Thanks, Max, no Muskrat Testicle for me. I just returned from my 1 mi. (some 15% grade) walk down to the Muskingum River and back, now that the snow is melting. Being a LONG COVID and Prostate Cancer survivor, going on 80yo, I'm not as spry as I once was. On the entire trip, I saw one other walker, but a half dozen being pulled along by their slave dogs, scooping up feces as they went. I own a used Dodge Caravan, but only drive it to the distant stores, bank, and PO once a week, so 1,200 mi/yr and fill my 20 gal tank every other month, if that. Maybe all the folks driving by just might notice and I've planted a seed. Maybe not. I do what I can, as do you, and thanks for that! Gregg
Without cars how will a settler colonial society extract wealth from stollen land? You’d end up with the 15 minute cities being turned to rubble in Fallujah, Aleppo, Mosul, Gaza, Jabalia, etc. for the Kochnation.
That's been going on for thousands of years since the dawn of civilization -- that's the real problem here, but it's another issue (sort of) -- and cars are not at all necessary for it.
Thanks, Jeff. Yesterday, I asked myself if some dental and health care is within my/our ecological and financial means. I've wondered if having a car, Internet access, electricity, coconut milk and other now-common goods and services are within my/our ecological and financial means. Honestly, they're not. Without negating my existence, I wonder what steps I/we might take toward living within our ecological and financial means.
Another tesla, fact they don't do well in salt water, in fact they blow up and if they're in your garage, that's infiltrated by saltwater from a hurricane, they blow up the garage in the house. In Florida, during the last hurricane, part of the police alerts were to tell people that if you own a tesla, do not park it in your garage. During the hurricane park it outside away from all structures. It was a police alert across Florida. Because it will blow up your house.
Definitely. Fossil fuel cars present their own explosive issues, of course (I used to live in Bellingham, where a pipeline explosion in 1999 killed three people). There's a powerful metaphor in there somewhere - exchanging one explosive technology for another as the world burns...
You're welcome, Erica! It's been a slow month of writing because I'm moving after ten years in the same little cabin in the woods, and there's been a LOT to do. So I'm glad to be back on it! I love to write and share it with you all.
Thanks very much, Katie! I really appreciate all your writing, too. Thank you for covering the Moss Landing fire. If others haven't seen Katie's Substack, I recommend it.
Good call. The single value system of profit over absolutely everything is killing the planet and all its inhabitants - animal, plant, mineral. All roads lead back to that one simple truth.
Thanks for sharing all this great info and break down of numbers. Im curious why you didn’t mention the human rights abuses happening in DRC related to mining? Also, you didn’t mention the genocide happening in the Palestine, and the ecocide throughout the Middle East. Do I need to point out that POC are the ones suffering from a system already designed to fail them? Those are the important points. That should be all that needed to be said. It’s not that complicated. Genocide, colonization, and CAPITALISM kills everything. Greenwashing kills.
Hi Lesslee, I've written quite a bit about both those topics — I'm actually working on a scientific paper about mining the DRC. You're right that greenwashing kills. Thanks for reading.
Thanks again, Max. I am so glad to see that somebody is doing that math! We really need it, in order to be able to thoroughly refute the bright green delusions. Less of a bad thing is still a bad thing, especially if we do not even need it. We should be asking the question, "Does Earth really need that thing?" about ALL of the technology that we use. I would like to see all of the math on what mining is doing to the Earth, CO2 emissions, methane, toxic waste in water and air, mortality caused for humans and other species, etc. All industrial activity depends on mining, to some extent. I wrote a group email to four scientists at the Stockholm Resilience Centre back in September asking them if they or any scientists whom they know or have heard of are doing the math on CO2 emissions related to the production of all of the "green energy" devices. I have not heard back from any of them yet. I did my own research on smelting of steel, cement, and glass, which I will share soon in a new piece of writing that I am finishing now. Stay well.
Reminded me of how my dad bought a hybrid Jeep, claiming he, for once, wanted a better car for the environment. And you went for a new 1.5 tonnes vehicle, dad - how very sustainable!
The detail is terrific (in its modern sense of 'excellent' as well as its old sense of 'terrifying')...
The big point is clear and spans much more that automobiles: "The war depicted in Guernica Pass is industrial civilization’s war against the natural world...."
For those who prefer listening rather than reading, I've added a voiceover to the top of this article.
