In 1996 Lionel Messi was 9 years old. In that same year Ronaldo from Brazil was considered the best footballer in the world. Messi was not nearly good enough to even be considered among the candidates for the accolade. He was too small, too young and altogether lacking in experience. Messi probably had promise yet was without a doubt inferior in all aspects of the game if compared to Ronaldo of that same year. However, we do not do that.

A couple of weeks ago news came out that electric scooters are worse for the environment than filled diesel busses. A researcher had analysed the complete environmental impact of electric scooters, from production over use to recollection, charging, and finally recycling, and subsequently compared it to the environmental impact of diesel busses. This is not necessarily a faulty analysis. The fault lies in the objects compared.

This is correct but only in the same way that in 1996 Ronaldo was a better footballer than Messi.

A year ago noise was made over how the production of batteries for electric cars was dangerous to the environment. This is correct but only in the same way that in 1996 Ronaldo was a better footballer than Messi. Since mobile phones have been spreading out from closed yuppie circles a lot has been said about their damage to the enviromnent ranging from the precious metals used in their production to their short life span. This is correct in the same way.

The present and the potential

The media and we, the consumers sometimes choose to focus on the present while ignoring the potential. New and promising technologies are compared to what is already an established and refined one, whose development potential has been exhausted. This is gratifying for those who are against change but makes it difficult to comprehend the future.

"The electric scooters thrown all across the pavement today can make for an easier transition to car less city centres tomorrow.”

The electric scooters thrown all across the pavement today can make for an easier transition to car-less city centres tomorrow. Those driving electric cars today, and who are often full of it with their ‘save the world’-attitude do sponsor the development of cheaper and better batteries. The environmentally harmful mobile phones have proved to be beneficial instead. They have replaced a lot of other gadgets such as cameras, cd-players, walkmen etc. (Link to an article from Wired on the subject).

When the coaches assessed the 9-year old Messi, they focused on potential and how to help him develop it. Ronaldo won the Ballon D’Or in 1996 by being the best footballer in the world at that moment, his present.

It is fine to upbraid the electric scooter companies for ignoring emmittances over the scooter’s entire life cycle while just focusing on ‘emittance free transport’. Yet we should be on our guard when the present and the potential are mixed up.

A change needs to be made in how we travel around in our cities, both to make it easy to live and move around in the city, but also to lessen our impact on the environment. Electric scooters have the potential to become part of the transfer to the car-less cities of the future.

Today Ronaldo has retired from football and Messi is among the best in the world. Who was the better player in 1996 has proven to be a poor indicator of who is best today. In a few years will we know if the electric scooter lived up to its potential.

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Henrik blogs at changeforfun.com about changes for the benefit of people like you who also believe change will become a natural element in our lives and who wants to become better at handling it. He writes for someone like you who wants to find a way to live well with change and be prepared when it comes, even if you did not make the choice by yourself.