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Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

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481–490 of 635 posts

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#481
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…

The only real solution is mandating light and heavy rail. California was hit hard by the car companies that bought out the rail and got replaced it with roads. And now we have even more reason to use rail everywhere we can. Maybe after the nimby boomers die off, we can actually made things make sense.

Why do you think younger property owners are actually going to be any more interested in giving up their land to the government to build more rail lines? I get that it's fun to blame the boomers for everything, but it sounds more like you're complaining about human nature.

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#482
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…

That's why so many people are cautious about "EVs to save us all", to put it mildly. We are so focused on climate change and greenhouse gases that we do not see a lot of other issues and may exacerbate some of them in the process of decarbonisation.

> That's why so many people are cautious about "EVs to save us all"

Certainly no, that's not why people are "cautious". They are hesitant about EVs because they fear running out of "gas" mid-trip.

Most people don't give a shit about anything except their plans and needs (and not necessarily unreasonbly so). You can just look around at what kinds of cars most people purchase to reason what their priorities are (or are not).

Reducing greenhouse gasses are not on most people's priority list.

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#483

So many comments here about American spread which I agree on but how to fix it? Even in the Bay Area where cars are hated it’s pretty much a requirement at some point. I always had a dream that some commercial developers built tried building some communities where green space and commercial store front was baked in. Essentially building some tasteful strip malls in the center of the community and making sure a grocer…

americans do want to live in such places. the most valuable real estate in the country is filled with exactly that kind of construction

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#485
post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a fact that EVs are better for the environment and will be even more better once certain infrastructure is built out. There's no reason to shit on an improvement just because it's not a cure. The data is a quick search away if you're actually interested.

Well, I have looked, so if you don't mind pointing to data that addresses what I mentioned then that would be appreciated. It is hard to find, but what I have found is that EVs cross over, in terms of emissions, around 6-24 months into ownership over ICE vehicles. This accounts for manufacturing to use. As far as I could tell, it does not take into account the new mining required, the new manufacturing centers, the n…

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Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#486

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.

What supports the argument that people overwhelmingly prefer using cars over other transportation methods?

There was some study done in past decade that found that in the US only about 60% of 18 year olds had drivers licenses. Is that because of preference, or other factors?

Real estate located where it is possible to live without owning a car tends to be priced much higher than comparable real estate located where it is inconvenient to not own a car. Is this because people's preferences, a significant under supply relative to only a portion of the market's of demand, or other reasons?

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#487

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why so many people are cautious about "EVs to save us all", to put it mildly. We are so focused on climate change and greenhouse gases that we do not see a lot of other issues and may exacerbate some of them in the process of decarbonisation.

Decarbonization will have negative externalities. Yes, even environmental ones. I'd argue that those externalities are necessary and delay to mitigate them is going to be worse than fixing them later.

It sure isn't going to help with all the other things we are doing in parallel.

Soil exhaustion, poisoning, and erosion; groundwater depletion and poisoning; deforestation; wild ecosystem destruction and food web destabilization; coastal sea surface and seabed destruction; river and lake poisoning; acid rain; carting invasive species around the world willy-nilly; anoxic ocean zones; hunting fish species to extinction; the ruinous effects of mineral and sand mining... all in parallel with the effects of extra carbon in the atmosphere.

Just to put things in context.

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#488
post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That sounds more like correlation than causation. Places with decent public transit are almost without exception very dense. Of course you wouldn't want to drive there. But if you live somewhere not as cramped, the experience is quite different.

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#489

With the continued shift to EVs, petrol taxes just don't make sense as a form of taxation to pay for roads. I think we should be shifting entirely to a gross curb weight tax for all vehicles. The fourth power law states that the greater the axle load of a vehicle, the stress on the road caused by the motor vehicle increases in proportion to the fourth power of the axle load. Meaning heavier EVs cough hummer , are doi…

Texas is applying an annual surcharge on EV registrations of $200/year (as a dual EV family in Texas, I can't disagree with the logic)

That's the same tax someone would pay for 1000 gallons of gas. A typical 25 mpg car driven a typical number of miles will use more like 600 gallons a year. The Texas EV tax is deliberately high.

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#490

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cars have fairly clean tailpipes these days. Older Diesel train engines still in service are disgusting. Construction vehicles are also pretty bad. The worst are large ocean going vessels burning bunker fuel in port which is illegal but very cheap.

Caltrain is diesel yes. They are replacing most with electric locomotives any year now

Electric trains should start passenger service next year (originally this year).

https://www.caltrain.com/projects/electrification

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