Climate panic
The present advancement of electric vehicles is not economic but political. The current leadership in Washington, D.C., is pushing climate change as the great evil of our time. Fossil fuels are the cause of that climate change and will destroy the world, and only the politicians can save us from this evil by changing over to battery-powered vehicles, the great Green Revolution.
Climate change is real, but it is not the crisis that the politicians make it out to be. Those that say climate change is not that big a deal are branded as “deniers,” just as those that said the Earth is not the center of the universe were branded as “deniers” by the church.
To push the case for electric vehicles, the Biden administration is choking off domestic production of fossil fuels, which will force gas prices to increase. With climate change scare tactics, they are hoping to push people into electric vehicles.
Some studies show that the carbon footprint for electric vehicle construction is larger than standard cars. Then you need all those charging stations, and they will need electric power that will be generated by what?
What costs more to operate, an electric dryer or a propane gas dryer?
Who provides the cobalt, lithium and other semi-precious materials that these batteries need? Where do we get these materials from, and are we creating a situation that will cost future lives in wars so that we can maintain these supplies?
We have all the fossil fuels we need in America. We can stretch those supplies by generating our electricity with nuclear power. How much carbon would that save?
France generates over 70% of their electric power with nuclear, and if needed, we could grow our fuel. We were oil independent but not anymore.
All we are doing is making the countries that control the battery materials our bosses, and they will charge us as much as they want, and we will have to pay it because those batteries need to be replaced.
Political scientists promote and push a technology they never look at or consider the unintended consequences. Electric vehicle use should be done by the free market, where it will grow slowly and follow actual demand, not artificially induced panic.
Roger Schweitzer
Volcano
Human decency
The Darwin Awards are a satiric honor given to those who improve the human genome with the spectacularly stupid way in which they remove themselves from it.
An example is the man who sent a letter bomb to someone he hated. When the package was returned for insufficient postage, he opened it and blew himself up.
I nominate all “anti-vaxxers” for the 2021 Darwin Award. They ignore science, experience and common sense to pretend that somehow the COVID-19 vaccine does more harm than good.
Every shred of actual evidence shows exactly the opposite: The various vaccines are safe for the user, highly effective in preventing the spread of the disease, and thus extremely useful in combating the pandemic.
The difference between the usual Darwin Award winner and the anti-vaxxers is that most Darwin Award candidates kill only themselves through their stupidity.
Unfortunately, the stupidity of the anti-vaccine crowd endangers not only themselves, but also everyone who comes in contact with them. That is inexcusable.
Anyone with a shred of human decency will do anything possible to avoid harming others. If you make any claim to being a reasonable person, get vaccinated!
It’s the rational, responsible, humane thing to do.
Dan Lindsay
Hilo