> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.possibilities.news/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Car Culture - URL: https://www.possibilities.news/biden-electric-cars-emissions/ - Published: 2024-03-21T12:00:58.000Z - Updated: 2024-03-26T21:22:22.000Z - Description: The president is going hard on EVs. What about mass transit? - Author: Yessenia Funes **LISTENING:** *to my chewing* **FEELING:** *ready for spring* **SEEING:** *my bowl of olives slowly empty out* Did you hear? President Joe Biden [announced](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/20/climate/biden-phase-out-gas-cars.html?ref=possibilities.news) new regulations Wednesday to encourage automakers to make more electric vehicles. Transportation makes up the [majority of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions](https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions?ref=possibilities.news), but I worry that leaders are taking a flawed approach to cutting that pollution. We need EVs, of course. Gas-powered cars won't work in a green economy. We can't pump fossil fuels into our vehicles to get around forever. However, all I hear about these days is EVs — from the government, from tech billionaires, and from industry. I was just at the Aspen Ideas: Climate event last week where FIAT CEO Olivier Francois delivered a keynote. At the conference center, attendees could drive electric FIATs around a mini driving course, too. I didn't mind it too much, but most others I spoke to hated the noise and the space dedicated to the cars. But isn't that the norm? Think about how much of our built environment is dedicated to personal vehicles: parking spaces, driveways, roads, and parking lots. The soundscape of cities is shaped by the honking and sirens of vehicles, too. Let's be real: This is part of the problem. EVs won't fix any of that. They won't make driving less deadly, either. Why won't more politicians invest in public transit, instead? I rarely see so-called leaders position mass transit as a climate solution even though it's one of the most obvious. [Subscribe here](https://www.possibilities.news/#/portal/signup) Welcome to **Possibilities**, a creative climate newsletter on the possibilities that lie where crisis meets community. I’m **Yessenia Funes**, and I want to see more buses and trains and bikes. I love cars just as much as the next person. I bought a hybrid last year. I'm no saint! I am, however, a middle-class professional with an excellent credit score who could afford the $30,000 loan to purchase my car. I am also super into the planet, so I was excited about the plug-in option on my Prius. As a renter, I don't get to use it often — but anytime I see a streetside charger, I'm in there. Many folks don't have the luxury that I do. I think of my mom, who needs a car to get around the suburbs of Long Island, rushing from one job to the next. The buses aren't reliable out there. The trains only run to select neighborhoods. She can't afford an EV, though. She couldn't even afford her used Nissan. My siblings and I bought it for her. For much of my childhood, my mom wasn't even a person who could drive. I have vivid memories of hopping on the bus with her to go to doctor's appointments or the grocery store. When my dad was at work, we had three options: walk, ride the bus, or pay for a cab. This reality remains for many Americans. It's a disservice to ignore their needs. I live in New York City where I don't need a car. I own it because I can afford it. Because I want the luxury of escaping the city when I want without waiting on a train. Because I grew up poor, and dammit, I wanted the option to ride in style. I also live in Queens where the subway system mostly connects to Manhattan. To get around Queens or into Brooklyn or Long Island, a 20-minute car ride will be an hour-long train ride (often with multiple transfers). Despite the pains of the city's transit system, I still only drive my car maybe once or twice a week. My partner hops on the train every day. We — and countless other New Yorkers — would love to see our transit systems upgraded to become safer, faster, and cleaner. (We don't want more cops, though, please.) The president [announced](https://www.transit.dot.gov/about/news/biden-harris-administration-announces-nearly-4-billion-support-14-major-transit?ref=possibilities.news) $4 billion earlier this month that will go toward 14 transit construction projects in California, New Jersey, Florida, and more. This is an excellent start. I just hope these dollars reach the communities that need them most without displacing or gentrifying them [the way such projects have](https://www.mpactmobility.org/blog/transit-and-displacement/?ref=possibilities.news) in the past. 🌀 ## Rest in Power **While we can't say for certain that climate change led to these specific weather events (we need attribution studies for that), we do know that the Earth's rising temperatures are already creating more disasters like these.** At least three people are dead after Tropical Storm Filipo [tore through](https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2024/03/15/3-killed-after-tropical-storm-filipo-passes-through-mozambique?ref=possibilities.news) Mozambique last week. A series of tornadoes last week in the Midwest [killed](https://apnews.com/article/tornado-indiana-ohio-severe-weather-731ed36b02cd521590ac8f5dbc4509f5?ref=possibilities.news) at least three people. Over the weekend, a [wildfire](https://chinadialogue.net/en/digest/three-killed-in-yunnan-wildfire/?ref=possibilities.news) in Yunnan, China, killed at least three people. ## Currently Reading Speaking of transit, Adam Mahoney has a [damning report](https://capitalbnews.org/biden-infrastructure-plan-highway-expansion/?ref=possibilities.news) at Capital B on the way Biden's investments have allowed for more highway expansion. I couldn't put down [this story](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2024/03/dna-tests-incest/677791/?ref=possibilities.news) in The Atlantic about the disturbing ways DNA tests are uncovering a prevelance of incest in the U.S. The [latest investigation](https://grist.org/indigenous/fbi-informant-standing-rock-protest-court-documents-surveillance/?ref=possibilities.news) from Alleen Brown on Standing Rock and the FBI's surveillance reminds me: F-f-fuck the police. Energy demand for cryptocurrency or cannabis farms [threatens](https://energynews.us/2024/03/19/bitcoin-data-centers-fuel-energy-spike-risking-climate-goals/?ref=possibilities.news) the transition off fossil fuels. I've been saying this for years, but [gun violence is an environmental justice issue](https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/gun-violence-data-public-health-experts-research-funds/?ref=possibilities.news)! ## Poetry I live in my head where everyone drowns no life vests, just waves endless, monstrous, haunting waves I migrate to my heart where everyone lives beating hearts and sunkissed cheeks kisses that unclog the misery in my head \-ylf- ****What are you reading and seeing? Share in a comment.** **See you next week. xx** \- Yessenia