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Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down

nytimes.com

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Re: Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down

#121

Post by kube-system »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #31
alharith wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just so interesting how the same event could lead people to such drastically different observations and take aways. For instance, > the importance of global cooperation, For me, and many others, this pandemic has highlighted the need to be less centralized and dependent on foreign nations, especially with respects to China. Relying on them for our global pharmaceutical supply chain, for instance, seems like a te…

> Technology must be the answer here. This doesn't require new technology. We know how to make electric cars, electric heat pumps, solar panels, nuclear reactors etc. This is all existing technology. But take a look at oil prices right now. That's what happens if you start to reduce world demand for oil, and that's the real problem. All we need from governments is to put a sufficient tax on carbon that keeps carbon m…

> This doesn't require new technology. We know how to make electric cars, electric heat pumps, solar panels, nuclear reactors etc. This is all existing technology.

We have some of the problems solved. While batteries are energy dense enough to support passenger cars, there's still a lot of progress to be made before the tech can meet the demands of shipping/bulk-cargo/intercontinental transport. For example, batteries still need to be 20 times more dense before we can build a cargo/passenger aircraft with one.

Re: Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down

#122

Post by mistrial9 »

BurningFrog wrote: post #91
gdubs wrote: post #4

I’ve been thinking a lot about the next looming crisis: Climate Change. On Bloomberg radio a few weeks ago, an analyst / money manager was talking about how his firm was looking at satellite imagery of pollution in China to measure their economic recovery. More pollution == “better”. Something is clearly unsustainable with that formula. Like the virus, the longer we wait to take action, the more expensive it is and t…

> More pollution == “better”. Something is clearly unsustainable with that formula. Except nobody actually thinks that. This is only about finding a way to measure if life in China is returning to normal, without having to trust the Chinese authorities.

nobody, except banks perhaps.. on a related note, the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, covering thousands of hectares of pristine Alaska coastline with suffocating, deadly raw oil, was famously "good for the economy" .. because almost every measure of economic health increased in the aftermath of the events.. of course, millions of sea creatures died, and the area was poisoned for who-knows-how-long.. make sense?

Re: Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down

#123

Post by BurningFrog »

z3ncyberpunk wrote: post #113
BurningFrog wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> More pollution == “better”. Something is clearly unsustainable with that formula. Except nobody actually thinks that. This is only about finding a way to measure if life in China is returning to normal, without having to trust the Chinese authorities.

They clearly do think like that since they came up with the metric. They CHOSE to make that an analytical anchor because it benefits them to see production levels rise again.

Who are these nefarious "they"?

Re: Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down

#124

Post by thatcat »

zaroth wrote: post #101
thatcat wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of the effects of poverty are due to long working hours and stress from long commutes. In the US, many people can never take time off work, so there should be some health benefits from a brief economic break for an extremely overworked population.

I have a hard time believing that this particular time off of work is going to lead to reduced stress, don’t you? The stress isn’t typically so much caused by working, it’s caused by being in financial distress. I’ve had a few years with virtually no income. I’ve had to work 80 hours a week to provide for my family. I’m not saying my personal experience is particularly valid or applicable to the general population, b…

You're right in that the psychological stress from uncertainty can be much more overwhelming than physiological stress from burnout. I doubt you're "immune" to burnout though.

Re: Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down

#125

Post by bshacklett »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #111
bosswipe wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean the bottom or the top class?

Top most class. https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/the-worlds-richest-people-also-e... “On Wednesday, British charity Oxfam released a study that found the richest 10 percent of people produce half of the planet’s individual-consumption-based fossil fuel emissions, while the poorest 50 percent — about 3.5 billion people — contribute only 10 percent. Yet those same 3.5 billion people are “living overwhelmingly in the countri…

Before anyone gets on a soapbox, here's a quick reminder that if you're reading this post, there's a good chance that you're part of that top 10%.

Re: Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down

#126

Post by twblalock »

This situation makes me more pessimistic about solving global climate change.

The economic damage caused by "shelter in place" falls disproportionately on the poor and the lower middle class, who work in fields where working from home is not possible.

Emission regulations and fuel taxes also fall disproportionately on the same people, because they can't afford newer cars which are more efficient.

When the French government raised fuel taxes in order to ameliorate climate change, there were mass street protests. What started as a protest against fuel taxes developed into a widespread expression of grievance against inequality.

We can expect a lot more of that if we do what it really takes to make a big impact on climate change.

If climate policy is not balanced against economic inequality, there is a real risk that such anger will channel into support for populist political parties, who would roll back climate policy when elected.

Re: Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down

#127

Post by BurningFrog »

mistrial9 wrote: post #122
BurningFrog wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> More pollution == “better”. Something is clearly unsustainable with that formula. Except nobody actually thinks that. This is only about finding a way to measure if life in China is returning to normal, without having to trust the Chinese authorities.

nobody, except banks perhaps.. on a related note, the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, covering thousands of hectares of pristine Alaska coastline with suffocating, deadly raw oil, was famously "good for the economy" .. because almost every measure of economic health increased in the aftermath of the events.. of course, millions of sea creatures died, and the area was poisoned for who-knows-how-long.. make sense?

I guess "good for the economy" here means it increased GDP for the affected area.

This is a common critique of GDP as a measure of economic health. And it's a fair one. But in the bigger picture, GDP remains the best measure I know of.

Accidents and disasters will happen, but their rate is fairly constant, and the noise they add to the measurement is far from invalidating it.

Re: Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down

#128

Post by evo_9 »

After this current crisis is contained the world governments should mandate a mandatory work-from-home 6 week period starting each new year.

This would allow for an annual 'Earth Reset' and the effect of which might just be enough to turn things around, or hell, maybe even reverse course. It's remarkable how quickly nature has rebounded during all this.

Re: Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down

#129

Post by nradov »

losteric wrote: post #100
nradov wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because I want to be able to install shelves in the garage or put a new oven in the kitchen without having to negotiate with a landlord.

How many people does your situation apply to? Personally, I prefer having a landlord take care of appliances over the freedom to make my own changes.

Every long-term homeowner I know has done at least that much. Many have done larger home improvement and remodeling projects.

Re: Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down

#130

Post by wffurr »

v8engine wrote: post #92

Can someone please tell me what the name for the technology used to create the graphics is? The text for the place names over the image is highlightable. I know you can handcraft these by having the text overlay over an exact X,Y on an image but that seems overblown for just these maps than having the text rastered into the image loaded. So, is there some tool like an SVG creator that helps create these with the resp…

There's some interesting HTML comments in the source.

"ai2html" sounds like the source is Adobe Illustrator and probably refers to this tool: https://github.com/newsdev/ai2html

Not sure what "freebird" is, some internal software. I can't find much about it with Google search.
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