Thanks, Max, no Muskrat Testicle for me. I just returned from my 1 mi. (some 15% grade) walk down to the Muskingum River and back, now that the snow is melting. Being a LONG COVID and Prostate Cancer survivor, going on 80yo, I'm not as spry as I once was. On the entire trip, I saw one other walker, but a half dozen being pulled along by their slave dogs, scooping up feces as they went. I own a used Dodge Caravan, but only drive it to the distant stores, bank, and PO once a week, so 1,200 mi/yr and fill my 20 gal tank every other month, if that. Maybe all the folks driving by just might notice and I've planted a seed. Maybe not. I do what I can, as do you, and thanks for that! Gregg
Walking is truly one of life's great blessings for our health and joy, and in some ways it's been nearly stolen from us by car culture.
Without cars how will a settler colonial society extract wealth from stollen land? You’d end up with the 15 minute cities being turned to rubble in Fallujah, Aleppo, Mosul, Gaza, Jabalia, etc. for the Kochnation.
Cars and empire go hand in hand in the modern era, that's for sure.
That's been going on for thousands of years since the dawn of civilization -- that's the real problem here, but it's another issue (sort of) -- and cars are not at all necessary for it.
Thanks, Jeff. Yesterday, I asked myself if some dental and health care is within my/our ecological and financial means. I've wondered if having a car, Internet access, electricity, coconut milk and other now-common goods and services are within my/our ecological and financial means. Honestly, they're not. Without negating my existence, I wonder what steps I/we might take toward living within our ecological and financial means.
Another tesla, fact they don't do well in salt water, in fact they blow up and if they're in your garage, that's infiltrated by saltwater from a hurricane, they blow up the garage in the house. In Florida, during the last hurricane, part of the police alerts were to tell people that if you own a tesla, do not park it in your garage. During the hurricane park it outside away from all structures. It was a police alert across Florida. Because it will blow up your house.
Definitely. Fossil fuel cars present their own explosive issues, of course (I used to live in Bellingham, where a pipeline explosion in 1999 killed three people). There's a powerful metaphor in there somewhere - exchanging one explosive technology for another as the world burns...
Finally, a good use for electric cars! :)
Thank you for this great piece, yet again!
You're welcome, Erica! It's been a slow month of writing because I'm moving after ten years in the same little cabin in the woods, and there's been a LOT to do. So I'm glad to be back on it! I love to write and share it with you all.
Bravo, Max--and thank you!
Thanks very much, Katie! I really appreciate all your writing, too. Thank you for covering the Moss Landing fire. If others haven't seen Katie's Substack, I recommend it.
I always appreciate seeing Mumford quoted
Good call. The single value system of profit over absolutely everything is killing the planet and all its inhabitants - animal, plant, mineral. All roads lead back to that one simple truth.
Absolutely.
Cars as a whole suck.
Thanks for sharing all this great info and break down of numbers. Im curious why you didn’t mention the human rights abuses happening in DRC related to mining? Also, you didn’t mention the genocide happening in the Palestine, and the ecocide throughout the Middle East. Do I need to point out that POC are the ones suffering from a system already designed to fail them? Those are the important points. That should be all that needed to be said. It’s not that complicated. Genocide, colonization, and CAPITALISM kills everything. Greenwashing kills.
Hi Lesslee, I've written quite a bit about both those topics — I'm actually working on a scientific paper about mining the DRC. You're right that greenwashing kills. Thanks for reading.
Thanks again, Max. I am so glad to see that somebody is doing that math! We really need it, in order to be able to thoroughly refute the bright green delusions. Less of a bad thing is still a bad thing, especially if we do not even need it. We should be asking the question, "Does Earth really need that thing?" about ALL of the technology that we use. I would like to see all of the math on what mining is doing to the Earth, CO2 emissions, methane, toxic waste in water and air, mortality caused for humans and other species, etc. All industrial activity depends on mining, to some extent. I wrote a group email to four scientists at the Stockholm Resilience Centre back in September asking them if they or any scientists whom they know or have heard of are doing the math on CO2 emissions related to the production of all of the "green energy" devices. I have not heard back from any of them yet. I did my own research on smelting of steel, cement, and glass, which I will share soon in a new piece of writing that I am finishing now. Stay well.
I'll look forward to that piece, George! Please share it when you're done!
Will do!
Reminded me of how my dad bought a hybrid Jeep, claiming he, for once, wanted a better car for the environment. And you went for a new 1.5 tonnes vehicle, dad - how very sustainable!
Good article to get my blood pumping with morning coffee.
Like the Hedges tie-in
The detail is terrific (in its modern sense of 'excellent' as well as its old sense of 'terrifying')...
The big point is clear and spans much more that automobiles: "The war depicted in Guernica Pass is industrial civilization’s war against the natural world...."
Thanks, Peter. Hope you’re well.
This was a brilliant piece, Max. Such an effective and powerful intro and a devastating follow-through combining data, logic, and philosophy.
I'm glad you think so, Vincent! That means a lot coming from an intelligent thinker and writer like you.