Over the past few decades, climate change has been a very controversial topic. Some believe that climate change doesn’t exist and others want to do something about it because they are concerned about global warming. Climatologists have been studying the gradual rise in the earth’s temperature due to the burning of fossil fuels, cutting down rainforests, and farming livestock which has been emitting greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. Scientists have found that if we rethink the way we use transportation we might be able to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide to almost none by 2050. So you might be thinking, how can we possibly reduce our carbon dioxide emissions to little to none?
The Effect of Electric Vehicles on the Environment
Electric vehicles have been the new trend in the automobile industry, they are brand new, they are practical, and they are fun. Electric vehicles use renewable energy so you may never have to stop for gas ever again, the way they work is you plug in your vehicle wherever there is a charging station. These new vehicles are more responsive, so they drive nicer and are more digitally connected. According to the Office of Energy Efficient and Renewable Energy, the US alone used nearly nine billion barrels of petroleum just last year, and two-thirds of that large number was just from transportation. Using electric vehicles cuts that number down since they use renewable energy and other domestic materials like coal, nuclear, and natural gas sources. Electric vehicles can help reduce carbon dioxide emissions and cut down on smog present in large cities.
However, electric vehicles also have a couple of downsides, one example is that they come with a hefty price tag, the average electric vehicle price is around $55,600. Although car corporations, like Tesla, are coming out with more “affordable” options such as the Standard Range Plus Model 3 still starts at $37,990 so they are trying to appeal to the average consumer but realistically, not everyone can afford a car with that price. One could also argue that you are saving money in the long run because Vanessa Page claims, “no more expensive gas” and “the yearly cost to drive a Tesla Model S 85D 15,000 miles is $612.” So overall, you will have to pay more money upfront when getting the car, but over time you are saving because you do not have to buy gas anymore. So if we are talking about if it is worth it to go green with our transportation, that would be a personal preference of the consumer, because the logistics of a normal car and an electric one comes down to if you always want to pay for gas. With a car like a Tesla, it needs to be charged on a regular basis, but you don’t have the hefty costs of gas every time you charge up.
The Effect of Trucks vs. Trains on the Environment
In Chanie Kirschner’s article, she makes an argument on how trains are more environmentally friendly than trucks. Trucks dominate transported freight across the United States 70% to trains 30% according to Kirschner. Trains are significantly better at hauling large amounts of cargo, using much less fuel compared to trucks. Kirschner writes a statistic from “The Association of American Railroads, estimates that on average, a freight train can move 1 ton of freight about 484 miles on just one gallon of fuel.” Trucks also destruct the main highways and roads over time because they are hauling a lot of weight on small roads, compared to trains that transport their goods over strong railways. The aims in this article is saying how the transportation of goods should be done via trains instead of trucks because they don’t use as much fuel, therefore not emitting as much carbon dioxide. Kirschner tried to persuade us by establishing her ethos when she quotes The Association of American Railroads and stating the statistic about the amount of fuel a train uses. I do believe her blindspot in this article is how she doesn’t establish who would be willing to make the switch from truck to train transportation, and the impacts of all of the truck drivers in America. However, Kirschner’s tone is very informative, and one may be convinced that she is well educated on the subject and provides reliable sources to support her claims.
New Driving System
One main cause of greenhouse gases is the emission of fossil fuels, back in 2018 the average American commuted about 27 minutes just one-way to work according to Ingraham. Over a span of one year that adds up to be around 225 hours or just over 9 calendar days. There are 7.8 billion people in the world, and if we are all contributing to greenhouse gases we aren’t going to have a future with our planet. This is why we need to come up with a new solution for our driving system. In Bill Ford’s TED Talk, he describes how we not only need smart cars, but we also need smart roads, smart parking, and smart public transportation. Since transportation is such a major topic, in order to get the result of little to no carbon dioxide emissions, we need to change the whole system. Ford lists many different locations around the world and how they are trying to solve the emission of fossil fuels. Just a couple of examples are, in “Masdar in Abu Dhabi uses driverless electric vehicles that can communicate with one another, and they go underneath the city streets. And up above, you’ve got a series of pedestrian walkways,” he also mentions in Hong Kong they have a system called octopus, “it ties together all the transportation assets into a single payment system,” it has “parking garages, buses, trains” all operating on the same system. These are two examples of cities that have changed their whole transportation system for the better and they are starting to see results in conserving fossil fuels and using more renewable energies.
Bill Ford is taking advantage of his relatives, his great grandfather being Henry Ford, and on his mother’s side, his great grandfather was Harvey Firestone, as a platform in order to convince people that he is educated on the subject and has the resources a.k.a. money, to do so. He seems hopeful and encouraging in the way he talks to the audience, he truly believes that we can make transportation eco-friendly very shortly. I feel like he’s trying to encourage everyone to come up with solutions for transportation, not just well-educated climatologists, he is hopeful that we can all help to make a difference. The only blind spot in his argument is where we will get the resources and funding to pursue this vision of his. Although his aims are clear and we can see he wants to help us see that we need to take into account what other countries have been doing, gather the research and data, then to make a plan of action to complete in the years to come in order to save our planet before it’s too late.
