Photo: Facebook / Extinction Rebellion France
Extinction Rebellion activists in France have declared open war on rented electric scooters, which are often billed as a greener alternative means of transport in crowded urban environments.
That’s just a lie: electric scooters are “a toy of green capitalism,” Extinction Rebellion France says in a statement posted to Facebook. They pollute more than an average car with just one occupant and, because of the way they’re made and their short life span, they actually have a bigger carbon footprint than a vehicle.
In this sense, they’re not a solution to the ongoing climate crisis: they’re only adding to the problem. So activists took it upon themselves to send a message loud and clear, and they’re claiming to have sabotaged around 3,600 electric scooters in the French capital and other major cities, including Lyon and Bordeaux. They did so by covering the QR codes riders need to have access to in order to use the scooters after renting them out through an app.
The activists say that electric scooters, which have taken over Paris (much like it happened in other European and US cities), are “an ecological disaster.” Because they have to be taken away every night and recharged, and then brought back in the morning, their average emissions are of 202g of CO2 per passenger and kilometer traveled – 25 percent more greenhouse emissions than a passenger car and 40 times the amount of emissions generated by a ride by tram or metro, per kilometer traveled.
“Their Lithium Batteries are produced in destructive conditions for nature and human beings, and are not necessarily recycled,” the group writes. “Does the self-service electric scooter allow at least to limit car or scooter trips to the city center? Not even! Studies on this subject show that it mostly replaces walking trips.”
In other words, rented e-scooters are not helping with pollution: they only pretend to do so when they’re a contributing factor to the problem. The activists say that they don’t want them in “our cities,” hence the need to take action against them.
Extinction Rebellion has been around since 2016 but is seeing a surge in popularity mostly in Europe. Simultaneous protests have been taking place in several countries, and one of the stated goals of the activists is to get themselves arrested to shine a light on their cause. This seems to have been the exception.
In this sense, they’re not a solution to the ongoing climate crisis: they’re only adding to the problem. So activists took it upon themselves to send a message loud and clear, and they’re claiming to have sabotaged around 3,600 electric scooters in the French capital and other major cities, including Lyon and Bordeaux. They did so by covering the QR codes riders need to have access to in order to use the scooters after renting them out through an app.
The activists say that electric scooters, which have taken over Paris (much like it happened in other European and US cities), are “an ecological disaster.” Because they have to be taken away every night and recharged, and then brought back in the morning, their average emissions are of 202g of CO2 per passenger and kilometer traveled – 25 percent more greenhouse emissions than a passenger car and 40 times the amount of emissions generated by a ride by tram or metro, per kilometer traveled.
“Their Lithium Batteries are produced in destructive conditions for nature and human beings, and are not necessarily recycled,” the group writes. “Does the self-service electric scooter allow at least to limit car or scooter trips to the city center? Not even! Studies on this subject show that it mostly replaces walking trips.”
In other words, rented e-scooters are not helping with pollution: they only pretend to do so when they’re a contributing factor to the problem. The activists say that they don’t want them in “our cities,” hence the need to take action against them.
Extinction Rebellion has been around since 2016 but is seeing a surge in popularity mostly in Europe. Simultaneous protests have been taking place in several countries, and one of the stated goals of the activists is to get themselves arrested to shine a light on their cause. This seems to have been the exception.
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