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Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

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Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#261

Post by cscurmudgeon »

Forbo wrote: post #218
nerdponx wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do tires shed more dust at higher speeds? I wonder if this has always been a known but unstated problem, or if increasing highway speeds are causing it to get worse.

Great question, I have no idea. I wish the nationwide 55mph speed limit were reinstated, if only to reduce oil consumption. Added bonus that it might actually encourage more public transit and walkable cities. Nobody will take this idea seriously, the US is far too addicted to cars and lacks the density.

> I wish the nationwide 55mph speed limit were reinstated

In places like SF and LA, even existing traffic laws are not enforced due to "equity".

https://www.ghsa.org/resources/Equity-in-Highway-Safety-Enfo...

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#262

Post by whoknowsidont »

CharlieDigital wrote: post #205
whoknowsidont wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The positive externalities are even more enormous What do cars specifically positively provide? NOT including the positives that exists due to constructing infrastructure around that mode of transportation (artificial issues).

Mobility; unfortunately, the public transit infrastructure in the US isn't that great and the sprawl means that cars have become a necessity. Many areas simply can't be served efficiently by transit.

>NOT including the positives that exists due to constructing infrastructure around that mode of transportation

This is what this statement was trying to address. If we built everything around using ziplines we couldn't go "OF COURSE ziplines provide a net positive." That'd be an incredibly silly statement.

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#263

Post by whaleofatw2022 »

Forbo wrote: post #218
nerdponx wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do tires shed more dust at higher speeds? I wonder if this has always been a known but unstated problem, or if increasing highway speeds are causing it to get worse.

Great question, I have no idea. I wish the nationwide 55mph speed limit were reinstated, if only to reduce oil consumption. Added bonus that it might actually encourage more public transit and walkable cities. Nobody will take this idea seriously, the US is far too addicted to cars and lacks the density.

We don't even enforce truck speed limit. On top of being more inefficient/dangerous due to weight, it tears roads up faster.

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#264

Post by dilyevsky »

mlsu wrote: post #166

Has anyone here ever lived near a freeway or even moderately busy road? I made the mistake of renting next to the freeway. Noise was perfectly tolerable, but I could not use my back porch, because after just a few weeks, everything had a fine coating of black dust. I could not keep my windows open in the summer. I was certainly breathing this vile shit the entire time I lived there. This doesn't surprise me in the le…

It’s probably mostly soot from the exhaust. I’m few blocks away to railroad (caltrain) and the windows facing the tracks have same black residue

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#265

Post by naavis »

baggy_trough wrote: post #236
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But this is not an inherent property of cars. It is only true because we invested all our transit dollars in highways. Cars are not inherently better and roads are not free. If we invest more in public transit we can reduce our need for cars.

I'd like to know why you think cars are not inherently better as it seems very obvious that they are. That is why people overwhelmingly prefer to use them.

In places with decent public transportation people do not overwhelmingly prefer cars.

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#266

Post by bedobi »

fnordpiglet wrote: post #127
kmeisthax wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Automobile dependency is not a technological problem, it is a social problem. Enormous sums of money were spent on lobbying, laws, and infrastructure, all just to make driving tolerable . The cost of this social experiment was that walking was made miserable and dangerous. A century ago people were saying, "in the real world, you can't just get people to not walk". But they did. We coined the term "jaywalking" to ref…

“We” is not nearly as many as you may believe. I would say most people don’t want to give up their car. That’s why people spend so much time maintaining their cars, polishing them, buying nicer ones, etc. Some people want to give up their cars, but you need everyone to want this, and they don’t. A technical solution is more likely to work than a mass social upheaval.

yeah wow when the only option people have for getting around is to drive, most people will not want to give up their car

our argument isn't that everyone should just stop driving, leaving everything else as is. that would, as you point out, obviously not work

our argument is that there needs to be feasible alternatives to driving, which in many parts of the world is already the case and it works great (in fact, it works better than north american car dependency)

i do want to call out one more thing though

even if it was true that most people like their cars and driving (which isn't true at all)

given that the degree to which people drive is literally becoming an existential threat not only to future generations but already to us now

should the rest of us really just go ah we'll just let it slide then? like yes they're destroying our planet but, they really like their cars and driving

i don't share that logic

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#267

Post by bedobi »

fnordpiglet wrote: post #199
seadan83 wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "we" clearly refers to society at large. (I suspect you read what you wanted to read) > Some people want to give up their cars, but you need everyone to want this, and they don’t This is moving the goal posts, nobody said everyone would want to make s transition and a requirement for this is a novel requirement only now introduced by your response. The example is akin to: 30 people are currently driving to s groc…

If we means society at large that requires a large portion of society if not more than a simple majority. That doesn’t exist for ending the use of automobiles. If the goal is the reduce the impact of automobiles, assumed from the thread being discussed, it’s not sufficient to help those who want to walk to walk to the grocery store. That’s a wonderful thing to do. But to reduce the impact of tire microplastics, the m…

> car hostile environment

wow, talk about orwellian language conditioning. other people take issue with me making needless trips in urban spaces with my multiton, polluting, dangerous, microplastics emitting private automobile... poor me i live in such a car-hostile environment... give me a break

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#268

Post by bedobi »

bequanna wrote: post #188
kmeisthax wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Automobile dependency is not a technological problem, it is a social problem. Enormous sums of money were spent on lobbying, laws, and infrastructure, all just to make driving tolerable . The cost of this social experiment was that walking was made miserable and dangerous. A century ago people were saying, "in the real world, you can't just get people to not walk". But they did. We coined the term "jaywalking" to ref…

I think your comment shows a very strong inner city, urban bias. The vast majority of Americans both need and love their cars. Very few people would support some movement that aims to restrict automobiles in any way.

literally every human being on the planet both need and love their planet, including the air they breathe and the oceans they fish in and which regulate the climate

maybe that's more important

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#270

Post by coryrc »

demondemidi wrote: post #170
coryrc wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be willing to enforce civility in public. In Japan 7-year-old kids can ride the subway; here we have junkies burning fentanyl, vagrants with pitbulls, and "showtime". Gee, why wouldn't I want public transit to be an inseparable part of my life?

You are conflating two vastly different issues as part of pro-car propaganda. There is a drug epidemic AND there is a homeless crisis. Those have nothing to do with investing in public transportation. Your agenda is showing, lay off the NewsMax, my friend.

No, I lived this. I want to live where I can bicycle entirely (and mostly did, because transit is often dirty). I'm working toward spending a few years in Japan and later the Netherlands. But only because we can't have nice things in the USA. I'm not going to live where junkies own all public spaces and kids get stuck on needles and die.
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