It is full of some of my biggest pet peeves and I’m sharing it as a great example of what not to do.
My pet peeves experienced in this short video are as follows:
Speeders/reckless drivers – people who intentionally and regularly drive over the speed limit and/or tailgate others and use their vehicle as an intimidation tool. These people early have no regard for the safety of others or themselves and must be reported to the authorities ASAP.
Tailgaters – People who choose to drive inches off your back bumper endangering themselves, other passengers in their car, and everyone around them.
I am fully aware that many of these folks are just regular people who are late for school, work, a D&D game…whatever. To these people I offer up some advice: just leave earlier. It is just common sense.
Some tailgaters are just not aware they are doing it. Their minds are elsewhere – oblivious to what is going on around them. They may be distracted by their technology or someone else in the car, maybe they are putting on makeup or reading – yes, this is a thing! Yikes – driving is an activity that requires intense focus and awareness. If you fall into this category – then you should get some help or not be driving.
However, some of these folks are impatient, know-it-all-always-in-a-hurry-to-get-nowhere-fast types who believe they are the center of the cosmos, and totally invincible and/or more important than others. Here’s some reality – don’t be a dumbass and you are not in any way invincible or better than anyone else.
Some may be slick-suited business types in their high-end sports cars (gas and electric), and jacked-up toy trucks (see attached video) with over-inflated egos, expensive chips on their shoulders, and a desire to own the road and everything else. Grow up, back off, and have some respect oh, and BTW, you are not better or more important than anyone else – you are just another self-absorbed mostly naked bipedal ape with delusions of grandeur.
Some of these individuals may be speed junkies and/or “muscle car” drivers perpetually stuck in the Daytona 500 or some other race to get nowhere fast. Grow up and back off Speedracer – the road is not the track so go find a track and rent some time and drive as fast as you like.
Some may just be trying to read my bumper stickers – and if that is the case – maybe they need glasses and/or I need to remove the stickers.
And now for the not-so-regular people and their “reasons” for driving as they do.
It seems that some folks may not like my choice in vehicles or its fuel source and may even somehow be offended or somehow threatened* by my choices. Yes, oddly – this is a thing. But here’s another thing: I may not like their choice of vehicle or its fuel source and I may even be offended (with actual peer-reviewed evidence supporting my reasons to be offended) by their choices – but I’m not ever in any way going to endanger your life, my life, or the lives of others by driving like a total dumbass. I will, however, write about your lame vehicle choice and knuckle-dragging dumbass attitude in my blog. Yes, this is a free country but you are not free to freely endanger others with your dumbass attitude and garishly over-modified vehicle. Grow up and back off.
Due to piles of evidence such as the attached video as well as first-hand evidence I have observed on multiple occasions – I am mostly convinced that a significant portion of the people who aggressively drive inches off your back bumper do in fact drive trucks. Not everyday utilitarian-type farm, work, professional, or delivery trucks – but the stupidly huge, jacked-up, oversized, pickup trucks that have names like “Super,” “Power,” “Raptor” and/or “Cummings” etched/painted/wrapped in huge letters across their paint or windows – maybe as a way to either make their drivers feel somehow more special or powerful and/or to intimidate those around them. These tailgating trucks often come with high-intensity headlights and other oversized auxiliary lighting systems amounting to billions of waisted candlepower of “fog lights” on their light-encrusted roll bars – often all on “high beam” melting the paint off your car while their overly modified power-thrust-deep-throat-diesel engine growls so loud that it may soon suffer a rapid unscheduled disassembly – but not before it’s grossly oversized-must-be-compensating-for-something exhaust pipe vomits copious clouds of foul-smelling thick, black, toxically flatulent, particulate-rich, life-killing, effluent into the atmosphere we all share as they speed by you at 20 miles over the limit in a blind curve on a double yellow line in the fog at dawn or dusk while their driver is gesticulating visual and vocal profanities in your general direction when their hands should be on the wheel and eyes and brains should be on the roads…it is these tailgaters who really chap my hide – see attached video for a great representation of this kind of person. Oddly, these unusual vehicles may also include rather large representations of the testicles of a large bovine animal dangling low from their trailer hitch. What purpose do these bizarre items serve other than to somehow prop up the overly-inflated egos of the vehicle’s drivers?
Humorous and yet often accurately applicable over exaggerations aside – I am mostly convinced that these dangerously misdirected, toxically hormonal, most often young male, individuals driving these garishly loud, overly-modified, extra-large, toy pickup trucks are nothing more than the insecure, insult-spouting, pushing, and shoving red-faced little bullies from the elementary school lunch line/playground who have grown up physically but not in any way mentally. Is it possible that they have taken the big-wheeled plastic toy trucks (remember Bigfoot and Stompers?) they played with as a kid in the sandbox and have for some reason made them a reality? Did they do this because their fathers did it? Is it the only reality they know, understand, or choose to accept? Did they choose to stop learning when high school ended and refuse to learn anything more even when it is freely available to them? Are their tiny brains stuck in their tribally-locked past, mired up in the mud pit of the toxically competitive mentality of their youth but now so copiously soaked in testosterone that they have become a very dangerous drooling wild animal thing that sees everything in life as a personal attack on their manhood and/or competition for dominance over others. I do not know the answers but what I do know is these individuals are dangerous and should not be on the roads. Anyone who chooses to use their vehicle and emotions as a weapon is an endangerment to everyone around them.
Whoever you are and whatever the reason you feel the need to ride inches off my bumper remember this: I am driving the speed limit because I follow the rules. I am a safe driver. I care about the safety of others around me including your lame, hairy, knuckle-dragging, apelike, arse, and I left early so I’m enjoying my drive…well, I was until you started trying to drive your vehicle up my rear!
Tailgating for whatever your lame-ass reason makes the roads more dangerous for everyone and it makes you look like a childish, ignorant little bully.
Cars are people transporters for moving people around, and trucks are utility vehicles meant to be used for utilitarian reasons, they are not extensions of your manhood, political statements, weapons, or bully transporters. Sure, it is fine to personalize your vehicle – but do it and drive it in such a way that it is not attacking, insulting, frightening, or endangering other drivers.
Polluters/litterbugs – people that deliberately choose to litter our shared environment either because they do not care about the damage it causes and/or to “get their jollies.” This litter/pollution can take the form of deliberately/carelessly disposed of and/or intentionally distributed/vented garbage/refuse, waste, of a solid/liquid/gaseous or particulate nature (such as the bizarre practice of intentionally modifying a vehicle to pollute and/or bully others with “coal rolling” such as is shown in the attached video -and feel free to read my blog post about the times I have encountered this bizarre practice https://bluewaterleaf.wordpress.com/…/i-have-been-coal…/ ) – or a combination of all of these – onto the ground, into the water, or into our shared atmosphere. These individuals should be reported to the authorities asap – but be sure to have irrefutable evidence of their infraction because for some bizarre reason some of those who make and uphold the law choose to look the other way when it comes to polluters of the atmospheric variety.
