General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The Coming 'Instant Planetary Emergency'. [View all]magical thyme
(14,881 posts)and replacing the fossil fuel burning fleet will itself cause equal emissions to the old autos currently on the roads.
In the meantime, if we are not already in runaway warming, it is likely we will be before that happens. And don't forget that driving fossil fuel autos is only one factor in climate change. Manufacturing plants are huge. Agriculture, from running machinery and equipment to petroleum-based fertilizer. Heating buildings -- hospitals are massive fuel burners, not to mention manufacturing everything from the tubes and needles we draw blood with, the gloves we change dozens of times/day, to the reagents, washes, qc, etc. The office building I also work in is another massive fuel-burner. Keeping satellites aloft to run the internet and other spying operations are another. And then there is shipping dead chickens to China to be processed into mcnuggets and shipped back here again. Massive, massive waste throughout a system that burns massive amounts of fossil fuels every hour of every day.