Elon Musk has made a great legacy for his finance, economics and technological innovation.
Ultimately when it comes purely to the environment, I see him as no good.
Please step outside the box when it comes to cars: Whatever fuel cars run on, they put a tremendous strain on the environment. They require roads which cut through ecosystems and require heavy maintenance. Production, transport, spread and utilization of asphalt and concrete are bad for the environment. The paved over of areas for drivable and parkable surfaces absorb heat and raise local temperatures while rerouting rain and water flows while adding pollutants to that water. Production of any engine or fuel type car requires the mining and smelting of metals, which is also tremendously bad for the environment, just to build the car itself.
Now, the fuel: Whether your car runs on an electric battery or a gas engine, the power ultimately comes from the combustion of fossil fuel, whether it be in your engine or at the local power plant. If your power plant is non fossil fuel, it probably runs on either nuclear, which leaves dangerous radioactive waste, or hydroelectric, which has flooded vast areas and disrupted ecosystems. Electric cars will encourage more of one or the other, or both, by driving demand for grid electricity much higher. Electric cars also require more smelting and production of specific and normally harmful and likely-to-be poorly disposed of toxic metals for their batteries.
Elon Musk encourages car dependency. He has not stepped outside the box of car-dependent society. He advocates building and subsidizing more roads. What Musk has accomplished in his technological advances in space travel is truly great. However, we are still burning fossil fuels as our only means of traveling into orbit and space. Should this really be any priority for us at this time of environmental challenges?
There are many productive and happy low-car cities planned around walkability, active and mass transit Some good examples are in Finland and the Netherlands, where cycling is able to be used as the primary form of transit even in the Finnish harsh winter due to their winter maintenance of cycling infrastructure. People are healthier and even crime is lower due to the higher density and lower anonymity of non-car-centered urban planning.
Ultimately when it comes purely to the environment, I see him as no good.
Please step outside the box when it comes to cars: Whatever fuel cars run on, they put a tremendous strain on the environment. They require roads which cut through ecosystems and require heavy maintenance. Production, transport, spread and utilization of asphalt and concrete are bad for the environment. The paved over of areas for drivable and parkable surfaces absorb heat and raise local temperatures while rerouting rain and water flows while adding pollutants to that water. Production of any engine or fuel type car requires the mining and smelting of metals, which is also tremendously bad for the environment, just to build the car itself.
Now, the fuel: Whether your car runs on an electric battery or a gas engine, the power ultimately comes from the combustion of fossil fuel, whether it be in your engine or at the local power plant. If your power plant is non fossil fuel, it probably runs on either nuclear, which leaves dangerous radioactive waste, or hydroelectric, which has flooded vast areas and disrupted ecosystems. Electric cars will encourage more of one or the other, or both, by driving demand for grid electricity much higher. Electric cars also require more smelting and production of specific and normally harmful and likely-to-be poorly disposed of toxic metals for their batteries.
Elon Musk encourages car dependency. He has not stepped outside the box of car-dependent society. He advocates building and subsidizing more roads. What Musk has accomplished in his technological advances in space travel is truly great. However, we are still burning fossil fuels as our only means of traveling into orbit and space. Should this really be any priority for us at this time of environmental challenges?
There are many productive and happy low-car cities planned around walkability, active and mass transit Some good examples are in Finland and the Netherlands, where cycling is able to be used as the primary form of transit even in the Finnish harsh winter due to their winter maintenance of cycling infrastructure. People are healthier and even crime is lower due to the higher density and lower anonymity of non-car-centered urban planning.
