Or are those
'green' gestures
nearly worthless
virtue-signaling ?
Going vegetarian
is very difficult.
One large
U.S. survey
showed that
84% of people
who try, will fail,
most of them
in less than a year.
A peer-reviewed
study has shown
a vegetarian diet
reduces individual
CO2 emissions
by the equivalent
of 540 kilograms
-- just 4.3% of emissions
of the average inhabitant
of a developed country.
But ... most money
saved on cheaper
vegetarian food,
is likely to be
spent on other
goods and services
that cause
additional
greenhouse-gas
emissions,
perhaps
cutting the
average CO2
emissions
reduction
from
vegetarianism
in half.
Electric cars
are recharged
with electricity
generated mainly
by burning
fossil fuels.
Producing
energy-intensive
batteries for
electric cars
causes huge
CO2 emissions.
The International
Energy Agency
( IEA )
says an electric car
with a range
of 400 kilometers
( 249 miles )
has a huge
'carbon deficit'
when it hits the road,
and will start saving
CO2 emissions
only after
being driven
60,000 kilometers.
Yet most people
use their
electric car
as a second car,
and will drive it
shorter distances
than their
gasoline
vehicle(s).
Despite subsidies
of $10,000 per car,
battery-powered
electric cars
are less than
one-third of 1%
of the world’s
one billion
vehicles.
The IEA estimates
that electric cars
could account
for 15% of the
much larger
global fleet
in 2040,
but notes
that this
increase
in share
will reduce
global CO2
emissions
by just 1%.
As IEA
Executive
Director
Fatih Birol
has said,
“If you think you can save
the climate with electric cars,
you’re completely wrong.”
Fossil fuels
currently meet
81% of our
global energy
needs.
And even
if every
promised
climate policy
in the 2015 Paris
climate agreement
is achieved
by 2040,
fossil fuels
will still deliver
74% of the total.
Citizens in
advanced
economies
who believe
that eating
less steak,
and commuting
in a Toyota Prius,
will rein in rising
temperatures,
are virtue
signaling
fools.