Serious question, is all this focus on electric cars missing the point?

I saved up for years to buy an electric car, thinking I was doing my part. But then I saw how much mining it takes to make the batteries, and it got me thinking. Everyone acts like switching to electric fixes everything, but what about all the other stuff we buy and throw away? It feels like we're just moving the problem around instead of solving it. I wish we talked more about using less stuff in the first place.

3 comments

3 Comments

the_terry1mo ago

Does it ever seem like we're just trading one type of damage for another? I mean, I had the same worry when I looked into solar panels for my house. The production waste is huge, and we barely talk about cutting back on energy use first. Maybe focusing on using less stuff is the real fix, not just new tech.

quinn_kim451mo ago

Nobody talks about how cheap energy from solar leads to more devices in homes. We save on power but fill houses with extra electronics.

morgan.cameron26d ago

My new electric car feels great until I remember the 500,000 pounds of rock mined for its battery. The_terry is right, we just keep swapping one mess for a bigger one.