Part one: When I feel up to it, I will write the rest of the story.

For the past few years, there’s been a push, by some, to convince people to switch to electric cars under the guise of environmental protection. However, if you ask me, electric cars will likely cause more environmental problems in just a few short years than the new electric cars claim to solve. Why is that? Well, let’s break it down.

Firstly, consider the materials needed to manufacture electric cars, particularly the batteries. These materials require extensive mining, which continues to exploit our Earth’s resources. Moreover, constructing new factories to produce these batteries and other electric car components adds to the pollution burden, potentially worsening the environmental impact.

Then, there’s the issue of job displacement. As some of the automotive industry shifts towards electric vehicles, many skilled workers may find themselves without employment, as they lack the specialized training required for building electric car components.

An example would be: ATMs changed banking and retail by doing tasks people used to do. This meant millions of jobs, like bank tellers and cashiers, were/will not be needed anymore.

I have seen though that one car company is going to stop building them as truth be told most people don’t want them. It put a smile on my face.

Additionally, the question of battery disposal looms large. Overseas, there are reports of massive piles of old batteries, leaching hazardous substances into the soil and water, posing health risks to thousands.

In Canada, our environmental challenges keeping the electric cars running are compounded by harsh winters and increasingly hotter summers. And along with that, we don’t have the resources to charge all these cars that they want to build, or can most afford what they want now for electricity.

It should also be noted that while human activity contributes to climate change a wee bit, it’s just one piece of a much larger puzzle. Our planet has undergone natural climate shifts for millions of years, and being an old feller seeing a lot of things, I feel this old planet, well … it’ll keep on spinning, no matter what we do.

What irks me most, though, is the imposition of certain agendas by those in power. It often feels like a childish power struggle, with laws and regulations changing to suit their whims. I suspect there’s a hidden agenda behind it all, possibly rooted in a desire for control, which to me seems to be tightening its grip with each passing day.

In the end, I believe that change is inevitable, and no amount of human intervention can halt the natural course of things. It’s just a pity that genuine environmental concerns are overshadowed by bureaucratic manoeuvring and power plays.

So what should we do? To me, it makes sense to keep improving the environmental friendliness of cars we’ve been making. At least until something new comes along. We also need to make cars last longer without needing repairs, because the prices we’re paying for them are just plain outrageous!

These days, you’ll fork out more cash for a new car than we did for our first farm! That old patch of land is what got my lovely wife and I to where we are today. Now, that car we bought a few years back? Hell, we cross our fingers and toes every day, hoping it holds together long enough to see the next sunrise! GW