3 ms·

I think we will see this when gasoline cars become a thing of the past and a heap of cancers reduce in occurrence and we put it down to reduced air pollution.

sva_ 4y ago
I imagine gasoline cars will stick around for a long time. Even if the EU bans the sale of new combustion engine vehicles, they'll surely make exceptions for people to keep their "classic" cars. Or just "electrofuels"[0]. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrofuel https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrofuel
- bluGill 4y ago
  Collectors of classic cars is a footnote. Most of them are not daily drivers either. If our only use of fossil fuel was collectors global warming would be a problem. (without fossil fuel the early is slightly carbon negative, so you could even argue collectors are good as they keep us out of an ice age - though I'm not sure how carbon negative the earth is so I'm not sure that is actually true over 10,000 years or so)
Wohlf 4y ago
Asthma especially, electrifying semis would probably have the biggest effect though.
elevaet 4y ago
It does seem crazy that we breathe vehicle exhaust all the time without questioning it. The same people who make a fuss about a whiff of tobacco smoke will go around breathing car exhaust all day without batting an eye.
- 988747 4y ago
  Tobbaco smoking does not have any practical uses for us, it's just a bad habit. On the other hand, being able to drive a car is a huge benefit for our quality of life, so we accept that it comes with some cost.
  - elevaet 4y ago
    Driving cars can be seen as a bad habit too. We could cut down on emissions a lot (in N. America anyways) if we committed to better public transport, cycling etc. There are some parallels between the tobacco and auto/petro industry. Many north american cities had excellent tram systems, but they were torn out/abandoned for car roads under pressure from industry lobbyists in the 50-70s. Some cities retained their tram lines (Portland, Toronto) from that era, but many did not (Chicago, Vancouver).

sva_ 4y ago

I imagine gasoline cars will stick around for a long time. Even if the EU bans the sale of new combustion engine vehicles, they'll surely make exceptions for people to keep their "classic" cars. Or just "electrofuels"[0]. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrofuel https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrofuel

bluGill 4y ago
Collectors of classic cars is a footnote. Most of them are not daily drivers either. If our only use of fossil fuel was collectors global warming would be a problem. (without fossil fuel the early is slightly carbon negative, so you could even argue collectors are good as they keep us out of an ice age - though I'm not sure how carbon negative the earth is so I'm not sure that is actually true over 10,000 years or so)

Wohlf 4y ago

Asthma especially, electrifying semis would probably have the biggest effect though.

elevaet 4y ago

It does seem crazy that we breathe vehicle exhaust all the time without questioning it. The same people who make a fuss about a whiff of tobacco smoke will go around breathing car exhaust all day without batting an eye.

988747 4y ago
Tobbaco smoking does not have any practical uses for us, it's just a bad habit. On the other hand, being able to drive a car is a huge benefit for our quality of life, so we accept that it comes with some cost.
- elevaet 4y ago
  Driving cars can be seen as a bad habit too. We could cut down on emissions a lot (in N. America anyways) if we committed to better public transport, cycling etc. There are some parallels between the tobacco and auto/petro industry. Many north american cities had excellent tram systems, but they were torn out/abandoned for car roads under pressure from industry lobbyists in the 50-70s. Some cities retained their tram lines (Portland, Toronto) from that era, but many did not (Chicago, Vancouver).