From Watts Up With That?
Essay by Eric Worrall
h/t observa; There is no path to appeasement – nothing is ever green enough for climate fanatics.
Climate Protestors Thrown Out Of NY Auto Show After Oiling Ford F-150 Lightning
Climate activists protested the New York Auto Show, claiming that EVs don’t do enough to address climate change
by Sebastien Bell
April 1, 2024 at 12:04
- Climate protestors were dragged out of the New York International Auto Show after pouring liquid on the floor and onto an electric Ford F-150 Lightning.
- The group behind the action, Extinction Rebellion, says that EVs don’t do enough to avert a climate disaster.
- The group claims it is not protesting automotive enthusiasts but, instead, the infrastructure decisions that mean millions of Americans have no choice but to buy cars and drive.
Members of the climate activism group Extinction Rebellion were forcibly removed from the 2024 New York International Auto Show this weekend, after pouring what appears to be oil on an electric vehicle, as well as the show floor, while shouting that there are “no EVs on a dead planet.”
The protestors stepped in front of an all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning modified to tackle off-road conditions. The pickup truck had just been rolled out in front of a crowd of people as the auto show opened to the public. While it may seem counterintuitive, the group said it wasn’t protesting automotive enthusiasts, but rather the EV industry.
…
“Electric vehicles don’t solve the real problem with cars: wastefully large infrastructure, needlessly complex and resource-intensive construction, and energy inefficiency, even in the case of electric cars,” said Miles Grant, an Extinction Rebellion spokesperson. “Electric vehicles are a popular investment because they don’t disrupt the status quo.”
As a result, the group wants discussions about environmental improvement to include smaller, greener vehicles, and public transportation. CBS reports that the same group protested a performance of the Henrik Ibsen play, “An Enemy Of The People,” on Broadway this month. The play focuses on a man who exposes an unpalatable truth publicly, and is punished for it.
My first thought given the publication date, maybe this was an April Fools joke? But there is a video which looks genuine, and the story has been republished on other outlets.
Another video of the same event.
Extinction Rebellion provided the following explanation on their twitter feed:
From Extinction Rebellion’s press release:
… Automobile production-as-usual won’t be possible on Earth if humanity fails to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. If we continue at our current pace of production expansion, there won’t be enough resources to meet car production demand, EV and gas-powered alike.
Construction of an electric vehicle requires immense amounts of resources that are rare and difficult to obtain. Steel, electronics, batteries (and the lithium they contain), and the concrete and asphalt infrastructure cars require, all involve extremely high-emission production. For every EV produced, 900 kg of highly polluting coal-based steel will be used, which will then go unrecycled due to copper contamination from wiring in EVs. The steel industry, already responsible for 11% of global CO2 emissions and over 10% of global resource extraction, is set to triple in size by 2050, with this growth driven primarily by the auto industry.
Lithium mining is also causing disastrous environmental damage throughout the world, as well as human rights abuses. Lithium batteries are not yet recyclable, and their lifespans are short. Swapping out oil extraction for a different extraction is not a net improvement. As with oil, the resources required for EV production are finite.
In Nevada, Thacker Pass (known as Peehee Mu’huh in Paiute), a vast nature preserve, has the largest known lithium deposit in the country and one of the largest in the world. Following a month of nonviolent protests at the site, six activists are facing lawsuits from Lithium Nevada Corporation. This is an attempt to suppress constitutionally protected free speech and protest. In a groundbreaking move for the American legal system, the defense is asserting a biodiversity necessity defense. …Read more: https://www.xrebellion.nyc/news/no-electric-vehicles-on-a-dead-planet
Extinction Rebellion is absolutely correct that there is nothing green about EVs. Building electric vehicles from high carbon components, extracting Lithium, rare Earth elements, and Cobalt, have all been criticised for their environmental and human rights impacts. When you add that EVs are recharged using mostly fossil fuel supplied electricity, EVs likely do nothing to reduce emissions.
But Extinction Rebellion’s demand for more public transport or smaller vehicles is unacceptable.
Last time I sat on public transport I sat on a puddle of urine, someone wet the seat and didn’t tell anybody, so no thanks to public transport. And of course there is the enhanced risk of encountering a knife or gun wielding junkie on public transport, especially late at night in crime hotspots like New York.
As for small vehicles, small vehicles in rural Australia and pretty much everywhere else are a death trap.
During my recent road trip into the Aussie outback, I hit numerous feral animals, including a feral pig which darted out suddenly. The high speed collision with the pig lifted the left side of my two ton 4WD 30 degrees off the level road. No damage to the vehicle or occupants, thanks to the big shock absorbers and heavy steel armour plating on the underside of my vehicle. But can you imagine what would have happened if I had hit that same animal while driving one of the little death carts Extinction Rebellion wants us to drive? At the very least my road trip would have ended with an extensive stay in hospital.
Even high population density nations like Britain have significant feral deer populations. I never personally collided with a deer in Britain, though I had a few narrow escapes while driving in rural parts of the home counties, an hour’s drive from London. You don’t have to go far outside town to encounter the risk of colliding with large animals. Sometimes, especially when forage is in short supply, large feral animals intrude deep into cities. Those deer I saw in rural areas near London were more than big enough to wreck a normal vehicle, and put the lives of small vehicle drivers at risk.
Of course, Extinction Rebellion protestors themselves appear to be utter climate hypocrites, wearing a heady mix of oil based synthetic clothing to their protest. More fossil fuel was likely used to produce their machine woven synthetic clothing than was contained in the oil cans they poured on the EV.
Until Extinction Rebellion conduct these protests naked, personally divested of all fossil fuel products, I refuse to take their protests seriously. Environmentalists cannot expect others to accept their accusations of hypocrisy, when they themselves stink of that very same big oil hypocrisy.
Let’s see Extinction Rebellion take inspiration from Lady Godiva, the 11th century Noblewoman who started the feminist and workers rights movements by riding through town naked to protest against unfair treatment of the peasants. They should also avoid all use of artificial deodorants, cosmetics and fossil fuel based chemical body products, and only use natural products such as Native American mineral paints extracted by hand from traditional local sources, which they collected in person.
Then nobody will call Extinction Rebellion hypocrites and fools, right?
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