BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 22, 2022
When I started driving an electric vehicle in 2018, I became part of the problem. In the end, an electric car is still, well, a car — and mass car ownership has devastating environmental consequences beyond tailpipe emissions. Electric vehicles, like gas-powered cars, require vast expanses of concrete and asphalt for automotive use. This paving over entire regions has turned neighborhoods into heat sinks that soak up energy from the sun during the day and release it at night — not exactly what we want in an era of accelerating climate change. And electric vehicles, like gas-powered cars, needlessly kill people. Build out a big public transit system, and make it free, reliable and safe. ~ Paul Thornton, Los Angeles Times’ letters editor