Image by: Stefan Schweihofer from Pixabay
A great example of one of the biggest impediments to making progress on sustainability issues was played out in the UK Guardian media group last week. On 3 June the Guardian published a piece by well-known actor Rowan Atkinson entitled I love electric vehicles – and was an early adopter. But increasingly I feel duped. His argument was that the current environmental cost of batteries is very high and that there may be more to be gained from using cars with ICEs to the end of their natural lives.
On 7 June, the same outlet published an article by Ben Lane, The die is cast: petrol and diesel engines are dying. The electric age is inevitable directly contradicting Atkinson’s thoughts. Then on 8 June they published Fact check: why Rowan Atkinson is wrong about electric vehicles by Simon Evans. Lane is co-founder and CTO at Zapmap, a UK-wide map of electric car charging points. Evans is the deputy editor and senior policy editor at Carbon Brief. He writes about climate change policy and global energy trends. They look highly knowledgeable and work professionally in the field. Atkinson is an actor. A famous actor. Who lots of people know and love.
Apart from asking the question of why on earth the Guardian published Atkinson to start with, it highlights how difficult change is when multiple people have platforms to give multiple opinions. Those against all just have to shout no, no, no. And so nothing changes very much. Sad.
Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.