cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/20009882
Car tires shed a quarter of all microplastics in the environment. Urgent action is needed
Electric cars are not THE solution.
At this point the better question is what isn’t stored in the balls.
Oddly enough, pee.
We need flying hover cars. Imagine if we could get rid of all the cement and asphalt everywhere. Also no more traffic jams.
A sci-fi nerd can dream.
Nah man, we need the tubes. Hop in a tube pod and ride the tubes to any destination.
We can move the tubes more efficiently by making them large enough for many people, then chaining the various tub- hold up we invented trains again
these will never be a thing. Noise
The inherent problem of any car at all is that people should never personally need a personal vehicle worth thousands to tens of thousands of dollars to buy milk and eggs.
Great idea! So long as the current safety laws for aviation are followed. That would disqualify most people from flying and dramatically reduce the number of personal vehicles in use.
We need a strict speed limit. 30mph should be enough for everybody.
No chance this will ever happen though.
And only 1000x the energy usage!
And dramatically reducing crash survival rates.
That’s not all. Apparently a chemical added to extend tire life (sort of good from an environmental standpoint) turns out to leach into water and kill fish, so…
Yikes
That’s mentioned in the article actually
Pffft. Look at this noob. What is it, your first day on the Internet? Actually reading the articles instead of reading the title and assuming.
I had a fish named zagorath. Anyway what was your comment?
Glub glub
Oh, my bad, thanks
Woah
I was unaware rubber products were considered micro plastics, I mean it makes sense, but for some reason I just never put that together
They’re both made of long polymer chains - chains of repeating carbon-based molecules - but rubbers are synthesized in a way that makes it easy for these chains to slip past each other and spring back. In plastics, the chains are much more tangled and bonded together.
It really makes you see how the petrochemical industry kills two birds with one stone here
There has been some recent investment in trying to make plant based rubber in the US again:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelharley/2022/09/08/bridgestone-develops-guayule-shrub-as-sustainable-alternative-to-rubber-trees/What if I told you the gum that you chew was also made from plastic.
I’d be more surprised if you told me it wasn’t. At this point, living in the American Dystopia, I expect anything obtainable to a Proletarian to be at least partially artificial and likely carcinogenic.
You can still buy him made of chicle.
I mean I don’t chew gum so… Nothing much?
Tires haven’t been made of rubber for a long time.
But think of the EVs! /s
Too this was posted by a fascist.
If you are referring to me, then present a proof, since the burden of the evidence lies on the accuser.
If you mean the link or crosspost author, jfc, ever heard of something called critical analysis?
Yeah, in Germany there is already a lot of pressure on sewage network operators to get it out of the rainwater (we have many separate sewer systems). And that is honestly quite annoying. Put the pressure on the polluter (car/tire industry and car drivers), not the troubleshooter.
It is also a waste of money and space. The facilities to get it out are huge and expensive. This is also naturally paid for by the general public.
Problem is that there is no good mechanism to put pressure on polluter in this case because any additional cost will be paid by consumer. We need to develop transit, design cities and reform job market to the point where cars are just not competitive.
Bob and Alice will be riding car if nearest mall is 10 km away and you need 1,5h to get there by bus. They also will ride car if Bob can’t rely on tram schedules or Alice have to go to the office despite working in globally distributed IT business. We need systematic approach to the problem.
Put that cost pressure on then invest heavily into public transit that does not rely on tires. If you have high frequency service (at least every 20 minutes, ideally closer to 5) then relying on a tram schedule isnt really a big deal. If the tram has priority at intersections, it is much easier to stay on schedule.
Virgin rubber on asphalt
Chad steel on steel