Bullies. These are highly unstable, volatile, venomous, confrontational people who intentionally choose to belittle/insult/harass others in order to get their way and/or make themselves feel somehow more powerful/larger/more virile than they actually are. These individuals may be one of the following or a combination thereof:
Loudmouths: these are vocal/emotional bullies who use their voices filled with great volume often combined with many colorful metaphors – often accompanied by exaggerated representative gesticulations – to deliver loud and demeaning but totally empty threats and/or commands to those around them and/or to those who somehow threaten* their ephemeral positions of perceived power. These types of childlike, tantrum-tossing bullies are in fact, all bark and no bite and are usually not really very dangerous to you, but they do waste a great deal of their own energy in the process strutting around crowing like a rooster with a chip on their shoulder. In reality, they are just insecure and need to get some good therapy – or at the very least they should just go take a chill pill.
Physical bullies. These are the ones that take things over the line and into the zone of downright dirty, mean, and nasty often causing harm and sometimes death to those around them. They are like lit sticks of dynamite with very short fuses, always walking or driving around with a hair trigger that is very close to blowing up. These types are always looking for a fight and they feed on confrontation. They are truly dangerous and should be reported to the authorities asap.
Identifying factors of these unique individuals include but are not limited to:
They may wear business suits and ties, tank tops, Hawaiian shirts, T-shirts, camouflage, dresses, kilts, shorts, boots, shoes, flip flops, and stereotypically, excess leather and noisy/shiny/sharp accouterments such as chains, spurs, brass knuckles, – anything really – they can be anyone, camouflaged to look unthreatening – a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
They may have garish/threatening/tattoos (knives, skulls, wild animals, dragons in threatening poses, half-naked humans, etc) – or none at all.
They may frequently ingest large quantities of fatty, meaty, and processed foods, or be vegans.
They may ingest vast quantities of alcohol and may smoke tobacco products and/or “dip” and then litter the environment with empty cans/bottles, cigarette butts, and/or spit the effluent onto the ground or upon the shoe/property of a perceived rival…or they may not partake of any of these things.
They may hoard, fondle, and/or brandish weapons of many styles/descriptions…or they may not.
They may often drive large, petroleum distillate powered, overly modified, noisy, smelly, vehicles with large exhaust pipe orifices (and less often “rice burners” or electric/hybrid vehicles, motorcycles, and even bicycles) – oddly, these vehicles are often used in the attempt to make a personal or somehow even a political statement and/or in worse case scenarios – as a means to attack innocent drivers that are perceived as threats* to the bully (see attached video). Some may even intentionally park their large, smelly, expensive, noisy vehicles (and sometimes small cars) crooked in parking spaces and/or in the fueling stations of electric vehicles. (Read about many good examples of this unusual activity in my blog post: https://bluewaterleaf.wordpress.com/…/stuck-fast-in…/ )
They may have unusually large amounts of facial, head, and body hair…or be very well groomed, or have none at all.
They may be short, tall, thin, bulky – or somewhere in between.
They may have huge muscles, be beauty queens, or be “average looking.”
They may have many, a few, or zero body piercings.
They may wear hats – or not.
They may have pets – or not.
They may wave/wear/fly various flags, stickers, and insignia from their vehicles of choice, their homes, or even attached to a part of their clothes, that represent their chosen “tribal” affiliation(s) and/or toxic attitude…or they may not.
They may often loudly find fault with all other ways of life and living, places of origin, and personal life choices but their own.
They may often lay blame on everyone and everything but themselves and their predicament in life – even when the evidence is not in their favor.
They may be anyone.
Many if not most of these bizarre and self-destructive traits are exhibited by both of the drivers in this video. Yes, I said drivers with an s. While I do not condone the actions of the obvious bully in the video, I also do not support the actions of the other driver who was much too confrontational for my taste.
Therefore, IMHO this video offers many great examples of what not to do.
Grow up people.
Grow some respect.
Grow some consideration.
Don’t be a small-minded bully.
And if any of this enrages you – then maybe you are a bully and you should seriously consider getting some therapy and/or getting yourself castrated for the good of all the rest of us and everything moving forward.
Do only good things.
*possibly by their calm, quiet, unthreatening, self-assured, natures.
Just before the start of this year’s international celebration of electric vehicles known as National Drive Electric Week a leak was discovered in a major gasoline pipeline in Alabama. This pipeline, that supplies gasoline to millions of people along the east coast of the USA, leaked over 330,000 gallons of gasoline into the environment. This is an aerial view of the lake in Alabama that was contaminated by the fuel spill.
This unfortunate and ironically timed disaster is yet another oily thorn in the side of the petroleum industry and it comes amid the recent and past news of multiple oil/gas pipeline leaks, explosions, oil train disasters and other mishaps all over the world, and let us not forget the oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico and all the petroleum related cover ups and lies by the likes ExxonMobil and Volkswagen. It is as if nature/God/the universe or whatever deity you pray to (or not) is telling all of us – “look here you naked little bipedal multi-colored apes, you need to end all this madness and leave the fossil fuels in the ground where I put them in the first place! They are highly toxic and dangerous to all life forms – that is why I buried them safely underground and I expected you to leave them there! I gave you unlimited clean energy literally all around you – the wind, the sun, the waves – and what do you do!?! You, dig up the toxic waste of the past and burn it anyway ignoring the bountiful clean energy sources literally flowing, blowing, and shining all around you! Angry, yes – I am well and truly angry at you and the costs are going to be very high. But there is still time. You have one last chance to clean up your careless ways. But if you ignore the punches I have been throwing you in the form of my super storms, floods, fires, if you ignore my warnings and continue with business as usual there will be hell to pay and you just may find your species joining the dinosaurs.”
After the leak was discovered repair crews from the pipeline owner Colonial Pipeline began work on cleaning up the spill and repairing the leak in the pipe as seen in the above photo from this source. Notice how close to a body of water the pipeline is at this point. The gasoline leaked into this nearby pond and trace amounts have been found an a nearby pond as well. Luckily however, due to the location and timing of the leak it seems that a major environmental catastrophe was avoided – at least for now. We were very lucky this time but reality shows that it is only a matter of time before another pipeline breaks and causes irreparable harm to the environment and the creatures that call it home–including us. This spill could just as easily have been another Mayflower/Pegasus pipeline spill or much worse.
Unfortunately for everyone in my area, the media grabbed the story and reported on it in the way they do so well…resulting in fears of an empty tank causing long lines at the gasoline stations where people wait for access to the pumps to squeeze out every last drop of the precious, toxic, and highly addictive elixir that gives them mobility and the illusion of freedom.
Throw in a natural disaster and it gets even more interesting…
Above image from this 2012 article after Hurricane Sandy hit the northeastern US causing gas shortages and similar stress that we are facing in the southeast today.
Inevitably the gas station owners were forced to raise their prices to pay for the increased emergency shipping to get fuel to the out of gas communities in a timely manner. Many companies then took advantage of the situation and price gouging ran rampant with prices being reported as high as $5 per gallon in some areas forcing the Governors of several states to freeze gas prices until things get back to “normal.”
Below are a few links to the media explosion resulting from this fuel leak
On Saturday, 9/17/16 I witnessed the fossil fired madness first hand as I drove my Nissan Leaf EV into an neighboring county to visit a family member.
