The survey asked Le Guin to state what she does with her spare time. The title essay explains why LeGuin found it hard to respond to an alumni survey she received from her alma mater, Harvard University.

“No Time to Spare” is a collection of Le Guin’s blogs, featuring witty and insightful commentary on subjects ranging from art and literature to politics and felines. (Her blogging habit was inspired, she tells us, when she read blogs that Nobel-laureate José Saramago wrote while in his 80s). Today, at the age of 88, LeGuin no longer writes fiction. In 2014, the National Book Association gave her the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. As one of America’s leading science fiction writers (although she has said that she prefers to be simply known as a novelist), LeGuin has won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards, and too many other literary prizes to be able to list them all here. LeGuin, of course, is a national treasure. No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters is a pleasing read and an engaging look behind the curtain, into the life and mind of award-winning author Ursula Le Guin. Will consumers be mindful about the relative impact of different EV vehicle options? If you size up CO2 emissions over a vehicle’s lifetime, electricity soundly beats internal combustion – especially as more power is renewably sourced and battery technology gets “cleaner.”High gasoline prices turn heads toward EVs, which can lead to a hunt for affordable EV models. (The EV “high end” keeps getting higher.)The EV story, analysts point out, remains one of net carbon impact. An editorial in the Los Angeles Times decries a wave of bigger – and bigger-battery – EVs.

Those are pricier than EVs like the little Bolt hatchback, which General Motors discontinued in favor of pickups. They’re more resource-intensive, too.

The demand side – that is, consumer preferences – plays an important role, too.There are full-size EV pickups that can power homes, and some drivers do need big vehicles. For 2022, the firms involved in the mining and manufacturing for those accounted for 27% of Tesla’s total emissions, reports Quartz.But the supply side isn’t the only thing to consider as we think about EVs and making the future work. And such “Scope 3” emissions – including those of suppliers – represented the deepest part of the product line’s carbon footprint.Batteries are a big factor. But this time, in Tesla’s report, it was part of the tally. What should we make of a recent report from carmaker Tesla reminding us that, even though its cars have no tailpipes, there are significant carbon emissions associated with getting them built and on the road?It’s worth thinking about, though there’s a lot more at play when it comes to electric vehicles and CO2 emissions.The vast network needed to supply raw materials and component parts for EVs makes for difficult accounting.

Le guin no time to spare