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An Ethical Analysis of the Electric Vehicle (Environmental Impacts of…
An Ethical Analysis of the Electric Vehicle
The Future
I think this topic should matter to others because it is really about the future of transportation and how I'm assuming each of our grandchildren will be getting around the world.
What inspired my topic when considering all of the issues was this. I saw a Tesla, parked in the EV only parking with the license plate 2 Vegans. I immediately thought of the people who have died behind the wheel, the environmental consequences of these batteries and the conditions of mining in Africa where these metals come from that are the means of producing these batteries.
I am not saying anything against being vegan but there is definitely some irony with how dirty these cars actually can be behind the scenes
The technological problems some of the newer cars have had that make them dangerous and put yourself and other drivers at risk because the technology is so new.
There have been instances of these cars catching fire in people's houses and driving people into oncoming traffic when put in autonomous mode.
People's decision making on purchasing an electric car
the unseen aspects of producing an electric car that people do not think about when they go in to purchase one in a dealership.
Before we make impulse purchases like 100K on a new Tesla that makes us feel like an environmental hero, we need to look into everything that gets put into it to understand fully where we are at in the world today, and if there are other options that may be better.
Environmental Impacts of Producing the EV
In China, hundreds of millions of electric cars and bikes have been sold, when in reality, the factories that produce these vehicles are putting more pollutants in the air per vehicle than a lifetime of driving a gas guzzling car would.
I have always been a supporter of a raw, gas powered rocket ship on wheels but also can't help but think about the lonely polar bear floating on a broken ice burg, so I want to express where the middle ground is between these two.
Governments actually incentives the purchases of these vehicles and they are sold to us as if we are the savior of planet earth.
I think it is superficial that governments are paying subsidies to consumers buying electric cars that are produced in places like china, where they pollute significantly
We need to transfer our electric production from coal to fossil fuels to stop contributing so many greenhouse gases to support these electric cars.
We need to be aware that these batteries only have a lifespan of about 5 years and once that ends they are not even recycled but buried underground contaminating our soil and water.
Ethical Mining of Metals for Batteries
Some of these mines even use child labor with kids digging toxic metals with their bare hands!
I have learned that in the Congo, workers are mining the ingredients for lithium ion batteries in some of the worst conditions possible without any safety equipment or tools.
Similar to the Blood diamond outbreak back in the early 2000's where diamonds being sold on American soil were coming from war torn parts of Africa