12:15pm The first station I passed had long lines stretching out into the road. Unfortunately I was unable to get a photograph.
12:25pm. The second station I passed is pictured below. Cars were pouring in as I snapped the photo!
12:40pm. I passed another station and witnessed more insanely long lines. At this one I overheard a woman yelling like a child to another driver “That’s my spot, I was here first!”
I then saw this madness at an Ingles gas station.
1:30pm. By far the most disturbing scene was at this Ingles.
I had to pull over at a safe distance and take some more photos of the media-driven panic buying insanity.
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There was a fuel truck on site attempting to keep up with the demand…
Like a person hooked on a drug these people were desperate and will do almost anything for a fix of the deadly juice that powers their lives.
Image source – the internet.
Do we really want to pass this toxic addiction on to our innocent children?
…but could that really happen? This guy may have part of the answer…
While many believe and trust the mass media reports that a pipeline did leak causing a measurable fuel shortage, there are others that believe this is simply a manufactured demand issue designed to drive up prices and oil company profits across the board.
It is the authors opinion that it may be a mix of both and wherever the truth lies the cold hard fact that remains is that people who choose to drive vehicles powered only by gasoline are terrified that their lives and business will be disrupted by this reduction in the flow of fuel. The other cold hard fact is that this incident has revealed is that our addiction to petroleum products is dangerous and very precariously balanced on a very thin razors edge. The uninterrupted flow of gasoline and oil is all dependent on a very complex, decades-old in some areas, infrastructure supported by a complex international petroleum supply chain overseen and controlled by out of date warmongering old fossil fuel pushers and their very well compensated puppets in national, state and local governments that are all hell bent on filling up their bank accounts with our hard earned money at any cost.
It is time we accept the cold hard fact that our nation is locked in a manufactured addiction to the dangerous, toxic, highly polluting drug that we call petroleum and all of its byproducts.
Yet, there exists another way to get around, a better way to get around.
The electric vehicle.
Sadly, many individuals and special interest groups refuse to accept it, many even deny its validity at every turn. A minority of severely addicted close minded petroleum pushers and users even call this not so new idea “un-American.” Some even go as far as mocking it by modifying their petroleum burning diesel-dino-juice guzzlers to illegally to emit clouds of noxious black smoke that they call “rolling coal” in the feeble attempt to make some sort of sad, anti-environmental statement in support of their addiction…
…it is as if they are proud of themselves and their ability to harm themselves, the people around them, and the planet that supports their very lives just to satisfy some childish belief that may or may not be based in one or all of the following observations personally made by the author of this article;
1. “This is a free country so I can do whatever the **** I want to and you can’t stop me.”
2. Everybody else is doing it and it is somehow accepted and “cool” among their circle of misguided friends.
3. I’m “sticking it to the greenies” and to “the man.” The “greenies” being anyone concerned for the future, the environment, social justice, and their children and children’s children, and “the man” being the US government, the Environmental Protection Agency, and any other governing agencies and NGO’s that work to protect us from ourselves.
4. “The “greenies” are wrong about everything. There is no problem with the atmosphere or with pollution or overpopulation etc…and in fact “climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese.” (Yes, even though this statement is garishly incorrect on so many levels, there are many people that actually believe the nonsense spouted by Donald J. Trump.)
On Beliefs: It is the authors opinion that people are free to believe whatever they choose to believe unless that belief system in some way harms or oppresses other people, nature, wildlife, or the environment that supports all of us. In that case it is my opinion that any destructive, hurtful, harmful, exclusive, divisive, xenophobic, separatist, and toxically tribal toward those on the “outside” of the group, club, party, or flock, belief, religion, or political system – should be abolished and made forever extinct.
It is also the authors opinion that many of these ancient beliefs are simply metaphors – maybe some of them are based on actual happenings, others simply myths and legends of ancient “superheroes” created by their authors either undertaking their own heroes journeys , maybe documenting someone else’s journey/story, or the author just made it all up (fiction) in order to teach the readers a valuable lesson – or a little of all of these things. Their story was then presented to the readers in a way to help them make sense of life, the universe, and everything. Sadly, the meaning of these centuries-old lessons are often totally missed by the reader who often takes them literally, out of context, out of time, and then severely misinterprets them and attempts to apply them to the situations of their modern lives that could not have even been imagined in the simple agrarian world that existed when the words were first written down. These ancient, metaphorical guidelines for life are often so distorted and misconstrued by their transcribers and followers into the erroneous misunderstanding that they are somehow superior and separate from nature – that they have dominion over the earth and all of its inhabitants and resources and therefore they can do whatever they wish to with it. Sadly, some of those on the lunatic fringe of these belief systems are even more disturbing when they use the “word” of their chosen deity to cash in on the fears of the deity’s followers and/or announce that they believe that the world will be ending soon and therefore nature, their daily choices and actions, everything real and existing just does not matter at all because it is all “impure” and will all soon be destroyed by a vengeful omnipotentdeity – then, as they often say – “you will all be sorry you did not bow down and pay homage to (insert deity here).”
That kind of apathetic attitude is so incredibly dangerous and selfish.
(Note: I have personally heard all of the above statements from real people, good people, even family members and people I deeply care about, and I am just so saddened that there are people who still think and believe these things. I am so embarrassed and saddened at the actions of my own countrymen and fellow Human beings when they say and act like they do not care about anything but themselves. Where, when, and why did we go so wrong…?)
Just because you believe a thing does not make it true unless it is supported by measurable, observable, testable, peer-reviewed, evidence.
UPDATE 9/02/17: Hurricane Harvey hit Texas a few days ago and the resulting rains flooded many of the gasoline refineries and chemical plants that our nation’s fossil fuel infrastructure is reliant upon. Fuel prices have been shooting up in many areas and panic buying has been reported as well and in the attempts to avoid what happened almost a year ago North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper issues a state of emergency in order to help keep gasoline flowing into the state and the US government released 4.5 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in response to the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey. The damage from the storm has forced offline around 22 percent of U.S. refining capacity and 13 percent of Gulf of Mexico oil output.
Hurricane Harvey impacting the Texas coast. Image source.
As I write this some of the remnants of now tropical storm Harvey is passing over my area leaving behind some soft rains showers and I am inspired to share some facts.
Knowing what the scientifically documented, testable, and undeniable facts show –
Warmer air holds more moisture.
Warmer water feeds more powerful storms.
Prior to hurricane Harvey gulf coast water temps were 85 degrees – 5 degrees above average.
Sea levels have risen by around 6″ on the Texas coast in the last few decades.
For several decades humans have been ignoring the warnings of scientists, naturalists, and common sense and have been draining, filling, paving the water/rain absorbing wetlands/grasslands in Texas/Florida (and other) low-lying coastal regions in favor of building up suburbia which have created a recipe for disastrous flooding.
The Human species’ addiction to burning fossil fuels for energy/transportation and everything else have led to measurable atmospheric carbon dioxide levels higher than they have been in 800,000 years.
This increased CO2 acts like an insulating blanket over the earth trapping heat leading to the greenhouse effect/global warming and the associated increased surface and ocean temperatures, melting of the earth’s ice caps/glaciers, sea level rise, and consequently – stronger, wetter, more destructive storms such as Harvey, Sandy and Katrina.
