Oceans of love for the Tesla-driving Matt Damon 11

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1. 

   human power Posted 12:32 pm
   05 Jun 2008

   Just another brown whiteySorry, but driving a car is far from green behavior. Electric cars will, for the time being, draw their energy from the national electric grid, which is mostly powered by coal. Coal just happens to be the dirtiest fossil-fool going. Maybe you could get infatuated with someone who does actually love the earth, or at least loves the notion of keeping Earth a living planet.

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2. 

   Pangolin Posted 12:59 pm
   05 Jun 2008

   Let it ride.They only get a few more years of their 'happy motoring utopia' before the rising cost of asphalt brings the whole meme to a shuddering (literally) halt.
   If we electrified every vehicle tomorrow by waving a magic wand we could just afford the cost of road upkeep; otherwise, not.
   It's going to be rails or trails soon enough.
   
   Put the Carbon Back

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3. 

   Cacaoatl Posted 1:11 pm
   05 Jun 2008

   Don't Knock MattBesides his electric car, Matt Damon contributes to and promotes many worthy causes including but not limited to: ONE an effort to end AIDS and poverty in Africa; GreenDimes.com an effort to end junk mail; Not On Our Watch an effort to end atrocities such as  those continuing in Darfur; and H20 Africa an effort create awareness of clean water initiatives in Africa.
   Electric vehicles such as the Tesla often obtain 90% energy conversion efficiency; can be combined with regenerative braking; and cause less air pollution and less noise pollution than internal combustion engines.  In the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? it further explains that it takes several hundred electric cars to equal the pollution of one standard combustion engine. That's even with plugging into the electrical grid based on coal.  Furthermore, as a Hollywood celebratory, Damon probably does most of his driving in California which is phasing out coal.

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4. 

   MAD MAC Posted 2:23 pm
   05 Jun 2008

   PangolinAsphalt isn't the only surface on which one can drive and automobile.....
   
   Victory in Pattani

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5. 

   katakanadian Posted 3:18 pm
   05 Jun 2008

   Good Matt, Bad MattMatt seems to do a lot of good stuff but he is also gullible for greenwashing. He has associated himself with the crime against humanity that calls itself Ethos bottled water.

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6. 

   MAD MAC Posted 7:28 pm
   05 Jun 2008

   You think sending money to charities is good?"If you want to help children get clean water then make a direct donation to a reputable aid agency.
   
   If you bought one bottle of Ethos every week you would spend about $75/ year in order to make a $5 donation. Next time you receive a request for a donation to clean water charities, give them a $25 donation and save yourself $50 by avoiding the environmental disaster that is bottled water. Win-Win."
   Maybe sending them bottled water is not a good idea, but giving money to aid organizations doesn't rate much better. I had first hand experience with a number of them in Africa. They were spending large amount of aid money on housing (nice, big housing with swimming pools in Ethiopia!), whores who were paid as "domestic help" - oh yeah, they were helping domestically alright, Air Conditioned SUVs.........
   So research carefully before you donate. And be cautious on their published numbers - they have a tendency to lie.
   
   
   
   Victory in Pattani

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7. 

   katakanadian Posted 11:58 pm
   05 Jun 2008

   The greater of two evilsMAD MAC, note that I said reputable aid agency. Even if you gave directly to a disreputable agency that wasted all your money, it would still be a better choice than buying unEthos because you are avoiding all the waste. I bet those unEthos founder guys own gas-guzzlers and big mansions and jet around a lot too.

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8. 

   Jonas Posted 12:59 am
   06 Jun 2008

   For lack of intellectualsLook, Matt Damon is a symbol for Americans. Since the U.S. has no culture of public intellectuals who move debates, it has to rely on movie stars to set examples. It's a highly primitive communication technique, but it is not necessarily ineffective.
   On substance: electric cars are they way forward for wealthy parts of the West, because we can hook them up to 'negative emissions electricity' (that is: carbon-negative bioenergy). This way, you can drive a car and remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
   Obviously this is only a concept, and electric cars offer no real advantages as long as the energy mix is dominated by fossil fuel sources. But at least, these cars signal what could be possible (negative emissions instead of zero emissions).
   The challenge now is to reduce costs fifty-fold so we can sell $2000 electric cars to developing countries.
   Damon should go to India, China, Brazil, Africa and other developing regions to show off EVs.
   Because after all, it is in the developing world that the climate fight will be lost or won. 75% of all new energy consumption will come from these countries; 75% in the growth of mobility infrastructures and vehicles sales will occur in the Global South.
   In short, Matt Damon, go South. Go make some impact!

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9. 

   caniscandida Posted 1:25 am
   06 Jun 2008

   But he's so cute!Actually, Jonas, Matt Damon appears to be smarter than the average pretty-face-and-bod.  But in a way, that makes it harder to get through to him about what he should be interested in, and what he might do ...
   Of course the US lacks intellectuals!  Showing interest in anything intellectual in this country is a mortal sin.
   To modify your excellent advice to young cutey-pie Matt Damon: Yes, Go South, but concentrate.  Focus.  Go to just one country: and I would choose one of these four: Brazil, Chile, Argentina, South Africa.  And decide to live there for a bit; and decide to learn all you can about one big energy issue (e.g. EVs?), and one big biodiversity issue.
   And then, of course, what with your charm and all, get other people to get interested too.
   
   Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

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10. 

    MAD MAC Posted 2:08 am
    06 Jun 2008

    Avoiding all the waste?I can't speak for worldwide. But when I lived in Somalia, you could never find a plastic bag or plastic bottles. The Somalis used them as canteens. Plastic bottles were reused. The place was so poor, EVERYTHING was recycled into something.
    
    Victory in Pattani

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11. 

    katakanadian Posted 12:22 pm
    06 Jun 2008

    I don't think unEthos sells water in SomaliaThey sell to North Americans who recycle only about 10% of plastic bottles. Even if recycling were 100%, they would still pollute enormous quantities of water and waste enormous quantities of oil, all to make enormous profits and then toss a few pennies to Africa.
    I'm not falling for that kind of greenwash and neither should anyone else.

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