Environment

Wakeup Call – Amazon Oil Spill

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oil spill in amazon
Image courtesy of @SDonziger

Wakeup Call – Amazon Oil Spill. Whilst looking through Twitter this week and reading all the great Electric Vehicle (EV) articles about the Cybertruck, Tritium’s trading as a public company on the stock market, and SpaceX launching rockets, I came across an article that made me stop and think. 

Amazon Oil Spill

Footage of an oil spill in the middle of the Amazon forest.

Amazon Oil spill

Now I know most people think that cutting down a few trees and passing oil through pipelines is all about helping the world advance. However, this footage just exemplifies the lack of understanding and appreciation we have for the environment. 

A river of oil flowing into the waterways of the Amazon forest, the “lungs of the earth”, has given insights into what scientist and more recently Elon Musk has been saying.

The world is in crisis.

The World is in Crisis

Wakeup Call – Amazon Oil Spill. Whether it be climate, political, economic, or even common decency for each other, we have taken a beautiful planet, the only one we have, and turned it into a dumping ground. We rape and pillage it for our own self-worth, forgetting that somewhere down the track we will pay a price.

I know I normally write about Tesla and Electric vehicles in my weekly blog on EV-HQ.com, but this is to important not to comment.

My View

I am not an environmentalist; I am not a scientist and I have no qualifications in relation to climate.

What I do have is a commonsense state of mind and a hopeful outlook on the world. 

This footage has shown that we are neglecting the very thing that we hold most dear.

This planet was not put here for us to damage and destroy but to sustain our very existence.

Without it, we are no more than atoms floating in an empty void. 

I don’t want to be a hypocrite by saying we have to give up on all things oil-based, but surely, we can do better. We can treat each other better and we can make better choices. 

Currently, in Australia, the federal political landscape is arguing over the government’s choices around climate change and environmental responsibilities. In the electric vehicle community, there is frustration that the federal government is not doing more to transition to sustainable energy. Decisions should be made based upon the urgency and needs of the citizens.

Wake Up call

This footage should be a wake-up call that the world has a responsibility to manage it better. To see the choices of those of the past and realize that everything we thought to be correct may need questioning and reevaluating. 

Change is hard!

Those who make the brave decisions now, will be better remembered by history in kind.

Those that choose the keep their heads in the sand and do nothing will be tarnished with inaction. 

Better choices

I have written before about making better choices for our children and grandchildren. 

I have showcased those in previous blogs those that have worked to provide better choices. Here in Australia Greg McGarvie and ACE-EV have done just that with the introduction of their Electic Vehicle line up. 

Elon Musk has been a giant advocate for the transition to sustainable energy. His companies like Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company and so many more are all about improving the environment or helping to assist humanity to be better. 

Elon musk Companies
Image Courtesy of Time.com

Many would criticize this stand but in combination, all his companies can achieve so much more than by themselves. Something the world may need to consider for itself.

United we stand a better chance of overcoming adversity and challenge than individually.

If nothing else the footage from the amazon oil spill should demonstrate we need to do things differently. We need to step up, acknowledged our mistakes of the past, and work to rectify them, whilst considering each other. 

The world is being run by greed, it’s time to run it with compassion, consideration, and understanding for each other and the world around us. 

Dave 

David McCann
David McCann

EV-HQ founder, passionate about sharing the passion for Tesla and Electric Vehicles everywhere.
Referral code:
https://www.tesla.com/referral/david95191

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Let’s Choose …….electric cars impact the environment

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Take a breath and you will fill your lungs with clean pollution free air. If electric cars impact the environment it may be the same.

3 months ago, we worked, we played, we drove, and we enjoyed life. We had become immune to the subtle changes around us. So subtle that even the air had changed, and we didn’t really care.

The environment had gone through a significant change and we had been enjoying our lives we didn’t really notice. Many scientist and climate change advocates had been talking about the levels of pollution that had become over whelming for the earth to manage for years. Were we not listening? Did we not want to listen? or Were we to ignorant to listen? Why worry? nothing is going to happen to me!  I am having a great life this is something I don’t need to worry about.

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Then something happened that will forever have an impact upon each of our lives. A small city in China, a place no one really had ever heard of until it became ground zero for one of the worst virus outbreaks in the last 50 – 100 years.

Many countries had to shut down, close the doors and turn the wonderful life off. Many people complained, many people didn’t understand and many more felt that their god given right to do whatever they want was being taken away.electric cars impact the environment

Regardless of how people felt, within a couple of weeks something truly amazing started to occur. Blue sky returned to large cities, beautiful mountain ranges thought lost from view started to reappear, all sorts of animals, dogs, deer’s, tigers, lions, badgers and birds all returned to take the place of the humans that disappeared.electric cars impact the environment

Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser (2020) – “Air Pollution”. Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: ‘https://ourworldindata.org/air-pollution’ [Online Resource]

Summaryhttps://ourworldindata.org/air-pollution

The air smelt different and clean and the sun beat down like never before. The blue of the sky was more beautiful than could be recalled. The scents of the plants and flowers were now more pungent and enticing than ever.

Pollution not only dropped, it disappeared, to levels not seen for over 2 decades. Cities that were usually covered in a thick toxic SMOG had clear skies above them.

