture/planning critic for the Nation and author of Asphalt Nation, Jan 2001 tells us, a “green car is an oxymoron. There is no free ride. No matter how efficient the engine, the automobile remains an enemy of the environment and society. It disrupts habitat and kills wildlife. No matter how energy efficient, the car and its highways will remain the major agents of sprawl and the primary species slayer and wetland eradicators.”
Here’s one last great quote by Mark Hertsgaard, published in Earth Odyssey years ago. “The car, it seems, is nothing less than addictive for human beings. Like cigarettes, cars are a source of seductive pleasure that eventually comes to enslave its users.”
Is it true?? Let’s prove him wrong! Dare to live car-free or car-lite! Choose to live close to work and services. Walk, bike, and use transit, getting from place to place in a truly “green” way.
