Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

NASA Data Shows Toxic Air Threat Choking Indian Subcontinent

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 211 posts

Re: NASA Data Shows Toxic Air Threat Choking Indian Subcontinent

#41

Post by LoSboccacc »

mc32 wrote: post #36
kartD wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't think so, India is typically 4 stroke because of pollution norms and 4 strokes are more fuel efficient which we're very sensitive to. Frankly, India's problem can only be fixed by population control. If Sanjay Gandhi hadn't been an idiot and forever poisoned the idea of population control, India would be much better off, especially if we can get the population to around 300M - 500M

I agree pop growth is an issue... But asking the pop to drop by two thirds is out of bounds. You cannot get that drop without natural decline over many generations or some kind of dreadful calamity. Natural decrease will happen but over generations, with the expected economic consequences of fewer people contributing to an economy. Maybe Japan can show the way, but so far, they are still basing their economy on growt…

some decade of this pollution and will happen either way

Re: NASA Data Shows Toxic Air Threat Choking Indian Subcontinent

#42

Post by wrong_variable »

The Irony !

When I went to India, I though to my-self the living standard in the villages were HIGHER then the cities.

The air in the villages were clean - it was much cooler weather due to not being trapped in the congested cities.

The village people though I was crazy to think that their village was a paradise, and everyone wanted to move to the city.

I think its a serious lack of education that India/Bangladesh will not learn easily. A large number of people need to die due to cancer for it be taken seriously, unfortunately.

We are talking about a country where chain smoking is really common !

And no I a person from the sub-continent so I am not being racist, just pointing out some of the terrible facts about why I am terrified of going back.

Re: NASA Data Shows Toxic Air Threat Choking Indian Subcontinent

#43

Post by TylerE »

maxerickson wrote: post #34
mikeash wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are not talking about CO2 emissions here....

You did write If we're talking about reducing CO2 emissions, then yes, further cutting emissions in the US is probably not going to do much good compared to putting similar effort into China. I think it's fair to point out that the US cutting emissions could have a larger impact than China limiting increases (at least on a per capita basis).

Per capita is a FOOLISH measure here. China's population is more than 4x ours and rapidly growing AND urbanizing.

Re: NASA Data Shows Toxic Air Threat Choking Indian Subcontinent

#45

Post by jdietrich »

hammock wrote: post #22

Dare we suggest that air pollution (the old-fashioned kind) is more important than global warming?

The solution to both is essentially the same - burn less fuel, more efficiently. The old environmentalist motto "think global, act local" is quite apposite.

Re: NASA Data Shows Toxic Air Threat Choking Indian Subcontinent

#46

Post by dv_dt »

hammock wrote: post #22

Dare we suggest that air pollution (the old-fashioned kind) is more important than global warming?

I look at as as Climate change being caused by air pollution (of CO2 & certain other gasses). The old fashioned air pollution is more localized, but isn't completely localized - acid rain was/is a regional air pollution issue for example. Some of the particulates generated on the other side of the world certainly do travel here on air currents, not in high amounts, but if they carry potent pollution items, it may have some effect.

Another issue is that agricultural and sea food products sourced from polluted nations may carry the pollution with them, needing increased monitoring of imports.

Re: NASA Data Shows Toxic Air Threat Choking Indian Subcontinent

#47

Post by akshayB »

astannard wrote: post #39

I remember traveling through Delhi and washing my face afterwards at the hotel. The amount of black sooty dirt that came off was startling!

I was born and brought up in India as a teenager after which my family moved to USA.

Now whenever I go back to India with my family, someone always will end up getting sick. If you go out during the day time you can feel a layer of sticky stuff starting to cover your face and eventually more dust and air pollutants stick to your body. After you get back indoors if you take a white towel and just rub it gently on your face you will see amount of black dirt that comes off. I hope India takes steps to move forward with clean and renewal energy sources because they can have serious consequences on health of all Indian Citizens.

Re: NASA Data Shows Toxic Air Threat Choking Indian Subcontinent

#48

Post by maxerickson »

TylerE wrote: post #43
maxerickson wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You did write If we're talking about reducing CO2 emissions, then yes, further cutting emissions in the US is probably not going to do much good compared to putting similar effort into China. I think it's fair to point out that the US cutting emissions could have a larger impact than China limiting increases (at least on a per capita basis).

Per capita is a FOOLISH measure here. China's population is more than 4x ours and rapidly growing AND urbanizing.

I disagree. It's a good way of evaluating what someone in the US is asking of the Chinese when they say that the Chinese should do more to limit emissions. They are asking the people in China to do with less than they have.

It certainly shouldn't be the only measure that gets discussion.

Re: NASA Data Shows Toxic Air Threat Choking Indian Subcontinent

#49

Post by jdietrich »

kartD wrote: post #21
rsync wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're two-stroke. Small engines in the developing world are typically terrible - very dirty, very noisy ... and also cheap and easy to fix.

Don't think so, India is typically 4 stroke because of pollution norms and 4 strokes are more fuel efficient which we're very sensitive to. Frankly, India's problem can only be fixed by population control. If Sanjay Gandhi hadn't been an idiot and forever poisoned the idea of population control, India would be much better off, especially if we can get the population to around 300M - 500M

There are still a lot of older two-stroke engines in use. Four-stroke engines from local and Chinese manufacturers are typically crude air-cooled carbureted designs with very high emissions. A modern European motorcycle might produce 20x lower emissions than a typical Indian bike thanks to much stricter regulations.

Re: NASA Data Shows Toxic Air Threat Choking Indian Subcontinent

#50

Post by wmeredith »

wrong_variable wrote: post #42

The Irony ! When I went to India, I though to my-self the living standard in the villages were HIGHER then the cities. The air in the villages were clean - it was much cooler weather due to not being trapped in the congested cities. The village people though I was crazy to think that their village was a paradise, and everyone wanted to move to the city. I think its a serious lack of education that India/Bangladesh wi…

I think the city/country thing can also be somewhat attributed to the grass is greener/star bellied sneetch effect.
Post reply on HN