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Tonga is running out of space for more than 30k abandoned cars

abc.net.au

21–30 of 78 posts

Re: Tonga is running out of space for more than 30k abandoned cars

#21
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No harbor to ship it?

This is why they had to get subsidies from Japan to ship the cars back out. There's demand for cars, but now "someone" needs to deal with the broken ones at end of life. "Someone" has to eat the negative externality of shipping the dead cars off-island.

Seems odd they don't use the same incoming ship to take cars back

Re: Tonga is running out of space for more than 30k abandoned cars

#22
post #17

I hadn't realised just how small Tonga's land area is. Imagine a square 30km x 30km. It's smaller than that (747 square km). But this table of countries ranked by population densities shows Tonga is not even close to the most densely populated countries (Tonga is about 65th of about 200 countries): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependen...

It’s strange how bikes haven’t caught on. Similar to Malta, which is tiny and heavily urbanized, but has a massive car problem. 30 km is what some people commute on bike daily.

Re: Tonga is running out of space for more than 30k abandoned cars

#23
post #5

So many of the problems we've made seem like they could be great fixed by less people instead of more each year. Imagine the next population doubling and all that cost and suffering it will bring.

And to think that the neo-malthusian discourse was derided just a few years ago. I'd say that in the last two years or so it has established itself as fact, even though nobody calls it out loud by name (probably because of past negative associations).

Re: Tonga is running out of space for more than 30k abandoned cars

#24
post #17

I hadn't realised just how small Tonga's land area is. Imagine a square 30km x 30km. It's smaller than that (747 square km). But this table of countries ranked by population densities shows Tonga is not even close to the most densely populated countries (Tonga is about 65th of about 200 countries): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependen...

> I hadn't realised just how small Tonga's land area is. Imagine a square 30km x 30km. It's smaller than that (747 square km).

And that’s for the entire archipelago, the biggest island, Tongatapu, is 260 sq km with a density of 274.

Re: Tonga is running out of space for more than 30k abandoned cars

#25
post #12
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No harbor to ship it?

Probably costs a lot to ship scrap metal out of there. Scrap goes from the US to China cheaply because the boats would be going back empty otherwise.

What else does Tonga export in such quantities?

Re: Tonga is running out of space for more than 30k abandoned cars

#26
post #18
post #5

So many of the problems we've made seem like they could be great fixed by less people instead of more each year. Imagine the next population doubling and all that cost and suffering it will bring.

The problem is too many cars, not too many people.

The truth is somewhere in between, as those people don't want to live the "idyllic" Pacific islanders life anymore, they instead want the same ease in transportation as people in the West have got accustomed with decades ago (i.e. cars). And who can blame them?

Re: Tonga is running out of space for more than 30k abandoned cars

#27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an island chain of 100,000 people, so no. Plus, electricity is extremely expensive, importing the fuel to melt down steel would be crazy.

> Plus, electricity is extremely expensive I was wondering how much, and, wow: > The December 2022 review indicated that the electricity tariff would decrease from $1.19 per kWh to $1.01 per kWh, effective from the 1st of January 2023. -- http://www.finance.gov.to/node/601

California is only half the price of that :/

Re: Tonga is running out of space for more than 30k abandoned cars

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Plus, electricity is extremely expensive I was wondering how much, and, wow: > The December 2022 review indicated that the electricity tariff would decrease from $1.19 per kWh to $1.01 per kWh, effective from the 1st of January 2023. -- http://www.finance.gov.to/node/601

California is only half the price of that :/

Huh, did not know California has higher prices than what I pay in Germany (0.4€ / $0.43)

Re: Tonga is running out of space for more than 30k abandoned cars

#29
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why they had to get subsidies from Japan to ship the cars back out. There's demand for cars, but now "someone" needs to deal with the broken ones at end of life. "Someone" has to eat the negative externality of shipping the dead cars off-island.

Seems odd they don't use the same incoming ship to take cars back

Surely they don't have enough cars to return every time a shipment of new cars comes in. If that was economical, would the abandoned cars have piled up in the first place?
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