Extinction Is Inconvenient

In his letter (EW, 1/2), Charlie Loeb suggests that it’s unreasonable to point out the environmental impact of electric cars because many people — especially those with children — won’t want to be inconvenienced by having to walk, bike or take the bus. Regretfully, though, the laws of physics don’t care about how inconvenienced someone might be.

What is commonly called “sustainability” isn’t truly sustainable. When examined through the lens of a more rigorous set of criteria, you discover that genuine, meaningful sustainability is a dauntingly complex, remote, far-flung ideal.

The good news is that in spite of the difficulty, the human family will achieve sustainability because we have no choice in the matter. Whatever we fail to do voluntarily, we will do involuntarily. Sustainability is not optional.

Even if climate change is a hoax, we still need to get off of fossil fuels because they are finite, non-renewable resources that will soon be painfully running out. (The same is true of lithium and copper.) Electric cars are  dependent on fossil fuels for almost all of their manufacturing, distribution and charging, and are therefore unsustainable.

Big changes approach as civilization collides with reality. Get ready to be inconvenienced.

Robert Bolman

Eugene