Cleaner Alternatives to Fossil Fuels
In Monica Araya’s TED Talk, she talks about her homeland, Costa Rica, and how they have been running just about 100% of their electricity from hydropower, geothermal, wind, solar, biomass sources. She goes on explaining that they have made a huge accomplishment in running their electricity from natural sources, but just like the United States, Costa Rica’s energy source from oil is up to 70%. Araya says after the civil war in 1948, Costa Rica abolished their army and invested military funds into “social spending,” things like free healthcare and education, the government also used the funds for preserving the rainforests and starting the transformation onto hydropower. Since they have completely changed the culture and government structure once before, Araya is confident that Costa Rica could do it again, and this time around they would stop the use of fossil fuels. She admits that it would be a difficult transition but now is the perfect time since the “model of transportation and urbanization is broken,” and the cities are meant “for the people” and not cars and buses. Araya is trying to say how we can transform our environment and transfer over to renewable energy, but it is going to take commitment and determination to get it done because this is a huge task to stop using fossil fuels, but once we do, we will have a safe and clean environment to live in.
Although Araya’s points are very convincing I do feel that she has a blindspot in her argument because she is solely focused on Costa Rica, global warming is a “global” problem, not just one country, so getting a large country like the United States to do the same as Costa Rica would be a lot harder to transfer onto renewable energy sources. But her assertive and passionate tone is really convincing and I believe that a place like Costa Rica could set an example for the rest of the world to follow. From watching her TED Talk, you may assume that her audience is everyone but Costa Ricans because she is confident in all of what they have accomplished and hopes that everyone else will take notes and act on renewable energy sources just like them.
Taking a Step Back, Why Should We Care?
For the people who believe in climate change, they are looking for a plan of action to start doing now, so we have a habitable world in the future so the generations to come can succeed. They value the environment around them and they want to make it better than it already is right now.
The Opposing Side
Regardless of all of the scientific evidence that supports the impact of using fossil fuels causing climate change, everybody has the right to their own opinion, and not everyone believes in climate change. There was a survey put out by Business Insider and some of the people’s responses for why they didn’t believe in climate change were: the weather has not changed/ it’s still cold, the temperature varies naturally, conflicting or insufficient scientific evidence, news reports and research are false, thinking God is in control, the list goes on and on. There is opposition because people have different backgrounds, education, and beliefs, which means that not everyone will have the same concern about climate change.
There are 4 out of 10 Americans that don’t acknowledge climate change, the reason behind this is because we tend to focus and want to take action on issues that are personal, abrupt, immoral, and happening right now, according to PBS.org. Climate change is always discussed as something we will worry about in the future, we will start to use renewable energy, we will start transfer over to electric cars in the future, this select group of people thinks the solution is something we should worry about down the road and not now. This group of people have other priorities, they would rather worry about the military, terrorism, immigration, and especially the economy. The economy is very important to those who don’t believe in climate change because they would much rather have a strong, powerful country, than an eco-friendly and liberating one.
This ongoing debate on whether climate change is real isn’t going to change anytime soon, because Americans can’t seem to get on the same page. But what you have to ask yourself is, do you want your children and grandchildren to have a safe and healthy environment to grow up in? If you said yes, then we should start doing something about global warming instead of saying “we will plan something,” we need to take action now rather than later.
Works Cited:
Araya, Monica. “Transcript of ‘A Small Country with Big Ideas to Get Rid of Fossil Fuels.’” TED, June 2016, http://www.ted.com/talks/monica_araya_a_small_country_with_big_ideas_to_get_rid_of_fossil_fuels/transcript.
Arjona, Vanessa. “Batteries, Charging, and Electric Vehicles.” Energy.gov, 29 Sept. 2020, http://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/batteries-charging-and-electric-vehicles.
Bertrand, Natasha. “Here’s Why People Don’t Believe In Climate Change.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 25 Nov. 2014, http://www.businessinsider.com/public-religion-report-climate-change-2014-11.
Ford, Bill. “A Future Beyond Traffic Gridlock.” TED, Mar. 2011, http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_ford_a_future_beyond_traffic_gridlock.
Hanson, Joe. “It’s Okay to Be Smart.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 11 Aug. 2016, http://www.pbs.org/video/its-okay-be-smart-climate-science/.
Ingraham, Christopher. “Analysis | Nine Days on the Road. Average Commute Time Reached a New Record Last Year.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 4 Oct. 2019, http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/07/nine-days-road-average-commute-time-reached-new-record-last-year/.
Kirschner, Chanie. “Which Is More Efficient for Freight: Truck or Train?” Treehugger, 18 Aug. 2019, http://www.treehugger.com/which-is-more-efficient-for-freight-truck-or-train-4863063.
Page, Vanessa. “The Economics Of Owning A Tesla Car.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 28 Aug. 2020, http://www.investopedia.com/articles/active-trading/041515/economics-owning-tesla-car.asp.
Cosner Rhetoric 