The story behind the meme on sustainable transport vs. electric cars

Written on 31 December 2021

Sustainable Transport Meme

I want to share with you the story about my meme, titled “sustainable transport vs. electric cars”. It’s actually the first transport meme I’ve ever made. The meme is based on the template “Natalia Poklonskaya Behind Microphones”. The meme template had a huge wave of popularity in 2018/19. After seeing so many versions of the meme, I had the idea to create a version to reflect transport trends. I wanted to criticize that electric cars dominated discussions about sustainable mobility. On the left side I captured major sustainable transport modes (walking, cycling, public transport) as well as parking (often forgotten but important). On the right side (where all the attention is focused) I exaggerated the focus by just stating electric cars instead of electric mobility (which could also imply electric buses etc.). Here’s the first tweet with the meme, posted in January 2019:

The reactions and feedback surpassed any expectations. After posting it on social media, it got picked up by others and shared a lot. A successful meme is supposed to float around the Internet. Some people attribute the meme to Donald Shoup. The reason is that he reposted my meme soon after the initial release and with a lot more followers it reached a large crowd through him. Because it’s a meme, there’s no issue if a post doesn’t mention the original source, there’s an issue if it’s attributed to the wrong person. Again, a meme exists to float around freely.

meta
Some meta

Soon after this first meme, I created more memes with other trending templates. I used the hashtag #SustainableTransportMeme. None of them came even close to the popularity of this meme. Throughout 2020 and 2021 I saw the meme at least once a couple of weeks. A highlight was when Greta Thunberg retweeted somebody who posted the meme. It sounds stupid, but I felt like a celebrity for an afternoon.

I posted the meme on Twitter at the beginning of the world’s largest annual climate change COP26. I hoped that the negotiations won’t only focus on electric mobility. However, the UK made a strong push for zero-emission vehicles, neglecting walking, cycling and public transport. My single tweet with the meme created more engagement than social media campaigns of whole organizations. COP26 participants and activists posted the meme as well, people even created remixes of the meme. At the end, countries added to the COP26 declaration on zero-emission vehicles a paragraph outlining the importance of active travel, public transport and shared mobility. Here are a few social media posts with the meme:

Social media posts with the meme during COP26 Transport Day

This exactly shows the power of memes. They are an important communication method in our digital culture. Memes more than entertainment, they are a tool for activism. Memes can travel far, build new connections and inspire movements.