An important aspect of electrifying transportation is that, once the internal combustion industry (ICE) is dead, it's dead forever - and for everyone. Between now and when the last gas-burning engine is sold, some 600 - 800 million ICE vehicles will be sold. That represents a lot of pollution, a lot of oil being purchased, and more military excursions funded by oil revenues. And of course, it provides billions in funding to the most right wing men in the world.
Progressives should not be buying gasoline.
Globally, some 25% of new car sales last year were electric. Here in the US, it was less than 8%. Digging further, I learned Americans bought over 15 million brand new gas-burning cars last year. That's over 41,000 every day! Every single one of them could easily afford an EV, but they chose the dirtier vehicle instead.
Given the electorate is 50/50, this means Dems are buying around 20,000 new gas cars every day. None of them should be doing this, and all of them are perpetuating the ICE industry as well as the sale of gasoline.
I would like to see Mr. McKibben address this issue. How can climate warriors dissuade folks on our side from ever buying a gas car again?
Keep in mind that once we kill the ICE industry, even MAGAs will have to buy EVs because we're going to eliminate their choice to buy a polluting car. That's some serious leverage we should be using.
"The whole of Asia is now electrifying and that is the soft underbelly of the global fossil system." "We can now conclude with near absolute certainty that the electrification of transport is unstoppable and will happen even faster than earlier expected. " https://archive.md/5Uwcy Article is cited in the Fix the News substack.
Sometime soon we will reach a point where the shift to renewables takes off. It will be so fast and comprehensive that in retrospect it will seem inevitable. There's no telling what will trigger it, though I have a suspicion. Certainly high gas prices will be a factor. But it may end up working in our favor that our president, who thinks he's a master negotiator, is actually crappy at it, and all of our adversaries know it. He'll go into talks with the Chinese, and in exchange for a free flow of rare earth metals and another 20 years of freedom for Taiwan, we'll allow China to sell the EVs in the US that American car makers don't want to sell anyway. India will follow, and suddenly it will be like the 70s, when nobody drove an American car anymore.
Kim Stanley Robinson gave us a vision of how we COULD get to a just sustainable world. A leader has vision. It's not the size of the challenge but the size of the leader that matters. My vision is that the US is no longer the center of the world, but now, more and more, a has been. In China, the world's largest oil importer and largest car market, has the hot new products. In China folks can buy an EVs for $7,800, a BYD Seagull. Cheaper than a gas car. In China, sales of ICE cars have collapsed. Sales of internal combustion engine cars are down 37%.
Great post as usual. Wish I'd been on that hike with you and Kim, because his imagination of what's possible, but just over the horizon has been so central to his wonderful books. The benefits of not having to go to the gas station are real. First with our Nissan Leaf and then the union-made, USA-made Chevy Bolt that replaced it, gas stations became these odd places we passed, but never went to except to put air in our tires--and then we got one of those cigarette-lighter plugins where we didn't even have to go for that. And yes, even with the Leaf, it's been fun to occasionally blast off from a light up a hill and leave some overpowered SUV or 4 x 4 in the dust.
I’d like to see a commercial with a little kid asking their parent what that is and pointing to a petrol station, as they drive past and the parent looking at the price of gas and shaking their head and then them carrying on their merry way!
Any of you ⛽ gas guzzlers running 🎽 on fumes, terrified of going bust in pursuit of your fossil fuel ⛽ fix ❓❓ Despair not, who ya gonna call 🤙🤙❓❓‼️ Fartwell International, first 🥇 name in natural 🤢 gas ✌️🤠
One place where I use my visual imagination comes from this quote from Curt Stager’s book YOUR ATOMIC SELF, where he writes about invisible carbon car exhaust mixing with invisible oxygen in the atmosphere: “It is still easy to overlook, for example, as Priestley and Becher did, the increase in total mass that fire produces in burning fuel, because the buoyancy and dispersal of the waste gases conceals it. Burning a six-pound gallon of gasoline releases about nineteen pounds of heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that transportation vehicles in the United States alone released more than a billion and a half metric tons of CO2 in 2012. Such perceptual limitations can make it difficult to notice our effects on our surroundings, and they can sometimes mislead us about the atomic nature of the air we breathe. [from Stager, Curt. Your Atomic Self (p. 16). St. Martin's Publishing Group] Imagining/“seeing” this gas expansion spewing out of every exhaust pipe of every car driving by can be exhausting, but making all of these invisibles into imagined visibles makes the growing issue of our heating climate graphically real, especially while driving an electric car with no exhaust. Thank you for your ever encouraging letters with ideas for actions and changes.
