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Tom Lent's avatar

Thank you. Very eloquent.

Just one modest quibble. EVs are not the silver bullet.

Critically important, yes. But no analyst seriously thinks there is any way to turn over the fleet fast enough to bring our climate emissions down as far as we need as fast as we need - much less to drastically cut our dependence on oil from soulless autocrats this year.

But we can make big progress in cutting down both climate change and Putin if we simply Get. Out. Of. The. Damn. Car. for every trip that we can. That may be hard to imagine going far in rural Vermont, but most Americans live in places where there average car trips are about 4 miles. For a big chunk of the year that is a simple distance to go on a bike. As a bonus you won't be in danger of participating in the slaughter of 40,000+ people that car drivers kill each year in the US.

Got too much to carry? Don't want to arrive in sweat? E-bikes are a game changer. The bike for people who hate to bike. And incredibly efficient. 1000-4000 MPGe. Twenty times as carbon efficient as the best electric cars. Worried about lithium for batteries? E-bikes get 30-100 times more miles per pound of battery than electric cars.

And e-bikes are safer than pedal bikes, particularly where the bike paths are not the best.

Best of all they make you feel bionic and are incredibly fun.

Please, Bill, make getting out of the car - and on to e-bikes - part of your rap.

https://www.climateaction.center/ebike

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Mardi Crane-Godreau, PhD's avatar

After Pearl Harbor, American ambivilance to WWII rapidly evaporated. We rebuilt the ships lost in the attack and many more. Factories ran 24/7 to build aircraft, tanks, to manufacture uniforms and helmets and so much more. Gasoline? Well, it was rationed. Like sugar and other comodities where supply and demand played a role, the first need was the war effort. After that, families could use ration coupons that allowed them to purchase their allotment of gas for their cars.

Putin is little different from Hitler. In many regards he is playing a similar hand. We cannot be naive to think that he will stop with Ukraine.

A small sacrifice that each of us can make to defend the wellbeing of our nation and those of our allies, is to understand that this war in Europe will effect the lives of everyone in the US and likely everyone in the world in one way or another. Decreasing our demand for gasoline and other petroleum products will help to reduce price increases. It will also reduce demand for a product that largely drives the Russian economy. We can make a difference.

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