One of the young men, holding a megaphone, angrily rebuked him: “What I hate most are you hypocrites who drive electric cars! Do you think your cars won’t pollute the atmosphere if you don’t refuel them?”
“Power plants burn vast amounts of coal to generate electricity, which produces massive amounts of greenhouse gas emissions! All of you electric car drivers are accomplices!”
The middle-aged man, furious, retorted, “You’re clearly not from Northern Europe! At least 98% of electricity generation in Northern Europe comes from renewable energy sources, and most of our electricity is generated by hydropower. How could we possibly produce greenhouse gases?!”
The other party was clearly taken aback by his statement, then retorted sharply, “You’re just making up stories. You said renewable energy accounts for 98%, but is that really true? Why should I believe it?”
The middle-aged man said angrily, “You can check it yourself! Don’t you have a cell phone?”
At that moment, a little girl behind the environmental activist secretly checked her phone, then leaned over and whispered in his ear, “Charlie, I just checked, and renewable energy does indeed account for 98% of electricity generation in Northern Europe…”
The environmental activist’s face flushed slightly, but he quickly regained his composure and sneered, “So what? Do you know where your car is made? If I’m not mistaken, your Tesla was most likely made in Germany. The construction of the Tesla factory in Germany has severely disrupted our ecological balance, causing many small animals to lose their homes.
Furthermore, coal-fired power plants account for nearly half of Germany’s electricity generation. In other words, even though you hypocrites aren’t polluting the air in Northern Europe by driving your Teslas, the German people are polluting their own country’s air and endangering their own animals to build these Teslas! And the culprits are hypocrites like you!”
“I…” The middle-aged man fell silent with anger, then angrily asked, “Do you have any common sense? I paid for this car, not just from the Germans. I paid Tesla the full purchase price, Tesla pays taxes to the German government, and the salaries of its German employees. Even though this car produces greenhouse gases during its production process, I still bear the costs!”
After saying this, he pointed to the hoodie that the other person was wearing and asked, “You accuse my car of emitting greenhouse gases during its manufacturing process, so let me ask you, don’t the clothes you are wearing also emit greenhouse gases during their manufacturing process?”
The other party was once again speechless by the question, but the young Asian-looking woman was the first to find a way to retort. She rushed forward and shouted, “You hypocrite! Instead of thinking about your own problems, you’re maliciously defaming us! Did you know that all of our clothes are made from recycled and biodegradable materials? Furthermore, all the raw materials are recycled from used clothing donated by people all over the world.”
“Even though these raw materials emit greenhouse gases during their initial production process, the culprits aren’t us, but rather the people who own them before they’re recycled and repurposed! And to avoid adding to the burden on the planet, we never buy new clothes; we only wear recycled and gently used clothing!”
“And look at you, dressed in a suit, looking so respectable. What brand is your suit? Boss or Armani? Do you know how much additional pollution the earth has to endure to produce your clothes?”
His sudden attack not only surprised his opponents, but even surprised his close friends.
Charlie noticed two environmental protesters whispering among themselves: “Are the clothes we’re wearing really recycled? They’re so dirty, so disgusting…”
Another person whispered, “Don’t listen to her nonsense. All these clothes were ordered in bulk online by the chairman. How could they possibly be recycled and reprocessed? I’ve checked the care labels. These clothes are made in Vietnam and are made from 100% cotton. You can rest assured.”
The man then asked, “Are you sure? We do receive a lot of used clothing donations from people all over the world. How about we take some and recycle it?”
Another person laughed and said, “Don’t be ridiculous. Being an environmentalist is just business. Those donated clothes, supposedly for recycling and reuse, are actually being packaged and sold to Africa by our bosses.”
“There are people in Africa who specialize in buying used clothing from all over the world. They buy it by the ton and then distribute it to distributors in various locations by the kilogram. Those distributors then sort and select the clothes for resale.”
“For us, this is a zero-cost business. We can sell at least a few thousand tons a year. Otherwise, how would we get the funds to protest, eat, drink, and have fun all over Europe, plus travel and accommodation expenses?”