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Tire toxicity faces fresh scrutiny after salmon die-offs

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Re: Tire toxicity faces fresh scrutiny after salmon die-offs

#91

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.

I say we let adults make their own decisions on how much they want to drive.

Re: Tire toxicity faces fresh scrutiny after salmon die-offs

#92
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Driving is an amazing. It allows everyone huge amounts of freedom in what they do and who they spend time with. Having lots of shops and workplaces near your home is great and should be encouraged, but we should try and find ways to keep the freedom of personal transportation and reduce the impact it has. Lots and lots of tunnels, better tires, electric cars use brakes much less and could get to almost zero, etc.

Yes, please may I have some more of the unmitigated freedom to pay a ballooning portion of household income toward a depreciating asset; the absolute pleasure of having to buy government-mandated insurance; the utter relief of participating in one of the most dangerous daily activities; the free choice of being able to salt the earth with CO2 emissions and tire particulate matter; and who can forget the ~socialized~…

Not to mention the sheer joy of listening to the roar of traffic pretty much everywhere, the cost of sound insulation so that I can sleep at night, the increased medical costs (pollution/obesity/stress), drive through litter, being bullied off the road if you're not in a car, and having to either give way to metal box owners or cross roads at locations intended purely to enable them to move freely. All the while watching endless ads that'd make the Marlboro man blush - endless empty roads and vehicles that wouldn't harm a fluffy bunny. Yep, freedumb.

Re: Tire toxicity faces fresh scrutiny after salmon die-offs

#93
post #62

I'm kind of stunned that we're just now getting a handle on problems with tire particulates. It's been roughly a century.

How long did it take to become consensus that smoking is in fact not healthy?

It'd didn't take nearly that long for us to start to identify that there was a problem there. Making the case that it required a regulatory response definitely took really long, which I expect will happen again this time.

Re: Tire toxicity faces fresh scrutiny after salmon die-offs

#95
post #91

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.

I say we let adults make their own decisions on how much they want to drive.

Does your libertarian attitude extend to your neighbors burning tires in their backyards?

Individual actions can incur communal costs. “Freedom” doesn’t mean “freedom from the consequence of your actions.”

Re: Tire toxicity faces fresh scrutiny after salmon die-offs

#96
post #91

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.

I say we let adults make their own decisions on how much they want to drive.

Let’s not control others. If people want to use lead paint, let them. Let’s not control others. If people want to use leaded gasoline, let them. Let’s not control others. If people want to build with asbestos, let them. Let’s not control others. If people want to cook with trans fats, let them. Let’s not control others. If people want to do fentanyl, let them.

the entire basis of society and progress is controlling others for the prosperity of the human race.

Re: Tire toxicity faces fresh scrutiny after salmon die-offs

#97
post #12

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?

At some point one has to consider costs, scale and political expediency. 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 mu…

No way there should be incentives for living outside dense areas. Utility, road, and service maintenance costs increase per capita as density goes down, and currently that cost is not borne by people in those areas.

Re: Tire toxicity faces fresh scrutiny after salmon die-offs

#98
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I say we let adults make their own decisions on how much they want to drive.

Does your libertarian attitude extend to your neighbors burning tires in their backyards? Individual actions can incur communal costs. “Freedom” doesn’t mean “freedom from the consequence of your actions.”

This, (and/)or start charging for the true costs (externalities).

Re: Tire toxicity faces fresh scrutiny after salmon die-offs

#99
post #87
post #12

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?

My theory is that WFH will mostly contribute to creating secondary markets for more industries. Professionals will still want the services a city affords you but not want to pay SF or even Seattle prices. So they’ll end up somewhere under two hours from the nearest metropolis. But if you get enough people in one place, you’ll get entrepreneurship.

If you get enough people in one place what you really get is a city.

Re: Tire toxicity faces fresh scrutiny after salmon die-offs

#100
post #42

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.

Driving is an amazing. It allows everyone huge amounts of freedom in what they do and who they spend time with. Having lots of shops and workplaces near your home is great and should be encouraged, but we should try and find ways to keep the freedom of personal transportation and reduce the impact it has. Lots and lots of tunnels, better tires, electric cars use brakes much less and could get to almost zero, etc.

> Driving is an amazing. It allows everyone huge amounts of freedom

Your definition of "everyone" excludes children, many seniors, people who can't afford a personal vehicle, and those who can't drive due to disabilities or health conditions. You're also naively ignoring that just the infrastructure needed to support cars on its own often greatly impinges on these groups' freedom of movement.

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