In other words – our unscientifically supported, largely unregulated actions have had catastrophic consequences. We humans are the root cause of anthropogenic climate change and we humans have created the perfect conditions for yet another superstorm situation for the USA with the resulting consequences – the breakdown of our fossil fuel supply systems, the loss of property, life and livelihood for our people.
These facts speak for themselves and cry out loudly – if we puny humans do not stop ignoring the warnings of climate (and other) scientists and stop burning things for energy thereby releasing atmosphere altering greenhouse gasses into the environment faster than the earth can balance things out, then the consequences are dire – nature will wipe us out of existence. It is that simple. Nature does not care about us so we must care for ourselves and that begins with caring for nature above all else because nature is from where all life originates and is supported*.
It seems rather interesting and ironic to me that these great climate change fueled mega-storms have repeatedly smashed into areas that are:
Highly populated centers of commerce, trade, inspiration, forward thinking progress and science, with people from all walks of life, all nationalities, all ethnicities, all religions, all sexual/gender orientations and…
Many are also areas known for oil and gas production/distribution.
Fascinating.
A climate scientist or observant naturalist would say that all indications, predictions, experiments, theories – in other words all the peer reviewed science suggest that these great storms may be a product of anthropogenic climate change.
I offer this bit of long winded observation and insight into that third bit of “reasoning.” What is the omnipotent deity angry about? Is it angry that all the millions, no wait – billions of little people doing what little people do on a daily basis? Is it angry at individual little humans and their bathroom choices, their food/drink/clothing/housing/body modification/decoration choices, their petty little squabbles over who owns what piece of land, is it mad because he said she said whatever stupid comment on Twitter or Facebook, or she said a cuss word, is it angry over the chosen sexual/gender orientation of a portion of the area’s population or that of a random 16 year old kid in a random town in whoknowswhereville, is it angry because you told a white lie, is it angry because you smoked a plant deemed off limits by society, is it angry because you drank a beer, is it angry because you had a sexy thought, is it angry because you have dark skin, is it angry because you are fat or thin, is it angry because you (insert whatever reason here), is it so angry, upset, hateful, and so vengeful at your little so called “evil” infraction that it will toss all reason, common sense and human decency aside to punish you and only you by sending a monster storm your way thereby condemning the thousands or even millions of innocent people that live near you to hardship, pain, loss, and possibly even death because you and a few individuals near you chose to be human and do things we humans do? Are you being punished because you chose to love a member of the same sex or to worship nature, trees, money, sex, drugs and rock n roll instead of one of the thousands of different gods that are worshiped on planet earth today. No. These actions do not sound like the actions of a loving, caring, supportive deity. Whatever all-powerful god or gods may exist there is no evidence to suggest that it would be a hateful, spiteful being. Why would a creator being expend so much energy creating such a complex and wonderful living system that is you and then harm his/her/it’s cherished experiment? These are not the actions of a loving parent/creator. If they are, then whatever god-being is doing the punishing does not deserve to be worshiped. Parents love their children unconditionally and I would hope an all powerful creator being would have an even greater capacity to do the same. So no. The creator, if it does in fact exist somewhere in the universe, does not care at all about all those petty little “infractions.” All of the minuscule minutia created by the Human condition, while obviously very important to the user, none of it will matter in 100 years nor will it matter in the grand scheme of geologic or better yet cosmic time. Should such an all-powerful cosmos designing, creating, and manipulating being exist somewhere in the cosmos, it has greater things to worry about such as keeping space-time intact, how to keep the suns burning (remember, there are literally trillions of suns out there in the cosmos), what to do about black holes, dark energy, plate tectonics, evolution, the rains out in Africa, Romulans, 42, how to keep the Daleks,asteroids and comets away from earth and so on. In other words, the super being has much more to worry about than your, or any of our lives and this is why it (if it exists) gave us the ability to reason and think for ourselves which is something that is severely lacking today. It seems that many splinter groups, factions on the lunatic fringe, and even many in the mainstream would rather hold onto destructive, divisive, intolorent, warmongering ways rather than accept the findings of science. Instead of accepting science as a way to understand nature and use that knowledge to better their lives, many misguided followers will instead pray to their deity when bad things happen and that is all well and good. Prayer is very useful in many ways for our emotional health and well-being and praying to a deity may help you bond with entire groups of like minded people. Prayer may help you feel and work better together and yes, it may have a very powerful placebo effect for the users – but it does not get things done on the ground, in the mud, on the street. The only way we can really make a concrete and lasting difference in the outcome of our lives or the future of our shared earth is with direct action through the methods and tools of science and by working together as a team. So yes, please pray all you like and pray hard – but praying alone did not rescue the flooded out people of Houston, the Florida Keys, NOLA, – good and helpful people of all ethnicities and all backgrounds coming together using the methods, products, and tools of science and technology did.
However, when the tiny, pink and brown naked apes we call humans start messing with the balance of nature – that my friend just might be the ultimate sin of all sins. Maybe, just maybe, all these recent massive and powerful storms are the omnipotent one’s way of punching the puny humans right in the face, right in the areas where we are processing the very fuel that is driving the engines of climate change. How ironic that the creator deity(s) seems to be giving us repeated series of massive black eyes for the horribly irresponsible way we have treated this (it’s) grand experiment we call life the universe and everything.
Maybe it is time we all stopped fighting over whether or not climate change is real and accept the fact that it is and that we are seeing the natural consequences of our mistreatment and mismanagement of our shared home planet, Now is the time we need to start listening to the signs, signals, and punches being thrown at us before it is too late and the experiment is deemed a failure and is ended by nature (aka the master scientist in charge) and it goes back to the drawing board and starts over like any good scientist*** would do.
It is also very interesting to note that while everyone trusted and believed the climate scientists who predicted that Harvey, Sandy and Katrina (and now as I write this superstorm Hurricane Irma just destroyed Florida) would hit the areas they did bringing the rains, winds, flooding, disruption, and catastrophic damage they brought with them but bizarrely, many of those same people do not trust or believe those very same climate scientists when they say we humans are causing climate change by our continued addiction to and burning of fossil fuels.
Wake up and grow up people. Climate scientists are here to help us save us from ourselves.
To do this we must end our dangerous and destructive addiction to fossil fuels before we are unable to recover from the disasters nature will continue to keep throwing at us.
Sadly it often takes a punch or three in the face to make us change, and like the true American heroes in the below rescue video from hurricane Harvey – we need to coexist and work together if we want to save ourselves.
After watching brave Americans of all persuasions, ethnicities, economic backgrounds, and religions come together to help each other out after Harvey left Texas under trillions of gallons of water, and after working with the brilliant youth of today, I believe that the age of the science deniers, haters, doubters, and sadly misdirected individuals are a dying breed and that a new wave of reason is sweeping the globe.
Yet even greater hope comes from the many churches, monasteries, and convents are installing and blessing solar arrays. Scout groups, schools and universities are divesting from all fossil fuel investments and going renewable in order to be better stewards of this earth and to educate the children on a better way to use our natural resources. Now is the time we all must wake up and listen to the science and accept the fact that science and religion can work together in protection and stewardship of our shared earth, its natural resources and all its creatures.
