Comment by esotericn | Hacker News Reader

Comment by esotericn | Hacker News Reader

Eh. We're currently at a stage in which we sort of have the tools to go carbon-neutral but aren't fully there yet.

For example, producing an EV currently involves releasing a bunch of CO2.

I can't name all of the reasons why but I imagine it'll be stuff like mining equipment being fossil powered, the trucks that transport the cars, the power that goes into refining stuff, etc.

Eventually all of that can be made carbon neutral; the only processes I can see potentially being an issue would be if like, actually digging the soil released CO2.

It would be literally impossible for the first EV to be made using only renewable energy by definition because it's the first.

Location matters too.

Sweden's electrical grid averages ~10-20g of CO2 per kWh because it's mostly nuclear/hydro.

The UK is at about 300g.

Trucks, vans, trains, etc should all be electrified as soon as possible. A last final burst of CO2 in order to create all of that, then we stop, perhaps sequester some, and off we go.

One can hope.

> perhaps sequester some

We need to sequester decades worth of output already, and soon, to avoid truly catastrophic effects within the next 100-200y. Just going neutral will not be enough.

One can hope that we can free ourselves from the individual car driver paradigm. We have the tools to go car-free, but aren't fully there yt.

Do you have children? The idea of going car free when you need to take 50kg of stuff with you everywhere is terrifying.

What are you taking everywhere?

The car seat and isofix base together must be the best part of 20kg. Then there's prams, nappy changing bag. If we're staying overnight, travel cot and chair etc.

OK.

No car no car seat.... Baby goes into pram - unless being carried in sling. Nappy bag hangs on pram. Other baby stuff goes under pram or in side thing. You may sometimes need a backpack. I don't recommend backpack because it limits baby in sling opportunity.

OK.

And we employ a Sherpa to carry our own luggage right?

I don't... This was friendly advice from one parent to another. Sarcasm was not required.

It sounds like your circumstances require a car for some journeys. But some journeys does not have to mean all journeys.

I don't mean this in a rude way, but the fact that you just tried to justify cars primarily by the need to transport car seats may be a hint that your thinking might be a little too set in the car paradigm. A lot of the problems solved by cars, are also caused by cars.

My partners parents live, according to Google, 38 miles or 53 minutes away by car

Alternatively, 3 hours, 2 trains and a bus away.

It's completely impractical with a small child.

Okay, that's a reasonable complaint, but travel time is a distinct and separate issue from the point we were discussing, which was the need to transport paraphernalia of which nearly half was car-related in the first place.

Nevertheless, it's another example of cars creating the problems that they solve - this kind of disparity can only be caused by a terrible public transport infrastructure, which in turn is caused by inadequate funding, which is caused by lack of demand due to cars (and lobbying of course). In most places in Europe, bus+train is much faster than driving for long journeys, especially intercity. Trains can go at speeds than would be unsafe on roads, and don't have to worry about traffic jams, while buses are frequent and often get dedicated lanes in cities.

There also exist strollers that double up as a car-seat without any extra attachment needed [1]. I've used it travel with baby via night train to a far away land where we got a rental car for shorter trips.

[1] https://www.shopdoona.com/products/doona-car-seat-stroller-c...

I like cars and own quite a fast one.

Having said that, the way you explain this sounds like some sort of extreme first world problems thing. You don't need any of that, it's just convenient.

I spent almost my entire childhood brought up on crappy public transport (e.g. not London, Tokyo, etc) in a medium sized town. Things like "staying overnight" just barely ever happened. I wouldn't have remembered it even if they did, so who cares?

I couldn't careless about cars and have a small economical one with sliding doors.

I also have a motorbike.

My baby doesn't weigh 50kg. Once he's that heavy, he can walk himself.

In megacities we should probably just ban cars.

Taxis should exist for the disabled or high profile targets.

In most of the world by land mass though cars aren't really an issue other than splitting nature corridors and maybe stuff like microplastics from tyres (it seems plausible for that to be fixed).

I have heard the idea floated that we should clump together in one continent or something and rewild the rest of Earth. I don't see that ever being politically palatable, but it is out there.

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