China’s energy grid is about 80% fossil fuels. Assuming their energy mixture remains unchanged (a bad assumption as their coal usage is on the decline) it would take about 65,000 miles for an EV’s carbon output to break even with an equivalent ICE vehicle.

The waste and suffering involved in carbon intensive fuels is ongoing instead of being single event. One benefit of renewable tech is the recyclability of it’s components. Once we’re made the battery it can be recycled and died not require ongoing extractive mining forever.

EVs have a place in a just future and can do some good at this time. Alternatives to cars are still a far more important and uncomplicated solution to our climate problems

I will say my Fairphone is a good bit thicker than my work Iphone but honestly it’s not a significant downside for me. The weight is a bigger deal but still not worth the trade-off for a phone I can be confident I can repair myself

The ones that are successful at enshitification have captive markets. They’re a monopoly, monopsony, or in another kind of inelastic market. https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/

Groups of humans have lived beneficially with other life before. Plenty of folks are doing it right now. The endless need for consumption and extraction are manufactured for the benefit of the few. Eliminate the system that requires endless economic growth and we can start making decisions that won’t destroy ourselves and others

Say her name https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_Caruana_Galizia

• trauma kit

• tourniquet
• clotting agent impregnated gauze
• a couple chest seals
• trauma sheers

• small OTC pharmacy
• sun screen
• lactose pills for friends
• booboo kit
• tampons and pads for friends
• Armytek Zippy keychain flashlight
• a couple 5 ah phone batteries so I can give one away if I need to
• tool kit

• tailor’s measuring tape
• long titanium spoon
• sharpening stone
• tweezers
• small amount of silicone lube (squeaky things annoy me)
• tape
• zip ties
• Leatherman wave +
• Leatherman bit kit
• 3 inch titanium cressent wrench
• compact titanium combination socket and bit wrench
• paper and 2 in one sharpie
• lighter
• backup dog poop bags
• doc bronners soap
• small sewing kit

• wet wipes
• cord cut in convenient lengths
• spare socks
• seasonal accessories (sun hat, merino neck tube, knit glommits)
• cotton bandana
• check in case I forget to bring one when I pay rent
• plastic reusable bag if I need to carry more stuff than my bag’s expanding pouch can hold
• single wall stainless steel water bottle
• fig bar
• chocolate covered almonds
• pepper gel
• emergency debit card in case I forgot my wallet
• small folding opinel knife for food
• spray bottle full of alcohol
• 3x magnification monocular for bird watching
• little pouch to keep dry leftovers in
• a couple kn95s with different strap styles since some of my friends like the ones that go on your ears

All of that fits in a 9 liter Poler Hip N Bindle

Taking space used for cars and giving it to cyclist does actually make everyone’s life better, even drivers. You get less pollution, traffic, medical cost to the NHS, pedestrian deaths, and infrastructure costs.

Be the change you want to see in the world. Collapse society yourself /s

Country is a little vague so I’ll supliment state in it’s place. I’d argue there are communist societies but no communist states. “communist states” may be an oxymoron.

A useful way to think about self described communist states is that they are attempting to build communism. Whether or not their strategies are effective is up for rigorous debate of course.

Communist societies on the other hand have existed since the dawn of humanity. I read an interesting book titled The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow. They cover a variety of indigenous groups’ economies and social structures. Some could be described as communism, others were as exploitative or worse than our current society. The San tribes are a modern example of an egalitarian society or maybe more accurately a group of egalitarian societies. I’m also interested in the Zapatistas and what the folks in Northern Syria are doing but I doubt they constitue communism.

Anyway I’m no authority on these things but I hope you found the perspective interesting. The audiobook for the Dawn of Everything is fastinating and a local library might have a copy if you want to check it out.

Any society that is not communism is not free. If your continued existence is dependant on you working for a wage you are not free. Being “free” to sign a contract that removes your rights so you can work and thus eat is not freedom.

A free society does not need to coerce you into doing things that are good for society. You do them because they are fun or fulfilling. In other words, the same reason people work on open source software.

I didn’t say they can’t, I said it was fraught. A better phrasing is “can cause issues a non-euro country does not have.” This quote explains what I mean:

So, in the eurozone a national (federal) government cannot run out of money as long as:

• tax revenues are high enough to bring the Treasury account back to zero or
• bond revenues are high enough to bring the Treasury account back to zero or
• tax and bond revenues together are high enough to bring the Treasury account back to zero.

This means that a eurozone national government does not run out of money until it has exhausted its tax revenues and bond revenues

The United States, Great Britain, Japan, and every other fiat currency country don’t have this problem. They are incapable of running out of money. They are capable of making so much money it is completely debased like Weighmar Germany or Zimbabwe. However, those cases are rare and extreme. As long as they ensure the supply of goods people want to buy us sufficient they can spend as much as they want. This enables them to pay off their debts on a whim (if they want to collapse the safest store for money that investors use to outweigh risks).

Sources:

The Deficit Myth I’d give you page numbers but I listened to the audiobook https://www.intereconomics.eu/contents/year/2022/number/2/article/modern-monetary-theory-the-right-compass-for-decision-making.html

It’s the euro even a good idea? Convenient for tourism and trade sure, but according to MMT it hamstrings a countries ability to invest in it’s economy and makes government loans fraught.