Indigenous peoples such as the Standing Rock Sioux and other tribes are speaking out and protesting against the injustices being heaped upon their peoples and cultures by the actions of the past and sadly, the actions of today. Personally, I fully support the Sioux and other indigenous tribes and their supporters that are fighting fossil fuel projects all over the world in order to protect their lands, waters and future generations from harm due to our dangerous addiction to fossil fuels.
As I write this thousands of people from all walks of life, members of other tribes, and even President Obama have assisted the Sioux in their fight against the pipeline they call the Black Snake but at the time of this writing the future of the pipeline and the Sioux is uncertain. The overwhelming sentiment among indigenous people everywhere, with many even signing treaties among themselves against oil and even meeting with the United Nations, is to stop the bulldozers and the pipelines and keep fossil fuels in the ground where they belong!
Photo source and another good read on the Standing Rock Dakota Access situation.
Yet even more hope comes from youth from all over the planet. The younger generation is waking up to the truth that has been hidden from us all for so long. They are working to raise awareness of the environmental and human problems our addiction to fossil fuels are causing. Youth groups all around the planet and other youth led organizations such as the Earth Guardians and Our Children’s Trust are working hard and even bringing lawsuits against governments to create positive change working toward a clean, renewable powered future for us all.
The students and children shall lead the clean energy revolution.
I took the above photo recently after presenting a wildlife education show to a local school. After my presentation I introduced the students to my car. After I explained to them how it works, how much money I save, and how by driving electric you can help preserve nature, wildlife and our future environment, they were unanimously in favor of going EV. Yes, after meeting wonderful young adults such as these I have great hope for the future and I have no doubt that we will be able to end our dangerous addiction to fossil fuels. But it will take hard work and dedication from all of us to break the bonds of this addiction and to make it happen for us all, for the earth and for the future.
Musicians are making a difference as well with artists such as Xavier Rudd, Nahko and Medicine for the People, The Earth Guardians and many more speaking out in their songs in the fight to end our reliance on the toxic grip that fossil fuels and certain big corporations have on us all.
You can end, or at least lower, your reliance on fossil fuels.
You do not have to be wealthy or a celebrity to truly make a difference and lower your carbon footprint.
You too can drive electric.
As an example let’s take the case of my Nissan Leaf.
This is what I found this morning when I walked out of my door about to make the 13 mile journey to work.
My little 2012 Nissan Leaf EV was fully charged and ready to roll.
I unplugged the charger, got inside, turned the car on to find…
A wonderful 82 miles of all electric range! I pulled out of the driveway and headed through the unusually sparse traffic for 8:30 am. As I made my way to work I noticed a local gas station that was empty…quite a change from a few days before…so I pulled in to investigate. This is what I found.
I was so happy to have my little EV at that moment! Even with it’s limited range I can always fill it up with electrons anywhere there is an electrical outlet.
As I prepared to pull out of the station I suddenly became aware of three gas powered vehicles quickly converging on my location! I quickly realized that they must have seen my car in front of the pumps and assumed the station had product so they all dove in hoping to get some gas. I quickly and silently eased out of the station, between the converging cars, and on down the road. I had a small bit of anxiety at the thought of what some folks would do if they ran out of gas and could not do the things they need and want to do…and saw my EV silently driving down the road…now I know at least one of the reasons Max was mad.
Those few of us early adopters who made the switch to electric vehicles over the last few years look on as we pass by the conflagrations with amazement, wonder, and a bit of fear and much more than range anxiety…and then we pull up to our EV fueling stations with little to no competition…and grin that EV grin 🙂
We then calmly (and often freely or for a nominal fee) plug in and let the electrons flow into our sweet, silent, futuristic electric vehicles and we can’t help but grin that EV grin…again…because we know that driving electric is just a better way to drive.
I am fully aware that fueling these all electric vehicles requires some fossil fuels such as coal but with gas out of the picture we are on our way to a much cleaner, safer, healthier, quieter society. I believe Arnold Schwarzenegger said it well here when he came up with an excellent reason why we need to all go green.
There are two doors. Behind Door Number One is a completely sealed room, with a regular, gasoline-fueled car. Behind Door Number Two is an identical, completely sealed room, with an electric car. Both engines are running full blast.
I want you to pick a door to open, and enter the room and shut the door behind you. You have to stay in the room you choose for one hour. You cannot turn off the engine. You do not get a gas mask.
I’m guessing you chose the Door Number Two, with the electric car, right? Door number one is a fatal choice — who would ever want to breathe those fumes?
Clean, reliable, solar, wind and EV technologies are available NOW off the shelf and off the lot. In fact, you can now even find a good used EV for the same price as a good used gas guzzler in fact, many collage students are snatching up used Leafs as their daily drivers because they just make so much sense. Check out Carvana.com for some really great deals on used Leafs!
On top of that the cost of solar has dropped exponentially in the last few years. Just stop and think for a moment…is your roof soaked in sunshine all or most of the day? Why not cover it in solar panels and put it to work for you?
Photo credit A.J. Rowell
Just think about it. If you had an electric vehicle right now how happy would you be that you did not have to go to the gas station? Maybe you could be like this guy who swapped his dirty, toxic VW “clean” diesel for an EV. Just stop and think for a moment how nice it would feel to be able to be truly free from the subscription to dependency and resulting high costs (to your bank account and the environment) and headaches of paying for gas and electricity. Imagine if your electric bill was only a few dollars a month? Most of us who are able to read these words honestly have no real excuse to not make the switch to cleaner technologies. If these options sound good to you, if they sound possible, then make it a goal to at least do some more research into the topic. Imagine.
Photo credit A.J. Rowell
This gasoline madness is just that, madness.
Six years ago my wife and I started making the switch from gas to electric with the purchase of a rechargeable string trimmer (weed eater). Then in 2013 we ditched our ageing Honda CRV for our 2012 Nissan Leaf 100% electric vehicle. Since then we have fallen in love with both of them because they save us loads of money, they are quiet and fun to use/drive and they are so much better for the earth and for our health. While they still require some fossil fuels to charge (until we can one day go solar), the gas and oil have been taken out of the equation and that is a huge thing in so many ways.
A few days ago the little string trimmer finally died so I replaced it with an upgraded 80 volt heavy duty model and an electric leaf blower (they have interchangeable batteries)! Now we are even closer to one day becoming an all electric family and kissing gas goodbye forever!
Going electric is not only for the well to do, I should know because I am anything but rich. Anyone can go electric and end your addiction to dirty, polluting, harmful, dangerous and outdated fossil fuels. All it takes is a little research, a test drive, a small amount of adaptation and compromise and soon, like me, you can be passing gas every day and loving every minute of it 🙂
On September 20 the gasoline tanker trucks started arriving in my area and select stations were able to dispense their product to the public.
On September 21st, as I again traveled that familiar road to work, I stopped at the local gasoline filling station…to squeegee my windshield 🙂
And I noticed that the pumps were all still out of service…all except for diesel.