Bill, I think you could have added more info about how the Federal government has rigged things in favor of gas-guzzlers. Foremost is the elimination of all federal incentives to enhance affordability. No tax deductions or discounts. While Farari's new toy cost $640K, the average US EV costs 1/10 of that - still too pricey. Of course, Trump's embargo on Chinese BYDs that cost in the high $20Ks and are rated better than most competitors for technology, range, comfort, and reliability makes them unobtainable. Speaking of range, have you ever heard a commercial that mentions the range of an EV or a hybrid? That is because most US EVs have terrible range, and the fossil fuel industry has banned the installation of EV chargers at their gas stations. Thus, most people cannot buy an EV if they take long trips. Where are they going to recharge?
I will gladly appear in a commercial with my 10-yr old eGolf that only has a 75 mile range and is still running just fine. Somehow I have not been stranded more than once or twice and you know what, Triple A can pick you up and move you to your charger! That would make for a funny commercial
An important aspect of electrifying transportation is that, once the internal combustion industry (ICE) is dead, it's dead forever - and for everyone. Between now and when the last gas-burning engine is sold, some 600 - 800 million ICE vehicles will be sold. That represents a lot of pollution, a lot of oil being purchased, and more military excursions funded by oil revenues. And of course, it provides billions in funding to the most right wing men in the world.
Progressives should not be buying gasoline.
Globally, some 25% of new car sales last year were electric. Here in the US, it was less than 8%. Digging further, I learned Americans bought over 15 million brand new gas-burning cars last year. That's over 41,000 every day! Every single one of them could easily afford an EV, but they chose the dirtier vehicle instead.
Given the electorate is 50/50, this means Dems are buying around 20,000 new gas cars every day. None of them should be doing this, and all of them are perpetuating the ICE industry as well as the sale of gasoline.
I would like to see Mr. McKibben address this issue. How can climate warriors dissuade folks on our side from ever buying a gas car again?
Keep in mind that once we kill the ICE industry, even MAGAs will have to buy EVs because we're going to eliminate their choice to buy a polluting car. That's some serious leverage we should be using.
"The whole of Asia is now electrifying and that is the soft underbelly of the global fossil system." "We can now conclude with near absolute certainty that the electrification of transport is unstoppable and will happen even faster than earlier expected. " https://archive.md/5Uwcy Article is cited in the Fix the News substack.
Gasoline shortages inspire EV buying. In Australia, Asia, and Africa they have had shortages. https://archive.is/Sc7As
Sometime soon we will reach a point where the shift to renewables takes off. It will be so fast and comprehensive that in retrospect it will seem inevitable. There's no telling what will trigger it, though I have a suspicion. Certainly high gas prices will be a factor. But it may end up working in our favor that our president, who thinks he's a master negotiator, is actually crappy at it, and all of our adversaries know it. He'll go into talks with the Chinese, and in exchange for a free flow of rare earth metals and another 20 years of freedom for Taiwan, we'll allow China to sell the EVs in the US that American car makers don't want to sell anyway. India will follow, and suddenly it will be like the 70s, when nobody drove an American car anymore.
In most of the world renewables have already taken off. https://grist.org/energy/iran-war-oil-gas-coal-solar-nuclear/?fbclid=IwY2xjawSEaVdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeajizbkFcGX5YqmdjFp-KwZ9GscUaEQ2WOvDAloZ5S2W8-tWAJDXAStqgMCk_aem_8Ek26VTDj1Qg4-z_sU6Dtw
Another superb newsletter, Bill. You and the pope!
PS: kudos to getting Stan to Middlebury.
I've Read Robinson's book, The Ministry of the Future. It's wonderful!
