print Print Cartoon
Questions
Irony is defined as a situation in which something which was intended to have a particular result has the opposite or a very different result. Explain the irony in this cartoon.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the answers.
Cartoon by Michael Ramirez
Answers
One reason electric cars are purchased is to be “green” and help the environment by not burning gasoline (avoiding carbon emissions.)
However, 50% of electricity in the U.S. comes from coal-fired plants. So when an electric car is plugged into a wall outlet to charge its batteries, there’s a good chance that the electricity is coming from coal. (The irony: coal creates the same carbon emissions that they are trying to prevent by buying an electric car.)