On September 22nd drivers of gas powered vehicles breathed a sigh of relief when the pipeline began operations again after a bypass was put in place around the damaged pipe. Hopefully soon the fuel supply will be back to some form of “normal” and those that drive only gas powered vehicles**** will be able to get around as in the past. I only hope that this little incident has left many of them questioning fossil fuels and thinking seriously about making the switch to EV’s.
How long will it be until the next pipeline ruptures? Will it be in your neighborhood? Only time will tell.
UPDATE: November 01, 2016 – the very same Colonial Pipeline that caused this fuel shortage just over a month ago exploded yesterday killing one person and severely burning several more.
It seems that we did not have to wait very long for the next major pipeline incident. More on this development to follow. Now do you now see why it is of utmost importance that we break our dangerous addiction to almighty oil and focus on renewable energy!
If the actions of the gasoline addicted public are any indications, I now know that one of the reasons Max was mad was because he was addicted to gasoline.
We have choices. Be the change.
* I am sure I will get some flak for this statement from folks who believe nature was put here for us to use up, dominate, consume, and destroy, in whatever manner we may dream up and that belief is total bull crap. But, whatever. Say what you will – I have stopped feeding the trolls. Feeding trolls only makes them stronger so do not expect a reply unless you put down your emotional ammunition and be reasonable.
**I did not name a specific deity/religion out of respect for the over 4000 religions on planet Earth. To say that one religion is the one true way to salvation/enlightenment/ultimate knowledge/nirvana/valhalla/heaven/Sto-vo-kor /the afterlife/ whatever…is unbelievably selfish and unsupportive of the billions of fellow human beings with which we share our planet.
***It is my opinion that if there is an all powerful supreme omnipotent consciousnesses in charge of the universe, there is no evidence to suggest that it is a grumpy, vengeful, bearded old white human man on a golden throne. I refuse to accept that out of date old racist and sexist image. Whatever it is or whatever it is not, if it exists it must above all else be a great scientist with a flair for the arts. Only a truly great scientist could design and implement the amazing and complex interconnected self balancing and self governing system that is the cosmos and only an artist could make it so beautiful. Or it is a dog because dog spelled backwards is god 😉
****Yes, I do have another vehicle and sadly is is powered by nasty gasoline. I only use it for hauling, towing a trailer, occasional long distance excursions, and drive it very sparingly. During this gas outage I left it parked and was so very glad I had an EV. One day soon, when a car company produces an EV truck, I will rid myself of the old dinosaur and go 100% EV – maybe it will be a Tesla Cybertruck or a Bollinger B1!
Well, it had to happen eventually, I’ve been “coal rolled”…well, sort of.
The photos embedded within the story that follows are sad examples of “coal rolling,” a “practice of intentionally disabling the Clean Burn Programming of a computer controlled diesel engine, and/or installing a “defeat device” similar to the one Volkswagen illegally and secretly developed for millions of its vehicles. This device illegally allows the vehicle to emit an under-aspirated fuel-rich sooty exhaust that visibly pollutes the air.
Practitioners tamper with their vehicles’ emissions controls in open defiance of environmental regulations that require all gas and diesel powered vehicles to have emission control devices and systems that reduce the amount of pollutants released into the atmosphere. It also may include the intentional removal of the particulate filter. Practitioners often additionally modify their vehicles by installing “smoke switches,” huge tailpipes, and smokestacks. Modifications to a vehicle to enable it to “roll coal” may cost anywhere from $200 to $5,000…or more. Rolling coal is a form of conspicuous pollution. Targets of rolling coal often include owners of hybrid vehicles (and now EV’s) as well as bicyclists and pedestrians. (From Wikipedia)
My story.
A few days ago I was driving my 2012 Nissan Leaf through the small town I call home when I pulled up to a traffic light to wait for it to change. After sitting silently in traffic for a moment I began to hear the unmistakable sound of an idling diesel engine growing louder to the left rear quarter of my Leaf. I glanced in my rear view only to see a large, raised, black, pick up truck with over-sized tires and a huge chrome exhaust pipe sticking out of the undercarriage in front of the right rear wheel (clearly he must have been compensating for something…). A red alert klaxon Captain James Kirk would be proud of went off in my head: COAL ROLLER! I rolled up the windows and set the climate control on recirculate to keep the inevitable black clouds of toxic carcinogenic diesel soot and ash out of my car’s cabin and out of my lungs. The light changed and I made a split second decision to take action and remove myself from the situation so I dropped out of Eco mode, actuated the accelerator firmly to the deck plate, and was silently, smoothly, and rapidly suctioned into the future leaving the quaking dinosaur-like diesel danger far behind in my clean, statically charged dust while grinning ear to ear the EV grin. I moved silently through traffic for a few moments and was unfortunately stopped behind a slow-moving old vehicular construct from the 1970’s and yet another traffic light. A few seconds later the gaudy environmental perpetrator idled up beside me rolling and rumbling slowly forward to get his behemoth of a truck in just the right position to angle his tailpipe in the direction of the front left corner of my Leaf.
We sat there waiting for the light to change: in one lane a massive, towering, shaking Goliath of a vehicle that Mad Max would have been proud of. It was idling so roughly that I could see the entire truck vibrate with the controlled internal combustion chaos going on in the climate science and common sense denier modified, oil-soaked innards of its massive, Cummings turbo-diesel powerplant. In the other lane, I sat, like the proverbial David, in my tiny, silent, futuristic, 100% electric car. When the light changed Mr. Diesel dropped all the ancient dinosaur juice and testosterone filled spite he had into his illegally modified, anti-environment, fossil burning, ultra-conservative, big wheeled statement and out came…a tiny, rather insignificant, little puff of black smoke. I grinned -something had clearly gone wrong with his truck’s coal rolling modifications and with his attempt to drench my Leaf in billowing clouds of dirty black diesel smoke. I couldn’t stop grinning as he sped away thinking he had made some sort of an anti-green, anti-Obama, anti-environment, anti-EV, hateful statement. From my perspective, Mr. Diesel’s childish display of blowing smoke seemed to backfire on him miserably and for that, I am forever grateful. Did he learn a lesson from our encounter…highly doubtful. He probably returned home to boast and brag about his (failed) knuckle-dragging childishness to all his diesel soaked friends while posting stupid memes online likes the ones below.
This was my first Coal Rolling experience since owning my Nissan Leaf so I decided that “retaliation” was in order so instead of flying off the handle and doing something as idiotic as the “coal rolling” infant by chasing him down and repeatedly stepping on the maggots face – I did some in-depth research on the topic and report on it below.
My findings
According to many readily available articles: the “Coal Rolling” culture is a juvenile attempt to build up the egos of anti-environmentalists and toxically masculine often ultra-conservatives who feel that their “God-given freedoms” are being trodden upon. Many of these misguided individuals are afraid that the stricter pollution regulations imposed by the recent advances in technologies, the Obama administration, and common sense in general, may cause them to lose some of their access the ultra consumptive, garishly ignorant lifestyles they have become accustomed to.
