>The Energy Department has now concluded with "low confidence" that the COVID-19 pandemic most likely began after an unintentional laboratory leak in China, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited a classified intelligence report provided to the White House and members of Congress. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2023/02/27/covid-lab-leak-energy-department-theory-explained/11357354002/

This is a game where people are cherry picking the data they most want to be correct. No federal agency has a high confidence that Covid came from a lab.

Those running around screaming that this low confidence assessment proves something are ridiculous.

If I tell you a thousand tales and only two of them are true would you not consider me terribly unreliable?

There are numerous types of sea grass and seaweed that are edible. They contain too many heavy minerals at the moment to be eaten in large quantities (replace of grain). It is a challenge that needs more attention. When we can develop crops that grow in seawater it will solve the problems traditional farm faces (draught, fertilizer, land, etc).

>Only 1+ million were produced outside of China.

Tela alone sells a million cars per year.

My point is that production has been dramatically scaled up.

>Global EV sales reached a record-high of 6.9 million in 2021. https://theicct.org/publication/global-ev-update-2021-jun22/#:~:text=Global%20EV%20sales%20reached%20a,%2Dduty%20vehicles%20(HDVs).

Cumulatively that's about a million cars just last year. Considering cumulatively only 52k EVs were sold per year 10yrs ago a million is enormous progress in a very short period. That million also left out Polestar/Volvo, Mazda, Mercedes, Honda, Nissan, and others who also produce EVs.

Tesla sells over 300k cars per year. NIo sold 250k last year.GM sells 20k of just the Chevy Bolt per year. Ford sold 20k of the Mach E.

Define "mass-produced".

GM already has 7 EVs in the market.

Tesla, , Rivan, Polestar, Lucid Motors NIO, etc are car manufacturers who exclusively make EVs and already have cars for sale.

Traditional automakers also have numerous cars available now:

• Audi has 3 separate EV models: RS GT e-tron, A4 e-tron, and the e-tron.

• BMW has 3 separate EV models: i4, iX, i7 for sale now.

• Ford has 3 separate EV models: E -Transit Cargo, Mach E, and F150 lightening.

• GM has 7 separate EV models: Hummer, lyriq, Bolt, Silverado EV, Blazer EV, Equinox EV

I will stop there for the sake of brevity Honda, Hyundai, KIA, Mazda, Mercedes, Mini, Nissan, Porches, Volvo, etc all have EV models.

• Ford says it will produce more than 2 million EVs annually by 2026 and projects that EVs will be half of its global sales volume by 2030

• Volvo announced plans to be EV only by 2030.

• Mini already sells an electric version of the Mini Cooper. BMW has confirmed plans to make the brand all-electric by 2030.

• Audi has pledged to go electric by 2033. They will launch their last new internal combustion car in 2026.

• General Motors outlined a plan that would see the company and its Chevrolet, GMC and Buick brands eliminate combustion-powered vehicles by 2035.

Several major automobile companies are shifting away from ICE.

The amount of resources currently required (feed, water, energy, land) for our current production methods is not sustainable. Not environmentally or economically. If we can produce a product using less resources that is as nutritious than it's a no-brainer. That is what we should be doing.

No, I am implying poor choices were made off rip. The cost of gas changes all the time. The current prices were inevitable. They will go down some, let up some, rinse and repeat.

>You can choose to live somewhere like a city to reduce your personal use of gas, but you would still use the same amount each month,

Tens of millions of people don't own cars. They pay nothing for Gasoline.

My daily google news feed has all the same news stories Reddit does. Once you search enough science, technology, international affairs, etc news the algorithm adjusts and broadens your feed.

>Inelastic goods, like gas, are needed and will be bought more or less despite the price.

One makes choices about where the live. That choice influences whether or not they need a car and how much they need to drive. Additionally people decide what type of cars they buy. SUVs and Trucks use a lot more gas than sedans and wagons.

I don't see gas as an inelastic good. People just need to make better choices. If one moves to a suburb that isn't connected to the city they work in via some form of public transportation they are committing themselves to buying a car & lots of gas. If that same person buys a truck or SUV they are committing themselves to buying crazy amounts of gas.

Inelastic would be food, water, electricity, etc. Things people absolutely have to buy.

Growing up I was taught that as a consumer I had the power of choice. That I didn't owe my time or money to any brand. Rather, brands had to work to earn my patronage.

It is a concept I feel has been lost. People have adopted lifestyles that are dependent on specific goods and services. Choice and any sense of consumer autonomy seems to be gone. When gas/petrol prices go up people complain excessively yet continue to buy it insisting there simply is no choice. That no alternatives exist. Ironically if a meaningful amount of people would just start using public transportation, carpooling, cycling, etc the price of gas/petrol would in fact come down.

No one has to use Twitter. Elon Musk owns it and he can do whatever he wants with it. He can charge a million dollars for a blue check mark. Consumers need to take some of their leverage back and stop acting powerless. Apps, social media platforms, websites, etc that I don't like I don't use. It is that simple. If one has an issue with moderation on Reddit stop using Reddit. If one doesn't want to pay Elon to be verified on Twitter, don't. These are very easy choices.

>In order to reduce fresh water and sewer costs, and to eliminate the impact of contaminated water on the environment, car wash owners install recycling systems in their washes. In many municipalities, these systems are required in order for the business to meet code and receive a permit. https://columbiatireauto.com/the-high-value-of-recycled-water-in-an-automatic-car-wash/

It is literally already a thing. I don't understand what point you are attempting to make.

Filter gray water would work.

>but where would we find the physical space to grow enough saltwater crops to replace a large proportion of freshwater-driven industrial agriculture?

The ocean. Floating hydroponic style crops.

Just because water isn't potable doesn't mean it is too dirty to clean your car.

This pedantic argument totally misses the point. It isn't that rain water is the answer for the whole world. It is that treated potable water shouldn't be used for toilets. In some places rain water may work. In other places lightly filtered gray water (sink & laundry) might do the trick.

One doesn't need consumable clean water to clean a car. I didn't mean one should never wash a car. Rather the way we wash cars is wasteful.

No thank you. Capitalism's solution will be very environmentally harmful. Building reverse osmosis facilities and just dumping the waste brine in bays.

Lawns, golf courses, washing cars, flushing toilets, etc

For a generation officials have just tried to wait out droughts. Put mild water restrictions in place while waiting for a rainy year or heavy snow pack to come. Little has been done to improve local infrastructure. Praying for rain isn't good governance.

Over 70 percent of the planet is water. not just that but all water is recycled. Having useable water should be one of the easiest problems to solve. We've just committed ourselves to wasteful practices.

For starters we need to cultivate more crops that can tolerate saltwater. Edible plants like Marsh Samphire, Sea Peas, Sea Parsley, seaweed, sea fennel, Kelp, etc. These can be eaten like other veggies or dried and turned into flours that could fortify other food products (chips, cereal, bread, pasta, etc). While heavier minerals exist in these plants little effort has been made to tackle that challenge. Maize became corn and apples are cloned. A lot of the veggies and grains we eat have been modified.