The United Kingdom, which is already world famous for its green gardens and even greener countryside, is about to get even greener. That’s because according to a new report from Japanese car maker Nissan, it could soon have more electric car charging stations than traditional gas stations.
The UK is currently home to around 4,100 electric charging stations and 8,400 gas stations, but if currents trends continue, it will have more than 7,900 charging stations and just 7,870 gas stations by 2020.
Once again our European friends are leaving us in the dust.
With about 12 gas stations for every one electric charging station, it’s going to take a long time for the United States to catch up with the United Kingdom’s all-out embrace of the electric car revolution. So why is that?
See more news and opinion from Thom Hartmann at Truthout here.
Why does our green infrastructure consistently lag behind that of other developed countries like the UK, Germany or Denmark, which is leading the way in wind power generation? Well, there’s really no simple answer to that question, but let me try.
The fact that we have such pathetic green infrastructure is in part due to the fact that our utility companies are privatized — and therefore out of the hands of We the People. They’re beholden only to their own profit motive, and not to the interests of our planet or the customers they serve.
If the opposite were the case and our utility companies were nationalized, or at least controlled by local cooperatives, things would be very, very different. We could direct them to source their power from renewable sources like wind and solar, and not just super-profitable fossil fuels (which, by the way, are only profitable because of enormous tax loopholes and the billions of dollars they get in government subsidies).
But our privatized electric infrastructure isn’t the only reason the green revolution has been stunted here in the US.
The other major reason we lag behind Europe and other developed regions of the world when it comes to embracing green technology is the simple fact that we have oligarchs working hard to ensure that we remain obedient to the status quo. These oligarchs work in tandem with private utility companies, and they are the main obstacle to a greener future here in the US.
Not surprisingly, Charles and David Koch — the Koch brothers — are a major force in this network of oligarchs. For example, as Rolling Stone reported recently, they are working hard to kill net-metering standards in states all across the country.
Net-metering is the technical term for the process by which people who have solar panels on their house can sell some of the excess power they generate back to the grid at a premium price or for credit. It’s been a key factor in the growth of the solar industry in states like Florida because it helps balance out the cost of installing solar panels and creates a built-in incentive for renewable power. It’s also how Germany went from virtually no solar power to nearly 100 percent solar power on some days this summer with millions of home and office rooftop solar units feeding the German power grid.
Net metering is working all over the world!
This, of course, is probably why the Kochs want to kill it — they have massive investments in the fossil fuel industry, and anything that would encourage the development of alternative fuel sources is a threat to their bottom line.
This is probably the same reason why the Kochs have also thrown their money behind the new fossil fuel propaganda group Fueling US Forward, which was unveiled this weekend at the 2016 Red State Gathering in Denver, Colorado. As DeSmogBlog reports, Fueling US Forward’s entire purpose is to destroy subsidies that help encourage the growth of the electric cars, which could also represent a direct threat to the Koch Industry’s bottom line.
At this point, there is zero debate about the fact that global warming is real, that it’s caused by burning fossil fuels and that it’s probably going to be a lot worse than any of us thought. The only real debate worth having is about the size of World War II-style public investment in green technology that we’ll need in order to stop global warming in its tracks.
But here’s the thing: There won’t be a World War II-style investment in green technology if the Koch brothers and other oligarchs continue to undermine renewable power all across the country.
Defeating global warming also means fighting the oligarchs’ massive new PR campaign, and the sooner we all realize that, the sooner the greener future will arrive.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.