Another possibility is that with more and more people becoming more and more informed and conscious of the damaging realities of air pollution and the links between diesel exhaust and many forms of cancer, and the indisputable scientific facts and findings in support of anthropogenic global climate change being caused primarily by our daily actions of burning fossil fuels for energy, and with more people becoming aware of their own carbon footprints and their resulting impacts on the environment – and therefore many are now switching to hybrid and electric vehicles, tiny houses, renewable energy sources, dropping meat from their diets, and growing their own food–all of this common sense goodness could be yet another huge cause for concern for the Coal Rolling crowd. They see that their “kind”, their “people,” as a soon to be endangered species that are going the way of the very dinosaurs that power their toxic smoke belching giant wheeled phallically compensatory beasts so it is possible that their childish coal rolling displays are a visible way of rebelling against the inevitable change closing in from all sides. IMHO coal rollers are just grown up children throwing temper tantrums because they do not want to grow up and face the facts of life.
Whatever the juvenile and narcissistic reasons behind why they “roll coal,” what they are really doing are celebrating an act of the pre-meditated polluting of theirs and everyone else’s shared atmosphere. Coal rolling is a blatant disregard for the safety and health of the perpetrator, other drivers, pedestrians, wildlife and the environment and in every way, this practice should be illegal and banned everywhere.
This may happen sooner rather than later as the coal rollers obviously do not think before they roll. Proof can be found in this article where New Jersey Assemblyman and Leaf driver Tim Eustace was targeted by a Coal Roller and now Eustace aims to work to make it illegal in his state. He has announced a bill that forbids coal rolling. Read more about it here. In fact, it is now illegal everywhere according to the EPA as reported in this article –
It is a violation of the [Clean Air Act] to manufacture, sell, or install a part for a motor vehicle that bypasses, defeats, or renders inoperative any emission control device. For example, computer software that alters diesel fuel injection timing is a defeat device. Defeat devices, which are often sold to enhance engine performance, work by disabling a vehicle’s emission controls, causing air pollution. As a result of EPA enforcement, some of the largest manufacturers of defeat devices have agreed to pay penalties and stop the sale of defeat devices.
The CAA prohibits anyone from tampering with an emission control device on a motor vehicle by removing it or making it inoperable prior to or after the sale or delivery to the buyer. A vehicle’s emission control system is designed to limit emissions of harmful pollutants from vehicles or engines. EPA works with manufacturers to ensure that they design their components with tamper-proofing, addresses trade groups to educate mechanics about the importance of maintaining the emission control systems, and prosecutes cases where significant or imminent harm is occurring.
So there you have it, the act of deliberately modifying your vehicle’s emission control system/engine to emit clouds of smoke is in fact illegal so if you are a coal roller you are intentionally breaking the law so it is time you face the facts – you and your garish disregard for others will soon go the way of the dinosaurs.
WARNING
If you drive an EV, Hybrid, bicycle, horse, or are just out for a stroll or run, keep your eyes and ears open for these small minded, backward thinking, environmental scofflaws full of toxic masculinity piloting their giant trucks because they target not only EV’s, hybrids and other small, fuel-efficient vehicles but also pedestrians, officers of the law, people of color, the LBGTQ community, and even the elderly. These “coal rolling” individuals clearly have serious and twisted mental issues and need some professional help. If you are “coal rolled” try your best to get a description of the vehicle, tag number, and report it to the police. If enough people report this insanity to the authorities, hopefully, the perpetrators will slowly become extinct like the dinosaurs they love to burn.
If Coal Rollers continue to participate in toxic actions like this individual, they will quietly be weeded out of the gene pool by natural selection – and they should all win Darwin Awards for their ignorance.
UPDATE: The madness continues. On March 20th, 2018 I witnessed the following and wrote about it on my Facebook page:
“I am not a violent person in any way. I think of myself as a gentle human being, a rational, thinking person who does not see violence or aggression as a way to fix anything.
However.
Today I witnessed an event that made me want to just grab the perpetrator and throttle them until they were a bloody pulp (although I would never have acted on my anger)!
What did I witness that enraged me past the tipping point?
Picture this. I was driving along in 25 mph heavy traffic and see on the opposite side of the road a female bicyclist that appeared to be in her mid-20s peddling the opposite direction on the sidewalk. Next, a large, raised, black pickup truck with huge tires and dark tinted windows pulls up alongside the cyclist, slows down, and, as I watched, a massive cloud of sooty, black diesel smoke billows out of the truck’s grossly-oversized-obviously-compensating-for-something exhaust orifice covering the cyclist with a cloud of toxic diesel exhaust along with the garish noise of ten thousand flatulent elephants!! The cyclist was coughing and waving her arm as she steered off of the sidewalk in obvious fear!!
It was clear that the action was 100% intentional and directed at the cyclist. It was also obvious that the small-minded, infantile, knuckle dragging, coward had modified his childish toy truck to emit toxic clouds of thick, black, smoke on demand in order to attack innocent pedestrians so they can get his jollies in whatever childish, demented way that harming other people and our shared environment provides him with.
The stupid toy truck and it’s cowardly inhabitants sped away as cowards always do and me, being logical and not reactionary, instead of chasing the slimy piece of maggot-ridden filth down and repeatedly stepping on his face – I promptly called the Highway Patrol and reported the incident. The officer stated that it was out of his jurisdiction however it could be considered some form of assault and should be called into 911 but in this case too much time had elapsed since the incident to do so. So f-ing frustrating!!!
This may be a free country but we are not free to commit crimes such as this that are designed to target and harm others or our shared environment. Nor are we free to tamper with the emission control systems on our vehicles for any reason and we are not free to commit these acts of stupidity that those that modify their vehicles to do so call “coal rolling” or “rolling coal”, – this is an absolute hateful premeditated attack on others and on the environment and it should not go unpunished!
If you see this happen to try to get all the details including the license number if possible and then call 911, the sheriff, police, etc.
