Concerned about microplastics? Research shows one of the biggest sources is car tyres
A lot of the emphasis on reducing microplastics has focussed on things like plastic bags, clothing, and food packaging.
But there's a growing body of research that shows one of the biggest culprits by far is car tyres.
It's increasingly clear that we simply cannot solve the issue of microplastics in the environment while still using tyres — even with electric-powered cars.
"Tyre wear stands out as a major source of microplastic pollution. Globally, each person is responsible for around 1kg of microplastic pollution from tyre wear released into the environment on average each year – with even higher rates observed in developed nations.
"It is estimated that between 8% and 40% of these particles find their way into surface waters such as the sea, rivers and lakes through runoff from road surfaces, wastewater discharge or even through airborne transport.
"However, tyre wear microplastics have been largely overlooked as a microplastic pollutant. Their dark colour makes them difficult to detect, so these particles can’t be identified using the traditional spectroscopy methods used to identify other more colourful plastic polymers."
"Microplastic pollution has polluted the entire planet, from Arctic snow and Alpine soils to the deepest oceans. The particles can harbour toxic chemicals and harmful microbes and are known to harm some marine creatures. People are also known to consume them via food and water, and to breathe them, But the impact on human health is not yet known.
"“Roads are a very significant source of microplastics to remote areas, including the oceans,” said Andreas Stohl, from the Norwegian Institute for Air Research, who led the research. He said an average tyre loses 4kg during its lifetime. “It’s such a huge amount of plastic compared to, say, clothes,” whose fibres are commonly found in rivers, Stohl said. “You will not lose kilograms of plastic from your clothing.”"
"Microplastics are of increasing concern in the environment [1, 2]. Tire wear is estimated to be one of the largest sources of microplastics entering the aquatic environment [3,4,5,6,7]. The mechanical abrasion of car tires by the road surface forms tire wear particles (TWP) [8] and/or tire and road wear particles (TRWP), consisting of a complex mixture of rubber, with both embedded asphalt and minerals from the pavement [9]."
Are microplastics from car tyres contributing to heart disease?
"Add one more likely culprit to the long list of known cardiovascular risk factors including red meat, butter, smoking and stress: microplastics.
"In a study released Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, an international team of physicians and researchers showed that surgical patients who had a build-up of micro and nanoplastics in their arterial plaque had a 2.1 times greater risk of nonfatal heart attack, nonfatal stroke or death from any cause in the three years post surgery than those who did not."
So it's not just the sedentary lifestyles that car-dependent planning encourages that's causing health issues.
And it's not just exhaust fumes either.
There's also the health impacts of microplastics, including from car tyres.
Worth noting as well that internal documents from the big oil companies show that they knew since the 1970s that recycling wasn't going to solve the problem of plastic pollution. They promoted it anyway: https://aus.social/@ajsadauskas/112064312364853769
Looks like the Boring Company's Las Vegas tunnels are going about as well as you'd expect from an Elon project...
"The muck pooling in the tunnel at the north end of the Las Vegas Strip had the consistency of a milkshake and, in some places, sat at least two feet deep. ... At first, it merely felt damp. But in addition to the water, sand and silt—the natural byproducts of any dig—the workers understood that it was full of chemicals known as accelerants.
"The accelerants cure the grout that seals the tunnel’s concrete supports, helping the grout set properly and protecting the work against cracks and other deterioration. They also seriously burn exposed human skin. At the Encore dig site, such burns became almost routine, workers there told Nevada’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. An investigation by the state OSHA, which Bloomberg Businessweek has obtained via a freedom of information request, describes workers being scarred permanently on their arms and legs. According to the investigation, at least one employee took a direct hit to the face. In an interview with Businessweek, one of the tunnel workers recalls the feeling of exposure to the chemicals: “You’d be like, ‘Why am I on fire?’”"
A rising road toll in the US. A rising road toll in Australia. Journalists give 1000 reasons why it could be happening.
And they studiously avoid mentioning the growing proportion of massive SUVs and pickup trucks on the roads. If they mention it at all, it's only in passing: https://youtu.be/Hb5_RUNeC0g?si=uuns6D1I6fGINdpU
But.
If you have larger and heavier cars, with larger blind spots, of course you're going to have more fatalities!
Just dropping in to say it's possible to own a #carand prefer getting around by other modes most of the time.
Habituation to #driving is not an insurmountable obstacle to reducing #automobile dependency and creating safer, greener, more resilient cities. Habits can be broken if the right supports are available at the right time.
I'm going to try a thing. There are two related phenomena regarding #cars and #PublicTransport that I basically never see discussed. I wrote an article about these two things which includes two very clear definitions. I want to see if I can get some reach to disseminate these two things like a mind virus.
Boost if you like. Or don't. I'm not your boss.
The premise: when you own a #car, it is cheaper to drive the car. But: we want to get people out of their cars, even while they still own cars.
The definitions:
Sunk cost discount: for as long as you own a car, it is cheaper relative to public transport to use that car for individual journeys, even though you would save money if you got rid of the car and exclusively used public transport.
Trip cost scaling problem: for each additional passenger taking a journey together, the cost per passenger becomes lower when travelling by car, but higher when travelling by public transport.
#Mozilla@mozilla reviewed the #privacy of cars and the result is horrible.
Does anyone here have experience what happens when you as a hacker go into self defense? Did anyone already try to hack their cars to not share that much data - for example by connecting a resistor onto the antenna plug?
I am interested in an electric #car but under this circumstances won't buy one and stay with the old car as long as possible.
Anyone any experience or knowledge what happens when you cut the data uplink of your car?
This is not an improvement. You want your users to find and launch your app to change climate control settings? That is beyond ridiculous.
#Car makers need to stop putting everything behind touchscreens; operating a hand-eye-coordination video game is not what drivers should be doing while they drive.
Buttons, switches, and knobs can be operated by touch alone. They are superior to touchscreens for many commonly-used controls. Bonus: when designed well, they impart a sense of quality and luxury to your car’s driving experience that can’t be replicated by a touchscreen.
What's this? The #fuelpump relay? Some fucking monkey decided to wire the fuel pump directly to the ignition switch. So as long as the key is turned it'll squirt #gasoline. This #car is a bomb! How did anyone survive the 1970s? #volkswagen#vw#aircooledvw#type3#fuelInjection
Though I have a few vinyl records, a handful or so, I don't have a record player. What I do have is tons of CDs that I now can't play in the car because the tech bros who design cars now think everybody is willing to either listen to commercials or fork over money every month to creeps like spotify. And I will do neither.
It is ridiculous in this day and age to have to haul a CD player to my car and jerry-rig a connection to the audio input like it's 1995, but here we are.
Thermostat #shitjob complete. German car designers have been cursed to serve eternity in Avernus as a Lemure, my hand is sore and the dog learnt some new swearwords. Fresh pink soup filled in!
Engine comes back up to normal working temperature and nothing else got broken in the process.
Something to be said for not buying the biggest engine option in any given car model. Smaller engine = more space to work!
Tesla's self-driving capability is something like 10 times more deadly than a regular car piloted by a human, per an analysis of a new government report. #ryanlcooper
has it: