It's not a distraction. We're two decades away from replacing coal, we could've replaced it today. As always, we're putting off optimal solutions for some solution that might materialize in the future while we slowly wean ourselves off of the stuff that's destroying our habitat right now and having visible effects right now and from which tens, hundreds millions of people will visibly suffer in the coming decades from what we're doing right now (no, I don't mean the poor Bourgeoisie in France, I'm talking about everybody in Africa, South America, Asia, the Middle East). It's insanity.
This is effectively a solved issue though, isn't it? Even the given example of the Mariahilfer Str. still has road access and as per the wikipedia page "Für den Lieferverkehr ist die Zufahrt und das Halten bis 13 Uhr zulässig." (Access and halting for delivery of goods is allowed until 1pm). Any city off the top of my head with pedestrian-only inner city areas still allow delivery trucks until certain times. Since the vast majority of retailers get their goods delivered in 3.5-7.5t trucks simply because of the volume, I don't see how this is going to change. Shops still need to get their goods somehow and the last thing you want to do is strangle off clothing shops or electronic goods from your city center, leaving only restaurants and cafes. Nobody would go there anymore.
It's telling that only the four biggest providers in Germany were able to take part in the auction because of how expensive it is. Not a lot of companies can throw billions at some spectrum before even building any towers or other infrastructure. It really distorts the market and makes it far less competitive.
From what I've seen, compared to France, the UK and Austria, which aren't poorer countries, Germany still has comparatively expensive plans with less volume.
Unfortunately, nuclear seems to be toxic in Germany. There's no way any of the parties are ever supporting it, much less the green party ("Atomkraft nein danke"), which is gaining a lot of political ground in parliament and across the country.
The crazy thing I think is how expensive internet is, in whatever form, in Germany compared to the rest of Europe while simultaneously being so terrible.
I take it you're always reaching some small subset of HN readers - filtered by the kind of people who visit links by the kind of people actually interested in the topic, etc. I know that of the links that I do upvote, I probably only visit a tiny fraction of them.
You could do the same for a lot of things. And it still isn't as easy as you're imagining. Just look at Americans screaming about freedoms and gun ownership. It's the same clusterfuck. Pretending it's otherwise is just delusional.
It's no more easily solvable than transportation or travel habits or any number of other sources of GHG. I think you underestimate how hard it will be to force people to change their eating habits significantly, but it's a change that needs to be made, just like a lot of other changes.
We need to do a lot of things, not just change food production. We should do all of these things, not just change food production. I'm not sure why people are so laser focused on cattle when we need to make drastic cuts everywhere. This isn't an either-or. This isn't optional. "Preferences" are irrelevant when it's between an uninhabitable earth for large parts of the human population and a habitable one.
I'd love to own a car and I'd love to eat 500g of beef everyday, but that's utterly unsustainable, so I don't.
You no longer need to architect modal editors, but I'd say most people see enough benefit in it that it continues to persist, despite modern keyboards having arrow and function keys. Hell, I only just learned vim a few years ago, and it certainly wasn't because my keyboard lacked arrow keys (it didn't).
There are situations where I've considered using an e-scooter because existing infrastructure is insufficient or just plain unreliable. If a bus or two or three are cancelled and I'm really frustrated, even a car seems like a great solution, regardless of environmental cost. E-scooters seem like a decent alternative (depending on how reliable and environmentally friendly they actually are). I'd even consider buying my own, but it seems Germany is lagging behind in allowing e-scooters in public (the only two models that are purchasable that are also street legal cost 2000+ Euros).
No, your decision not to consume from the market is itself an action on the market. There's nothing forced about it. It's just a natural way of how things work, and it's an important aspect to consider when writing policy or regulation.
You could actually. Which is why I think it's really the wrong point to argue about. Almost everything we do is in some way involved with the market and has market effects.
Is it surprising though? Your consumption is an important part of any market. By removing your demand from the market, you're affecting it and the price of wheat or whatever good. At an individual level, it probably won't change the scale much, but if enough people do produce only for self-consumption, it can have large enough effects on the market that there shouldn't really be any question that it falls under commerce. The question should rather be whether to regulate the market for wheat at all and what incentives/consequences that might have.
Maybe 25th century people, instead of resorting to poisoning it, will find a way to assimilate disease and add its biological distinctiveness to our own.
I'd say one important point is that, in many places, public transportation is inadequate, completely overfilled, or both. If people are expected to move from cars to public transportation, many places just don't have the infrastructure to accomodate that transition. I live in Cologne. While we do have public transportation that allows you to reach most places, it's already at a point where the city wouldn't be able to cope with eliminating cars. Car-sharing, escooters, etc., these could be considered necessary extensions to public transport and enable car-users to transition, even if these options aren't entirely as green as using trains or buses would be.