this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2023
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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago

The problem with this is that while true, the solution for lower emissions will look different for every place.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

There is a very impressive set of reasons why we could and should encourage less CO2 intensive forms of transport, indeed many actions. However, these arguments always seem to me to take the pattern of picking the extreme example of whatever good we are hoping to achieve and then implying that everyone else could easily make the switch. There is always a wide and natural variety in things and this is true for differences between nations too. Extreme examples used like this often just end up making a bigger divide between people because the discussion misses all of the important differences that constrain choices and shape outcomes. We just end up talking from our own perspectives and experiences rather than exploring the complicated and difficult questions of how we can produce localised and regional responses to CO2 emissions drawn from fossil fuels.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (4 children)

Here's the thing. Everyone will bike like the Dutch and the Dutch will bike even more. It's not a question of "if." We are already past peak oil. There will only be more wars and more climate change. Those who survive will be relying on bikes because petroleum won't be an option anymore and electric cars are not a real solution. Cities will become more dense, suburbs will decay, in all likelihood huge parts of the US will completely collapse because life will be impossible without cars. We know petroleum is finite and there is no other technology that will replace this.

We can prepare by rolling out infrastructure now, or we can just keep going and crash as hard as possible in to a wall. No matter what we do, we're going to stop using gas. I hope we do it on our terms rather than waiting for tons of people to die before we fix it, but I honestly don't have a lot of hope. But hey, some people are starting to wake up so maybe we can keep that going.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago (4 children)

You can ride a bike to work or the store around here, but you'll be walking home. Bikes are way too easy to quietly steal.

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[–] GreyEyedGhost 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I like this idea in principle, but the annual CO2 emissions for 2018 was about 35 billion tons. This makes the drop barely even impact our total production, let alone be enough to stop global warming.

It's still a worthy goal, but we'd be better off focusing on bigger wins, where even a few percent of carbon reductions would dwarf this number (or pushing for both).

[–] olbaidiablo 4 points 2 years ago (4 children)

This may work in the Netherlands, but in my country (Canada) where it's a 2 hour drive to the next city, it simply isn't feasible. I do, however, wish that my city was much more bicycle friendly and we had easier and cheaper options for bikes that could be enclosed from the weather.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

I was in Copenhagen for a layover and left airport to go for lunch and a beer. I HAD to go get a beer. I have beer all over the globe.

Anywho....as I enjoyed the beer, it was fascinating to watch the bike lanes. Seperated from cars, own light controls...so many people. Cambridge and Boston are making improvements for sure.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (4 children)

It probably would be helpful, but it wouldn't be that useful in the tropical regions, where you have monsoons with strong rain/wind and hot summers.
Physical exertion in the sun is not always fun.

It'd be fun when the destination is closer and when the weather is nice tho.

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