10 Comments
User's avatar
raluca's avatar

Maybe renewables just make more economic sense (maybe also because of incentives) and if you're going to start from scratch, maybe you can go with the one that's cheaper in the long term, and in some cases, in the short term.

Expand full comment
The Unhedged Capitalist's avatar

Indeed. Almost every car that's produced today has better gas mileage than its ~10 year old counterpart. Which is awesome! But the fact that people are buying cars that get better gas mileage is probably not indicative of a lot. As I seem to recall, pickup sales are off the charts.

Expand full comment
Arthur Worboys's avatar

A good study of closing the door after the horse has bolted?

Expand full comment
Garrett Baldwin's avatar

I don’t even know where to start with how silly this article is...

Expand full comment
Garrett Baldwin's avatar

Houston. The city of Houston. The Mecca of Oil and Gas.. was hit by the strongest hurricanes in American history... in the 30s. Boy did that make them run to lithium mining.

If you want to have a serious conversation about the human toll, let’s discuss strip mining for cobalt in the Congo... human slavery. Thrusting human life for emissions reduction.

Until then, this type of analysis is Shakespearean comedy.

Expand full comment
The Unhedged Capitalist's avatar

Strip mining in the Congo by child slaves? Got you covered

https://theunhedgedcapitalist.substack.com/p/book-review-cobalt-red

Strangely I haven't seen too many features on CNN and CNBC about how almost every EV has cobalt mined by what are essentially slaves, people working in some of the most inhumane conditions on the planet.

Expand full comment
UK Lawman's avatar

Awful that it takes this for people to change.

(1) I understand CO2 emissions world wide cause the ‘weather’ problem, not with local variations. Contrast pollution emissions as in China.

(2) As it gets worse will governments stop ‘pretend’ greenwashing and take real measures? We can only hope.

P.S. I agree with you on benefit claimants. Reform to ‘benefits’ is needed, but also job creation and education & training for workers which is free, accessible, and relevant to local employer needs.

Expand full comment
Adrien's avatar

This is all nonsense. Your conclusions are silly.

The only thing to be noticed here is that people go and buy NEW stuff once their OLD stuff is destroyed. NEW stuff is more energy efficient.

It's not a question of people's behaviour, they have the same spending habits. The only thing changing is that NEW stuff consumes LESS

Expand full comment
Peter's avatar

Since we are talking about sociology already, I’ll bet that most of us (myself included) came to this article with a desire to justify our own views. Those not in the field are at the mercy of the establishment publishing its narrative about global warming. Do we trust them? Do we trust the oil companies? Has either side proven itself to have our best interests at heart? Or are people being people and striving for money and power regardless of what side of this debate they are on? I am cynical about human nature and believe there is at least a temptation, if not a complete wantonness, on both sides to justify how things are (pro oil), or to justify a complete reversal of the economy (scientific/academic establishment)—not for scientific reasons, but to get power, prestige, and money. What can a poor layman do between two such large forces in the world?

Expand full comment
RabbiJacob's avatar

Makes sense, i imagine the green stuff is also subsidized making it cheaper to rebuild. Also I sort of hope this doesn't mean the whole world needs to have natural disasters for updating the energy grids 😂😂

Expand full comment