You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-47882038
No shit, Sherlock. Couldn't possibly have anything to do with millions of the little darlings being ferried one at a time to school in emissions-cheating VAG 4x4s, which then spend 30 minutes stuck in traffic or parked illegally nearby with the engine running as mummy wouldn't want to let her phone go flat while she plays with it?
Or the deliberate anti-cycling policies implemented by most councils to force people into cars?
Or people who sit in car parks with their engines running while they eat their lunch?
Or the same people who want to "take back control" switching off the start/stop system of their car the moment they get in because it's taking their control of the engine away?
Or the people who modify their cars illegally to remove the DPF?
Or garages on the take who allow old Ford diesels to sail through their MOTs while they throw out a huge cloud of black shit every time the accelerator is pressed?
Or the lack of funding for proper transport infrastructure which both means people drive more, and old trains sit with huge old diesel engines idling in stations or approaching level crossings? Same with buses: the tarmac around traffic lights is jet black with the soot sprayed out by even "newer" ones as they accelerate away.
Speaking of bus companies, how about Abelio, which deliberately sends buses with faulty emissions control systems out on loops in high pollution areas (next time you get on one outside Central London, take a look at the dashboard and you'll see the AdBlue or DPF warning light on)?
You forgot the log burners.
And airports.
Decent article on 'real world' emissions and fuel efficiency testing here. Hats off to the guys at Emissions Analytics and hope they manage to remain independent and true to the cause in the world of global manufacturing.
I do like the nostalgic start to the article:
"Every summer we would drive to France, taking the ferry from Portsmouth to Le Havre. As we were about to dock, people would get into their cars and start their engines."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/how_toxic_is_your_car_exhaust
Bit ranty for the guy spraying the chemtrails
No shit, Sherlock.
Precisely! FWIW, many years ago, I used to work in the air pollution monitoring/regulatory part of what’s now the Environment Agency. The government p*** take at the time (early ‘90s) was to blame ‘industrial processes’, now it’s wood burners. We’d fiddle around asking companies next to motorways to reduce their emissions, when we all knew what the real source of the problem was. - can’t upset the road lobby though!😒
Have a gander at the DoE’s assumptions about air pollution from road traffic & commercial vehicles - as if no commercial operators use emulators etc.....yeah right. Then again, I suppose if you drastically cut the number of enforcement officers, the problem won’t show up.
I was disappointed that the Labour government didn’t take a more aggressive approach, but remember what happened when they tried the ‘polluter pays’ by moving VED onto fuel - the fuel crisis x2. Not a chance of Tories doing anything - just look who their backers are! Oh, and preoccupied with the complete waste of time that is Brexshit.
It does seem fairly obvious doesn't it.
Wasn't the previous theory that people cleaning everything with detol and antibac stuff gave kids asthma as they weren't building up any form of immunity?
Wasn’t the previous theory that people cleaning everything with detol and antibac stuff gave kids asthma as they weren’t building up any form of immunity?
Yes - after a survey in iron curtain countries in the early 90's expecting to see greater incidence of asthma due to higher levels of pollution, but found no correlation
Bit ranty for the guy spraying the chemtrails
The mind-control drugs don't cause asthma.
Some schools in Barcelona have much higher instances of asthma than others. A study was done and the high instance schools were all near a busy road/ junction. Simple as that.
In Paris familys in social housing with kids with severe asthma are moved to housing away from busy roads, and guess what, they are much better.
So choose to be differnt, to make a differnce. Last year I made a choice to cut my fuel use by 50%. As a household, we did 15-18000 miles per year in two petrol cars. We live in a village about 15 miles (via the motorway or busy A road) from my wife and my work (different directions). Our boys school is about 1.5 miles away, nursery about 3 miles away. I bought an electric car for my wife to use, and I now ride almost everywhere. When I drop the kids off, and assuming its not pouring down, I do so via bike. When riding down the school lane, we block it for cars. Initially this was met with hostility, but now other have started to do the same. There are also now 3 more electric cars in the village. We bought a particle filter for our wood burner (no gas in the village and I’m not convinced by electric heating) and sent flyers around the village about how harmful woodburners can be, but more importantly, what they could do about it and who could do the work. 20% of the village now have filters and more are considering it. Our fuel use is now about 2000 miles per year. Our electricity is from 100% renewables.
Make a choice. Don't bitch about it on the internet.
Make a choice. Don’t bitch about it on the internet.
Mate, before you do your rotator cuff slapping yourself on the back, bear in mind that a lot of that stuff you mention costs money, which many people don't have.
Also, you would annoy far fewer people if you pointed out things that could be done, rather than highlighting the fact that you did them. It looks like willy waving and it's likely to do more harm than good IMO. There will probably be a string of people arriving to defend themselves (as I just did), because your post looks like it's criticising them, so this thread will descend into a bunfight with personal passive aggressive insults being traded. Which is a shame because you have a lot of good ideas.
I was disappointed that the Labour government didn’t take a more aggressive approach, but remember what happened when they tried the ‘polluter pays’ by moving VED onto fuel
This is the problem with the neoliberal approach, trying gentle nudges to change direction. We're already too far gone for that. Car usage is too embedded in our society. We need fundamental change at a large scale.
We need fundamental change at a large scale.
Agreed. Main problem is we’d need a Government that can behave in a grown up manner, listen to experts, able to come up with a plan, and then implement it. Oh, and maybe a Govt that isn’t forever getting its ear bent by lobby groups opposed to change(?). I’m not expecting much of the current bunch of chuffs!
Car usage is too embedded in our society. We need fundamental change at a large scale.
It's happening, you can either adopt or carry on as you are. The government can only encourage you, you have to make the moves yourself. If you know there's a problem don't be a part of it.
We bought a particle filter for our wood burner.
A link to the filter you use and some experiences of how you are getting on with it would be appreciated - cleaning intervals in m3 of wood consumed and what bits need cleaning/replacing.