Originally Posted by
Leisesturm
You entered this thread very defensive about your NEED to drive. I'm not arguing this. I specifically said I'm not questioning anyone's need to drive. I am questioning why it needs to be with an internal combustion vehicle. And that's not entirely on you. In 2022 a driver simply should not have to think about it. There should not be any ICE vehicles that are legal for them to drive. The prices for plug in electric would DROP. The precious children that we care so much about are not going to have quality lives if we don't leave them some oil! They are not going to have quality lives if we so pollute the planet that all the life in and on it is deformed and diseased. As much as you think we NEED cars, we do not. We need to share what cars there are and they ALL need to be electric. Yesterday. I am being a hard@$$ about it because we've tried it the 'reasonable' way for too long. The personal exception way only leads to more delay and really there is no more delay possible.
My point wasn’t that I need a personal exemption. It’s that in order for everyone to really be able to not drive a car, we need to restructure a lot of things for people who currently have legitimate needs to be driving. I agree, there’s no good reason for ICE vehicles to still be on the road. I don’t have an EV because they aren’t available - there are long waiting lists - and I have specific needs to be able to accommodate my car seats. That’s a solvable problem, because there isn’t a lack of demand, but there doesn’t seem to be urgency about increasing supply and encouraging the switch. Affordability is also a problem, but that’s really only a short term problem because it doesn’t take long for maintenance and fuel costs to surpass the purchase price of an EV. Obviously EVs dont fully solve the problem because the electricity is not always generated without fossil fuels, but that is also true for many other parts of our lives, like heating our homes. For me personally, right now it’s easier for me to curb my fossil due use by living in a smaller home and keeping the house a bit cooler in winter and opening windows instead of using AC in summer, than it is for me to curb fossil fuel use for the trips I need to take in a car.
I’m really not trying to be whiny. I’m simply saying if we want real solutions, they are going to be more complicated than simply saying “drive less” or “switch your car for a bike” because there really are times where those aren’t good solutions. It doesn’t mean we throw up our hands, it just means we have to look at the root of where the problem comes from and come up with solutions for the ‘exceptions.’