Kim Stanley Robinson gave us a vision of how we COULD get to a just sustainable world. A leader has vision. It's not the size of the challenge but the size of the leader that matters. My vision is that the US is no longer the center of the world, but now, more and more, a has been. In China, the world's largest oil importer and largest car market, has the hot new products. In China folks can buy an EVs for $7,800, a BYD Seagull. Cheaper than a gas car. In China, sales of ICE cars have collapsed. Sales of internal combustion engine cars are down 37%.
https://electrek.co/2026/05/12/the-ice-age-is-over-gas-car-sales-drop-37-in-worlds-biggest-market/?fbclid=IwY2xjawSEM_tleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeS8s_V8Kf1PSEP0Ufjydaknfufp8inZCo32JyGRuT_v_WyXptHTCFos1W-U4_aem_M0ZwZy5XvFWaBnQegomR6g
At Plug In America, we produced PSAs extolling the benefits of EVs in 2010. Fun stuff. https://pluginamerica.org/plug-in-americas-public-service-announcements/
Thank you for great writing, and especially highlighting the importance of imagination!
Excellent as usual, Bill!
Great post as usual. Wish I'd been on that hike with you and Kim, because his imagination of what's possible, but just over the horizon has been so central to his wonderful books. The benefits of not having to go to the gas station are real. First with our Nissan Leaf and then the union-made, USA-made Chevy Bolt that replaced it, gas stations became these odd places we passed, but never went to except to put air in our tires--and then we got one of those cigarette-lighter plugins where we didn't even have to go for that. And yes, even with the Leaf, it's been fun to occasionally blast off from a light up a hill and leave some overpowered SUV or 4 x 4 in the dust.
I’d like to see a commercial with a little kid asking their parent what that is and pointing to a petrol station, as they drive past and the parent looking at the price of gas and shaking their head and then them carrying on their merry way!
Any of you ⛽ gas guzzlers running 🎽 on fumes, terrified of going bust in pursuit of your fossil fuel ⛽ fix ❓❓ Despair not, who ya gonna call 🤙🤙❓❓‼️ Fartwell International, first 🥇 name in natural 🤢 gas ✌️🤠
One place where I use my visual imagination comes from this quote from Curt Stager’s book YOUR ATOMIC SELF, where he writes about invisible carbon car exhaust mixing with invisible oxygen in the atmosphere: “It is still easy to overlook, for example, as Priestley and Becher did, the increase in total mass that fire produces in burning fuel, because the buoyancy and dispersal of the waste gases conceals it. Burning a six-pound gallon of gasoline releases about nineteen pounds of heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that transportation vehicles in the United States alone released more than a billion and a half metric tons of CO2 in 2012. Such perceptual limitations can make it difficult to notice our effects on our surroundings, and they can sometimes mislead us about the atomic nature of the air we breathe. [from Stager, Curt. Your Atomic Self (p. 16). St. Martin's Publishing Group] Imagining/“seeing” this gas expansion spewing out of every exhaust pipe of every car driving by can be exhausting, but making all of these invisibles into imagined visibles makes the growing issue of our heating climate graphically real, especially while driving an electric car with no exhaust. Thank you for your ever encouraging letters with ideas for actions and changes.
Thank you so much for this.
Bill, I think you could have added more info about how the Federal government has rigged things in favor of gas-guzzlers. Foremost is the elimination of all federal incentives to enhance affordability. No tax deductions or discounts. While Farari's new toy cost $640K, the average US EV costs 1/10 of that - still too pricey. Of course, Trump's embargo on Chinese BYDs that cost in the high $20Ks and are rated better than most competitors for technology, range, comfort, and reliability makes them unobtainable. Speaking of range, have you ever heard a commercial that mentions the range of an EV or a hybrid? That is because most US EVs have terrible range, and the fossil fuel industry has banned the installation of EV chargers at their gas stations. Thus, most people cannot buy an EV if they take long trips. Where are they going to recharge?
I will gladly appear in a commercial with my 10-yr old eGolf that only has a 75 mile range and is still running just fine. Somehow I have not been stranded more than once or twice and you know what, Triple A can pick you up and move you to your charger! That would make for a funny commercial
Maybe not a Pope, but a clear Cardinal in my church. Be well
I like this!