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I don't think you're wrong, but when considering the impacts of a plastic road outside my house I think I'd be worried about, in order: 1. Getting hit by a car

I don't think you're wrong, but when considering the impacts of a plastic road outside my house I think I'd be worried about, in order: 1. Getting hit by a car 2. Health impacts of car exhaust 3. Microplastics coming off the cars themselves (https://www.wired.com/story/microplastic-san-francisco-bay/ https://www.wired.com/story/microplastic-san-francisco-bay/) 4. Microplastics from the road Also, while it certainly wouldn't surprise me if plastic roads produce more microplastics than plastic landfills, I wouldn't take it as given. Landfills aren't frozen in time, stuff degrades and gets blown around by wind, and I have no idea how the process of making a road affects the plastics and their capacity to degrade.

Gordonjcp 4y ago
> 2. Health impacts of car exhaust There really aren't any. The amount of pollution from cars rounds to zero. Industrial pollution meanwhile continues unchecked.
- CorrectHorseBat 4y ago
  You sure about that?
- woodruffw 4y ago
  The amount of pollution from individual private cars is nominal, but the amount of pollution from cars en masse (especially in concentrated road structures like highways) is substantial[1]. It becomes even more substantial when you mix in commercial car (read: diesel) traffic[2]. [1]: https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/public-health-now/news/south-bronx-traffic-congestion-worsens-raising-health-and-safety-concerns https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/public-health-now/news... [2]: https://theicct.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/true-diesel-trucks-nyc-apr22.pdf https://theicct.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/true-diesel-t...
  - ThunderSizzle 4y ago
    The GP talked about outside his house, not highways or business districts. If you live on an interstate, and don't want to, the best course of action is to move.
    - woodruffw 4y ago
      > If you live on an interstate, and don't want to, the best course of action is to move. Sometimes you don't live on an interstate, but the interstate moves next to you anyways[1]. Other times, you live in a beautiful residential neighborhood (like I do), but 18-wheelers drive through your neighborhood and idle next to the public schools because there's no enforcement and it's convenient. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_Bronx_Expressway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_Bronx_Expressway
- concordDance 4y ago
  A surprising statement like this needs a reference or citation, some sort of explanation as to how you came to believe it.
  - yazzku 4y ago
    He got a high from breathing straight from the exhaust pipe. Then the Lord appeared to him and said, "And you shall make it known, on HN, that the exhaust pipe is not the enemy, but the friend."
    - Gordonjcp 4y ago
      I get that you don't agree, I just think it's a shame that you're not clever enough to articulate why.
      - yazzku 4y ago
        There is nothing to articulate or to "agree to" here. Just read the basic facts. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-data https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emiss... https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-transport https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-transport
- RC_ITR 4y ago
  Clearly you’ve never been to California during an inversion.
  - Gordonjcp 4y ago
    Well, that's a different set of circumstances, where you've got a lot of very badly-made cars with ineffective emissions control systems running on very poor-quality fuel.
    - RC_ITR 4y ago
      Cars can never be failed, only liberal governments can fail them?
XorNot 4y ago
Oceanic plastic comes from 10 major rivers, 8 of them in Asia[1,2]. Which is to say, while landfill escape is certainly possible - when it comes to plastic, it's essentially not a problem at all compared to just the ongoing and continuous dumping of plastic into the oceans where it degrades to microplastics. Landfills, properly managed (i.e. no liquid chemicals in them) are shaping up as the best option environmentally because they're local and while not completely frozen in time, certainly frozen enough. You dig up a landfill, you'll largely find...everything which was originally put into it. [1] https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.7b02368 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.7b02368 [2] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/90-of-plastic-polluting-our-oceans-comes-from-just-10-rivers/ https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/90-of-plastic-polluti...

Gordonjcp 4y ago

> 2. Health impacts of car exhaust There really aren't any. The amount of pollution from cars rounds to zero. Industrial pollution meanwhile continues unchecked.

CorrectHorseBat 4y ago
You sure about that?
woodruffw 4y ago
The amount of pollution from individual private cars is nominal, but the amount of pollution from cars en masse (especially in concentrated road structures like highways) is substantial[1]. It becomes even more substantial when you mix in commercial car (read: diesel) traffic[2]. [1]: https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/public-health-now/news/south-bronx-traffic-congestion-worsens-raising-health-and-safety-concerns https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/public-health-now/news... [2]: https://theicct.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/true-diesel-trucks-nyc-apr22.pdf https://theicct.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/true-diesel-t...
- ThunderSizzle 4y ago
  The GP talked about outside his house, not highways or business districts. If you live on an interstate, and don't want to, the best course of action is to move.
  - woodruffw 4y ago
    > If you live on an interstate, and don't want to, the best course of action is to move. Sometimes you don't live on an interstate, but the interstate moves next to you anyways[1]. Other times, you live in a beautiful residential neighborhood (like I do), but 18-wheelers drive through your neighborhood and idle next to the public schools because there's no enforcement and it's convenient. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_Bronx_Expressway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_Bronx_Expressway
concordDance 4y ago
A surprising statement like this needs a reference or citation, some sort of explanation as to how you came to believe it.
- yazzku 4y ago
  He got a high from breathing straight from the exhaust pipe. Then the Lord appeared to him and said, "And you shall make it known, on HN, that the exhaust pipe is not the enemy, but the friend."
  - Gordonjcp 4y ago
    I get that you don't agree, I just think it's a shame that you're not clever enough to articulate why.
    - yazzku 4y ago
      There is nothing to articulate or to "agree to" here. Just read the basic facts. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-data https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emiss... https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-transport https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-transport
RC_ITR 4y ago
Clearly you’ve never been to California during an inversion.
- Gordonjcp 4y ago
  Well, that's a different set of circumstances, where you've got a lot of very badly-made cars with ineffective emissions control systems running on very poor-quality fuel.
  - RC_ITR 4y ago
    Cars can never be failed, only liberal governments can fail them?

XorNot 4y ago

Oceanic plastic comes from 10 major rivers, 8 of them in Asia[1,2]. Which is to say, while landfill escape is certainly possible - when it comes to plastic, it's essentially not a problem at all compared to just the ongoing and continuous dumping of plastic into the oceans where it degrades to microplastics. Landfills, properly managed (i.e. no liquid chemicals in them) are shaping up as the best option environmentally because they're local and while not completely frozen in time, certainly frozen enough. You dig up a landfill, you'll largely find...everything which was originally put into it. [1] https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.7b02368 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.7b02368 [2] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/90-of-plastic-polluting-our-oceans-comes-from-just-10-rivers/ https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/90-of-plastic-polluti...