joel280•5h agoProlific Poster

Overheard a guy at my coffee shop say electric cars are worse for the planet than gas ones

I was grabbing my usual morning coffee at the Java Hut on 3rd Street last Tuesday and this guy in line was going off about how batteries are impossible to recycle and mining lithium ruins everything. He was loud enough that the whole shop heard him, and the barista just rolled her eyes. It got me thinking though, are people really this confused about the trade offs between mining and tailpipe emissions? Has anyone else run into this kind of argument and actually gotten through to the person?

2 comments

2 Comments

betty_ward2h ago

Didn't those battery recycling plants just open in Nevada last year?

-1

the_ben5m ago

@betty_ward you're right about Nevada, but here's the thing nobody mentions. Those plants are already struggling to get enough old batteries to recycle. Turns out most dead batteries end up sitting in people's garages or get tossed in regular trash instead of being turned in.