We've known about climate change for more than a century, but we're pigs, we don't care.
Leaded gas was a known poison the day it was invented (2016)
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Re: Leaded gas was a known poison the day it was invented (2016)
#32i'm fairly certain the reason trump was elected is the long tail of leaded gasoline; the timing fits pretty well.
Why did these same people vote differently earlier? Does the effect of leaded gasoline show up later in life? And does not explain all the young men voting for him.
Yes, the psychological effects of environmental lead last a lifetime. No, they didn’t vote differently, they have always gravitated to actors that promise simple solutions and highlight bad blood and animus.
Re: Leaded gas was a known poison the day it was invented (2016)
#33The major proponent was also known as Thomas Midgley Jr.: Accidentally The Most Dangerous Man Who Ever Lived[0] Leaded gas, CFCs, and accidentally created a machine that ended his own existence.[1] [0] https://allthatsinteresting.com/thomas-midgley-jr [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr .
I had one purple link on that second Wikipedia page, which (macabre as it sounds) was very interesting to read through: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_inventors_killed_by_th...
Also leads to another great list-of-lists; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_unusual_deaths
Re: Leaded gas was a known poison the day it was invented (2016)
#34The major proponent was also known as Thomas Midgley Jr.: Accidentally The Most Dangerous Man Who Ever Lived[0] Leaded gas, CFCs, and accidentally created a machine that ended his own existence.[1] [0] https://allthatsinteresting.com/thomas-midgley-jr [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr .
> Accidentally Based on the OP, it wasn't at all accidental. They knew it was dangerous and chose it because they could make more money than with safer alternatives such as ethanol.
I don't think he really appreciated the danger of lead. Its acute toxicity was well-known, but not its chronic toxicity.
And plenty of stuff is toxic in large quantities but harmless (or even vital!) in small quantities.
Re: Leaded gas was a known poison the day it was invented (2016)
#3525 years ago in the UK, leaded petrol was being phased out but still pretty common. The UK Government was giving people grants to have existing cars converted to run on LPG, so they'd only run on a coke can of petrol for a minute or so on startup then switch over to gas.
Catalytic converters? Don't need 'em! There's no CO or unburnt fuel in the exhaust to catalyse because they run as lean as a vegan's dog!
CO2 emissions? Sure, but the stuff is getting flared off as waste at refineries anyway, and we're not going to stop making plastics and fertilisers any time soon, so may as well extract useful work from burning it!
We could have had incredibly clean cities everywhere by now, by simply keeping older cars on the road and adapting them to run on much cleaner safer fuel.
But there was a problem, an absolute bombshell of a problem. The fatal flaw that killed LPG as a road fuel.
It didn't sell new cars. It didn't sell anyone any debt.
So they came up with "scrappage schemes" where you'd get a couple of hundred quid for your old car, it would get destroyed, and then all you had to do was buy a nice new Cleaner Greener Diesel car instead, at some swingeing rate of interest (expect to pay well over twice the sticker price by the end of it - and no, you didn't get the Scrappage Scheme cash if you didn't take the finance package).
And you see how well that worked out.
Re: Leaded gas was a known poison the day it was invented (2016)
#36> countries where leaded gasoline was—or still is—used
Note: it’s now banned for road vehicles everywhere [1].
[1] https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/every-country-has-n... Algeria, 2021
Re: Leaded gas was a known poison the day it was invented (2016)
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
They didn’t vote differently. There were a larger number of the greatest generation that were more comfortable with shared sacrifice in service of society and less entitled like the baby boomers are.
now let's dig up some old timey polls and see how the greatest generation felt about the issues you hold dear :)
Read charitably, OP isn’t decrying a disagreement on issues as much as the willingness to burn everything down just to see someone else hurt more than oneself. This is present on the left. But it’s uniquely politically actualised by MAGA. (The Democratic Socialists winning elections aren’t seeking to overturn elections or violently storm governing bodies.)
Re: Leaded gas was a known poison the day it was invented (2016)
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Accidentally Based on the OP, it wasn't at all accidental. They knew it was dangerous and chose it because they could make more money than with safer alternatives such as ethanol.
I don't think he really appreciated the danger of lead. Its acute toxicity was well-known, but not its chronic toxicity. And plenty of stuff is toxic in large quantities but harmless (or even vital!) in small quantities.
Interesting - what is that based on?
He's not some incidental commentator. He's an engineer and a principle force behind this technology. He is responsible for the outcomes - 'I didn't know' is reckless negligence. And if there were clear acute problems, chronic problems weren't hard to guess at for anyone, much less an engineer, with all those resources, working on it for years.
Re: Leaded gas was a known poison the day it was invented (2016)
#39i'm fairly certain the reason trump was elected is the long tail of leaded gasoline; the timing fits pretty well.
Why did these same people vote differently earlier? Does the effect of leaded gasoline show up later in life? And does not explain all the young men voting for him.
It doesn't happen overnight. It takes time to weaken a strong country to the point where a reality show buffoon can become president.
Re: Leaded gas was a known poison the day it was invented (2016)
#40For an animated version of this story, see Cosmos, season 2 (I forget which episode, but it was helpful in teaching about this in high school)