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Yeah, but I also remember there being way more diesel fumes and soot. Cars and trucks have gotten much cleaner over the past 10-20 years, so why would this be c

• pomian 5y ago
  Persistent pollution - there is a whole class of pesticides: herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, etc. That use complex chlorinated hydrocarbons, that stay in the environment, in various forms, and which often degrade into more toxic, and more persistent (survive longer) versions. For example there is more DDT in glacier runoff water now, than there was in the 70s and 80s, even though it hasn't been used since then. The story is complex, and goes on, and on.
  • sp332 5y ago
    The ones listed in the actual article aren't that, though. NOx is down dramatically. Remember acid rain?
    • pomian 5y ago
      Yes indeed. I think the whole air pollution question is a distraction to the bug problem. (Rather an addition to?) There are serious issues with modern gasoline, and it's byproducts of combustion, though. All together there are a lot of pollutants which we need to clean up, still ongoing. It's a huge problem.
• lotsofpulp 5y ago
  The human population has exploded though, so presumably increases in other types of pollution have more than made up for decreases in diesel fumes and soot.
• MertsA 5y ago
  Diesel might be cleaner in dense cities leading to less smog but coal power around the world still belts out plenty of particulates, scubbers are not perfect and regulations are lax in some localities. One area is marine shipping where different countries have regulations requiring certain emissions standards in their territorial waters but out in the open ocean it's a race to the bottom burning the cheapest fuels possible. It's not just a matter of any ships that want to be able to travel to those ports being built with an exhaust system clean enough to meet regulations, they'll switch fuels going into and out of zones with stricter regulations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZZ591x0Ajs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZZ591x0Ajs Cars and trucks don't burn bunker fuel so thick you have to heat it with steam just to pump it into the engine. Local hotspots of pollution on land have gone down, but globally there's still plenty of heavy polluters out there.
• asdff 5y ago
  Even electric cars pollute in the form of microplastics from the tires and toxic brake dust
  • cyann 5y ago
    More pollution from tires due to the added weight, less from brake disks and plates due to regenerative braking. Not sure if this has a measurable impact compared to the reduced CO2 emissions.
    • asdff 5y ago
      It's less brake dust only if you use an old school automatic I'd assume. On a manual engine braking does the same in practice as regenerative braking: slowing down without using brake pads, only it does this with the force of a vacuum rather than friction in the EV motor. Coming up to a 25mph stop or an uphill offramp, its actually possible to come to an almost complete stop (assuming you'd clutch in to not stall) by engine braking in a manual without touching your brakes at all. Newer automatics seem to have some engine braking capability baked in rather than just kicking you into overdrive and coasting when you lift off the throttle.
  • mellavora 5y ago
    and from the power stations which generate the electricity they run on. EVs are certainly a step in the right direction, but if we are burning fossil fuels to generate the electricity to power them, then the EV has just shifted the point where the greenhouse gasses are produced, not lowered the total amount of greenhouse gas (exceptions for people who use solar power to charge their EV)
    • kwhitefoot 5y ago
      EVs are more efficient than ICE vehicles even when using electricity generated using coal.
      • asdff 5y ago