‘As consumers, we can continue our love affair with cars, and even rekindle that relationship by experiencing transportation as a sustainable service’
Better Place is working to build an electric car network utilizing current technologies. The California-based company aims to ‘reduce global dependency on petroleum through the creation of a market-based transportation infrastructure that supports electric vehicles, providing consumers with a cleaner, sustainable, personal transportation alternative.’ As much as I would like to advocate such a program, I cannot considering that coal is the largest source of fuel for the generation of electricity world-wide.
The greenhouse gas produced from burning coal greatly contributes to climate change and global warming. I don’t understand how Better Place can advocate for a better environment while their vehicles still produce carbon dioxide. Unfortunately, we do not see the effects of our dependency on burning coal because the majority of us do not live near coal burning facilities. When we look at cars and trucks we are able to identify the bi-products of smoke and gas. However when we flip a light switch or turn on the television, we see no evidence of pollution, the pollution is produced at a separate location.
Plugging in your vehicle is not safe, sustainable, friendly or better. Better Place’s third pillar believes in ‘a planet healing and thriving’. Is this a joke, is rekindling the relationship with our vehicles good in any way? Americans are overly obsessive with speed, scale and power far more then any other nation. Rekindling this experience is not justified by the convenience of simply ‘plugging-in’ our vehicles. It is time that the idea of the car be dismantled, and for designers to rethink transportation entirely. I refuse to live in, work in, or move in a bubble.
No cars go.
0 comments:
Post a Comment