Unfortunately, this is only temporary whilst people are stuck in doors and not driving combustion engines and polluting the air with nitrogen dioxide and Co2.

It is Temporary !!!!!

But it can change, you see this is exactly how our modern cities could be if only we made some changes.

  • Converted cars to electric
  • Stopped factories from burning oil, gas and coal
  • Changed the way we look at our environment around us
  • Replaced the trees we have cut down.

The industrial revolution gave us many and varied wonderful things. Although it has also been pumping pollutants into the air for a couple hundred years and now we are the recipients of the negative effects. But we are at a tipping point! With the shutdown we are getting glimpses of what it could be like if only we lift our heads and start to make some changes.

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You see we almost had the opportunity 100 years ago to make the start of that change when electric vehicles were the dominant vehicle. However when the combustion engine, that Ford popularized with the Model T, was introduced the electric engine lost that battle. The idea however continued to sit in the background and every so often have a shot at being more than an afterthought.

Tesla in recent history has with their passion to convert the world to sustainable energy taken the electric vehicle to a level never before realized. In doing so they have again given us a shot as retribution and a possible solution to the current issue with pollution.

Introduction of electric motors, battery storage and renewable energy capture gives us the ability to make significant individual changes to the environment around us. But Governments also need to see the impacts and start to make significant change.

Recent events should give us a wakeup call!!!!!!!  We are Vulnerable! We need to appreciate the world that we are missing because we have not noticed the subtle negative changes that have impacted our environment and lives.

  • Let’s choose to buy electric cars, solar, wind and water energy solutions.
  • Lets choose to store that energy in batteries.
  • Let’s choose to influence our elected officials to make smarter choices that help people to breath fresh air and improve the skies around us.
  • Let’s choose to take an opportunity that came from a horrible situation and see what mother earth has to offer.
  • Let’s put back what we stole and bring light back to the cities we love.
  • Let’s start with a small step to recovery
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I have started my own journey by purchasing solar and had it configured to accept a battery. I back Tesla with my website as I believe they have the right attitude and philosophy. I look forward to the day when I can purchase a Tesla battery and I am passionately looking forward to the look day I cannot wipe the smile off my face when I take delivery of a Tesla vehicle.

Dave

Written by David McCann 18/4/2020

Lets Imagine!!!!!

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Lets Imagine!!!!! We are living in a unique time, right now!

Yes, we are being forced to stay safe and stay in our homes but the one thing that only a few people are talking about is the effect that this global shut down is doing for Mother Earth.

Model y view in the roof
Image courtesy of Tesla

Let’s imagine a future where electric vehicles have become the mainstream, where factories run on renewable energy either generated by the sun and the solar panels, whether by wind from the fresh sea breezes, or the oceans where wave power is crashing up against the shore.

wind turbine
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Let’s imagine all this energy is being stored in large battery facilities, in Hydro electrical dams’ and many other new and innovative ways.

Tesla Mega Battery
Image courtesy of Tesla

Let’s imagine that our daily commute to work is from our bedroom to our living room where we hold meetings and spend many hours working from a distance but are just as productive if not more so.

work from home written on note pad

Let’s imagine playing sports through virtual reality with spectators and crowds cheering from the side lines, being proud of your favorite avatar as they kick a goal, shoot a basket or score a goal.

virtual head gear
Image courtesy of AIIM

Let’s imagine that as you look out over the city you see crystal clear skies with the clouds all white and fluffy and the sky crystal blue, shining upon you with the warmth of the sun and a fresh sea breeze blowing across your face or you take a deep breath and can only smell the pine needles of the forest trees swaying in the breeze.

vista mountains

Let’s Imagine that you are sitting in your back yard and the trees around you are lush and green and full of birds and critters. A squirrel runs down the trunk and gathers the acorns up and runs away into the lush grass towards a new tree.

As you look up past the tree you see geese flying high in formation and all you hear are the flapping of the wings as they pass by.

We are, right now living that dream. We may have a virus out there, but the knock on effect of not using all the fossil fuel related machinery and Co2 producing machines is a beautiful world that allows us to see how the things could be if we embraced the renewables future that is there for the taking.

Since we as a global community have stopped, the earth has started to recover that which it was losing very quickly. Dolphins have come back to the canals of the recently clear waters of Venice. Birds have flocked back to beaches. Air is clearer than it has ever been.

Los Angeles city can be seen from the mountains and conversely the mountains can be seen from the city. With no smog the sky becomes clear. In China the levels of emissions dropped so dramatically it was noticed by satellite monitoring tools. The air cleared up and the city and all its beauty could be seen.

venice canal with clear water
Image courtesy of NBC

We have an opportunity before us. We need to learn from the current situation and see the future that is possible. Clean air and better breathable quality of air.

Cleaner water for us and the creatures of the world to share. Vehicles that do not pollute. Factories that do not pollute. A world that is clean, fresh and gives us hope.

Look outside and savor the beauty of the world around you in this unique time and know that this is possible if we are courageous enough to do what we believe is the best for the amazing planet we live in and not take it for granted.

Let’s grow, lets learn and let’s be part of the change that we and this world desperately needs, together we can achieve a future that looks better than where we are today.

Let’s imagine.

image of a globe that shows earth

Dave