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Cycling is ten times more important than electric cars for reaching net-zero cities (theconversation.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/bicycles@lemmy.ca
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Globally, only one in 50 new cars were fully electric in 2020, and one in 14 in the UK. Sounds impressive, but even if all new cars were electric now, it would still take 15-20 years to replace the world’s fossil fuel car fleet.

The emission savings from replacing all those internal combustion engines with zero-carbon alternatives will not feed in fast enough to make the necessary difference in the time we can spare: the next five years. Tackling the climate and air pollution crises requires curbing all motorised transport, particularly private cars, as quickly as possible. Focusing solely on electric vehicles is slowing down the race to zero emissions.

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[–] 33 points 2 years ago (17 children)

Cycling is not the solution. It's infrastructure.

I would love a walkable city. But I can't afford housing close to the city. The bus or train system isn't strong enough or convenient enough. Our country are set up for cars. Housing prices are set up for people to drive further to live.

Have affordable housing near the places I work and I won't need to drive. Stop blaming people for living their lives around a broken infrastructure. Stop cramming bicycles down our throats. We are not the problem.

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    We are not the problem.

    Then what is the problem?

    The infrastructure

    And who built the infrastructure?

    We did.

    👉

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  • [–] 19 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    "we" is used very liberally here. I had no say in the planning, implementation, or even the allocation of funds for the current infrastructure. In fact, most of it has existed since before I was born.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    You’ve also been able to vote in a few local elections along the way, yeah? Where I’m at there are often candidates who champion bicycle infrastructure, and it’s not a new phenomenon. More often than not they’re mocked and not elected. I imagine my city isn’t unique in that.

    So yea, WE are to blame.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago

    most of it has existed since before I was born.

    I'm sure a lot of things existed before you were born.

    There were also a lot of things that didn't exist before you were born.

    Change da world, my final message. Good bye.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago

    I'm sick of people blaming the people. I'm sick of people trying to shove bicycles down our throats like THAT will fix the issue.

    My comment was in response to the blaming of the people and pushing cycling as the solution. This article should be, how do we influence better zoming laws. How we do improve the city infrastructure.

    We do vote. Every election cycle. We do what we can with our few voices.

    The sooner we stop upvoting these shit articles the sooner we can fix the actual issue.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (9 children)

    Yeah cars aren’t part of the solution at all

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (7 children)

    Cars are just the "effect" of the "cause". Vote in your local elections for better zoning laws and stop upvoting these shit articles that blame the people.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (6 children)

    We won’t fix the problem until they are gone

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (5 children)

    I mean, with that logic, if 1/2 of the world population didn't eat and just died, that would also fix the problem too. But that isn't going to happen so your statement is as dumb as mine.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (4 children)

    Put a ban in place for 2030 or 2035 and it will be fixed

    If you don’t do that then everything will be designed with the existence of cars in mind

    Even today they are building new roads, you go to a sub division and there are roads in front of every house

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (3 children)

    So people like me who can't afford a job near my work have to ride a bicycle for 40 miles one-way for my work because someone in the past made home zoning impossible to scale the population growth.

    Please tell me why I have to suffer and those fuckers who is camping in those expensive unattainable homes get to enjoy their home values?

    Why do you want people like me to suffer more than I already do by having to drive 80 miles a day?

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (2 children)

    The point is you won’t fix that if there are cars

    Why would you suffer from an issue that only exists because of cars if there weren’t cars?

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