Lastly, if you participate in this “coal rolling” madness you are a simply a complete and total dumbass!“
Just to highlight the ignorance of those who participate in the infantile act of “Coal Rolling” or “Rolling Coal” or whatever they call it – I offer up this recent comment by an angry coal rolling diesel smoke vomiting individual who did not like the reflection of themselves seen within the words of my article so I have calmly answered their insults in bold within their heated comment below:
“So the truck ended up NOT being illegally modified since in your words only a puff of smoke came out as he sped off..(while I have no facts to support any internal modifications of the truck – the outward appearance of the vehicle – giant tires, lift kit, grossly over-sized exhaust pipe exiting in a non-factory placement, audibly modified engine sounds suggesting internal modifications to said engine, and the driver’s actions of attempting to align his exhaust with my vehicle’s window – twice – strongly suggest otherwise. I believe his vehicle was modified to “roll coal” but that something malfunctioned at the moment he was attempting to perpetrate his dastardly deed upon my Nissan Leaf) and therefore he did absolutely nothing for you to be against him and that was still enough for you to sit down and take the time to write this snooze-fest of an insult?? (Yes, his actions – and yours – demanded my response. No response would make me part of the problem.) You do realize that in order to produce your Leaf they cause way more harm to the environment in getting the batteries then a diesel will cause in a lifetime of use. (This is an incorrect statement that is not supported by any real peer-reviewed facts. The actual facts can be found here: https://www.ucsusa.org/clean-vehicles/electric-vehicles/life-cycle-ev-emissions and the update here: http://blog.ucsusa.org/dave-reichmuth/new-numbers-are-in-and-evs-are-cleaner-than-ever and I encourage you to read and learn.) Also, diesel trucks run at lower RPM’s throughout their lifespan causing them to last longer than any other vehicle on the road (While this may have been a fact in days past – days before mass-produced electric vehicles – it is not a fact any longer. Diesel, gasoline – any kind of internal combustion engine needs hundreds to thousands of perfectly meshing interconnected parts that must work together with perfect timing and equilibrium. If any one part becomes misaligned or malfunctions – the entire system fails. The more complexity – the more chances of failure and inefficiency. The electric power-train of an EV has very few moving parts, therefore, it is vastly more reliable, stable, and efficient than anything powered by an internal combustion engine. “Basically these things don’t break,” Tony Seba, a clean energy expert and the founder of RethinkX, a think tank that forecasts changes in the transportation industry. “They have 20 moving parts, as opposed to 2,000 in the internal combustion engine, and even those 20 are electromagnetic, which means they don’t touch and don’t break down and, therefore, are far cheaper to maintain.” ) Once your batteries inevitably can’t hold a charge anymore they will need to be replaced impacting the environment greater then any fossil fuel powered vehicle will in its entire lifetime. (This is yet another incorrect statement that is not supported by any real peer reviewed facts. Again, the actual facts can be found here: https://www.ucsusa.org/clean-vehicles/electric-vehicles/life-cycle-ev-emissions and the update here: http://blog.ucsusa.org/dave-reichmuth/new-numbers-are-in-and-evs-are-cleaner-than-ever and in another of my blog posts where I look deeply into that very issue so I encourage you to read them and learn and become part of the solution rather than part of the problem.) Reading this god awful article has inspired me to flip a $5 switch which turns off my turbo and annihilate the next Nissan Leaf i see while I’m driving down the road, and I’ll laugh at how minuscule of an effect some unburnt, water-soluble soot (That un-burnt, water-soluble soot you speak of is highly toxic to life and has been proven to cause cancer in humans…I assume you are a human and you are therefore harming yourself and any friends, family, pets by your close association to your diesels exhaust.) has compared to a battery powered pos Nissan Leaf. I hope the next diesel you see does the same and you have to scrub that soot off with your liberal tears.” Your last childishly hateful statement supports all of my reasons for writing this blog posting and more. I truly feel sorry for you and hope that one day you will dig yourself out of the toxic waste, hate, and fear filled hole you have created for yourself. I hope you will find a way to – just for once – drop all your venomous hatred of anything outside your comfort zone and just go take a ride in a Tesla Model S, 3, or X or even a humble little Nissan Leaf or better yet something more your style – the soon to be produced Bollinger B1 and B2 , Atlis XT , Rivian RT1 , Workhorse W-15 or Tesla Semi , or even the 2020 Tesla Roadster. After you have taken a ride in an EV – any EV – I would hope you will be inspired to grow out of your childish love for the toxic toys of the past and once and for all detach yourself from the subscription to dependency that is feeding your solid attachment to the fossil fuel squirting teats of big oil and evolve into the future of transportation with the rest of us forward thinkers. But…if you are unable to remove yourself from big oil’s toxic teats…there will come a time very soon where you will find that the oil-soaked teats will dry up and your internal combustion powered whatever will be totally worthless – a stranded asset…an over-sized paperweight. The rest of the world will have gone EV and you will be stuck in the past with a worthless dinosaur that nobody wants. It will be valuable only to collectors, internal combustion engine museums, or for its scrap value. Its fuel will be grossly overpriced and overtaxed. You will be forced to pay carbon taxes and pollution taxes just to turn on its out-dated engine so you can get your juvenile jollies listening to it rumble and watching it pollute the air with its poisonous effluent. It will be very hard to find parts and when you do find them they will be very expensive. It will be very hard to find the precious fuel that makes it work because most of the mom and pop stations will be forced to stop selling liquid petroleum due to the skyrocketing costs and all the others will have switched to EV quick charging stations like this one:
So my friends the times they are a-changin’ and you can either choose to adapt and evolve with the rest of us, or you can stay the same, stagnate, and go the way of the dinosaurs that power your outdated old fossil powered machines.
UPDATE: 12/23/18
On a related and truly bizarre note, recently a Tesla EV owner was charging at a Tesla Supercharger in Hickory, NC and reported on Reddit that a group of men in large, modified pick-up trucks intentionally blocked access to the Tesla Superchargers and chanted “F” Tesla before being kicked out by an attendant – crazy! Below is a photo of the trucks blocking the chargers – note the two guys tinkering with their truck’s engine while the Tesla quielty charges – LOL.
It is truly sad that by trying to make a difference in our lives, working to do good things for the environment, supporting American companies that provide thousands of jobs – those of us who drive Tesla’s and other EV’s are targeted by small-minded infants such as these charger blocking idiots and air polluting “coal rollers” who would rather act out in retaliation of the inevitable change rather than accept it and be a part of it.
Imagine what would happen if EV drivers went around blocking gas/diesel pumps chanting hateful messages at Ford and Chevrolet owners – yikes. Obviously, we EV owners are a bit more intelligent than that.
Update: 11/26/2020
“A new report by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Civil Enforcement found that just over half a million diesel pickups on the road have been producing 9 million trucks’ worth of excess emissions, reports the New York Times. The reason why? Aftermarket performance modifications that illegally disable vehicles’ emissions control technology.
That means you, coal rollers. Knock it off.” This was a quote from this article in The Drive so it looks like the EPA is working toward attacking this issue with evidence supported policy.
The small-minded, tribe of troglodytic, knuckle-dragging, environmental bullies who intentionally modify their grotesquely jacked-up toy trucks to emit huge clouds of toxic, unburnt fuel are nothing more than atmospheric/environmental bullies.
Littering of any kind is still littering.
IMHO they should all have their trucks taken away, be fined a hefty sum, attend a college-level course on air quality and its impact on human health, and finally, serve some time, not in jail – but picking up filthy garbage along the side of the road (without any PPE’s)…oh, and be ordered to work in a hospital ER (also without any PPE’s) while caring for people with respiratory diseases such as asthma, influenza, COPD, emphysema, COVID-19 whose conditions have been exacerbated by their childish, careless, thoughtless, toxically masculine desire to harm others and our shared environment with their harmful clouds of flatulent effluent from their little toy trucks.
What drives a person to do this?
How can a person have such a small intellect that they intentionally want to harm others and themselves by degrading the atmosphere we all share?
Whatever the reason I would bet they have all somehow attached the words “freedom” and or “God-given right” and ‘murica” to their filthy tribal cause.
I also know that natural selection, the law, and karma will eventually catch up to these toxic little sub-humans and their kind will fade into history as all the other trucks on the road are electrified…and they and their pollution vomiting boytoy trucks will remain stuck in the toxic, dirty, past like the old fossils they are powered by and they are.
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Hurricane Harvey impacting the Texas coast. Image 
My little 2012 Nissan Leaf EV was fully charged and ready to roll.
Blue Water Leaf 