4 ms·
Well... not a direct answer to your question, but I was prompted to post this as a result of seeing https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25235772 https://news.y
by jfk13 6y ago
Well... not a direct answer to your question, but I was prompted to post this as a result of seeing https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25235772 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25235772. An excerpt from the article there:
> Tires have one engineering principle that’s unlikely to change: they shed. The friction of rubber on abrasive surfaces is what allows a heavy vehicle to grip roads and stop when needed, sloughing off bits and pieces of the tire. A 2017 scientific literature search of 13 industrialized and industrializing countries found that an average car loses between a quarter kilogram and two kilograms of tire fragments annually. In the car-happy United States, the amount jumps to nearly five kilograms—or about the weight of a cat.
- JoeAltmaier 6y agoAnd does that matter? Is there a measurable impact on the environment? Not just detecting it as present; that seems certain. But then what? Does it have an affect?
- IfOnlyYouKnew 6y agoI saw this story some other place earlier, and it was mentioned that 28% of plastic pollution of the oceans is tire debris. Plastic is organic. As it breaks down, it does so in an endless variety of organic molecules. These being similar to biological molecules, they readily interact with all sorts of biological systems. Those systems have all seen a few billion years of optimisation, making it unlikely for any random interference to be beneficial.
- lopmotr 6y agoBut does it matter? The odd organism dying here and there doesn't matter. If the effect isn't quantified, then it could easily be "effectively nothing".
- aitchnyu 6y agoShould eco-conscious customers buy long-distance tires and avoid soft compound, low noise and other improvements?