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Comment by jachee | Hacker News Reader

Hypothetically, given the choice between a 10 minute, higher-environmental-impact route and an 11-minute, lower-impact one: Are you really going to take the literally selfish, worse-for-the-planet route to save one minute? Wouldn't you like to make a small "sacrifice" (the choice is only given when the ETAs are similar) that might help slow the destruction of the only environment we have?

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I don't think it's fair to call it "selfish". If I am someone who only drives a few thousand miles a year or even less (this is actually true for me), then wanting to save a minute or two isn't exactly selfish compared to a person who drives 10-20k miles a year. You can't really judge on the scale of one trip.

I'm fine with the feature though as long as it gives an option. In fact, I would enjoy having the new capability to optimize for fuel economy.

IF there are 10-20k "people like you" making the "not really selfish" choice, they're doing as much harm as the person who drives 10-20k miles a year.

It's about network effects. The more people we get to make the more eco-friendly choice, the better the place gets for all of us.

Actually no, if there are 10-20k people like me only driving a few thousand miles instead of 10-20k miles per year we'd be much better off! (which btw is the average in the US)

You aren't going to shame me over a few miles when I make a concerted effort to drive 1/10 of the average American, sorry.

But hey good news, Google is abandoning remote work and making its employees drive to and from work every day probably negating any benefit from this feature whatsoever.

Depends on how much impact is actually reduced by that minute. It's going to be cool to see the comparisons in the app.

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