21–30 of 172 posts
Perhaps tires can be made less toxic, but over all, we need to prioritize driving less. WFH means I put barely 3000 miles per year on my car. It's absurd we are not aggressively promoting WFH or hybrid WFH at the national level. It's the easiest win for the environment and it's right there for the taking.
Perhaps tires can be made less toxic, but over all, we need to prioritize driving less. WFH means I put barely 3000 miles per year on my car. It's absurd we are not aggressively promoting WFH or hybrid WFH at the national level. It's the easiest win for the environment and it's right there for the taking.
We could replace all the synthetic rubber with home grown natural rubber right now. It would last longer and be of much higher quality but it would double prices or more, so instead we burn oil and dump pulverized plastics into our waterways, because its a little cheaper.
Of course then you'll have a lot of lower-income folks driving around on dangerously worn-out tires because they can't afford new ones.
By the way I thought it was the synthetic rubber tires that lasted longer, but certainly possible that I'm mistaken.
Perhaps tires can be made less toxic, but over all, we need to prioritize driving less. WFH means I put barely 3000 miles per year on my car. It's absurd we are not aggressively promoting WFH or hybrid WFH at the national level. It's the easiest win for the environment and it's right there for the taking.
We could replace all the synthetic rubber with home grown natural rubber right now. It would last longer and be of much higher quality but it would double prices or more, so instead we burn oil and dump pulverized plastics into our waterways, because its a little cheaper.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, the big focus on exhausts from cars has hidden lots of other problems they lead to. EVs don't solve most of these problems. The cars are heavier, hence their tires spread even more micro plastic.
While micro plastics are a problem climate change is the train coming down the tracks at civilization as a whole. I agree the EVs don't fix everything they are in theory buying us time to make the choices that get rid of cars in the long term.
Perhaps tires can be made less toxic, but over all, we need to prioritize driving less. WFH means I put barely 3000 miles per year on my car. It's absurd we are not aggressively promoting WFH or hybrid WFH at the national level. It's the easiest win for the environment and it's right there for the taking.
Is it actually a win for the environment? Sure, not commuting is, but what about more people deciding to live in less dense areas?
WFH and H-WFH would be broadly popular among the electorate and could probably take off with just some changes to the tax code.
Presuming everyone does want to live in a dense area (I do not), building housing and infrastructure is expensive and at the end of the day it has to be profitable to build. We don't really have the framework to zone municipalities at the Federal level. So now you are talking about leaving it to the individual states... and I think you can see where that goes.
Given all that, yes, fewer miles driven in aggregate is a good and easy win for the environment. Less gasoline consumed, fewer tires and brake pads consumed, less work clothes bought, less meals purchased at lunch, etc.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is it actually a win for the environment? Sure, not commuting is, but what about more people deciding to live in less dense areas?
A house can be approximately net zero from solar panels. Much denser housing can't be.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
While micro plastics are a problem climate change is the train coming down the tracks at civilization as a whole. I agree the EVs don't fix everything they are in theory buying us time to make the choices that get rid of cars in the long term.
I just wish the 4 billion we subsidize EVs with every year here in Norway were put to other use instead. Could habe built a new metro line every year for that amount of money. Which would have had a much larger long term effect.
[0] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-26/the-u-s-g...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We could replace all the synthetic rubber with home grown natural rubber right now. It would last longer and be of much higher quality but it would double prices or more, so instead we burn oil and dump pulverized plastics into our waterways, because its a little cheaper.
Interesting, but wouldn't using only natural rubber result in a huge amount of land clearing and then a monoculture, similar to the environmental issues of palm oil?