Air and light pollution are both scourges of modern life in many world cities. #AirPollution affects the brightness of the night sky, and #LightPollution at night may make daytime #AirQuality worse. Find out why addressing both issues makes good #PublicPolicy sense.
School pick up and drop off time is always terrible in terms of traffic congestion and bad parking. Parents often fit their jobs around these points in the day, but we as a nation have to do better on this front in terms of #AirPollution and #RoadSafety.
Saw this today outside my kid’s school.
Alt Text: Truck wedged bumper to bumper in the ‘Car Club’ space reserved for the tiny electric car club vehicles.
If drivers don’t care about rules outside schools anymore, where do they care?
The idea that you can have transit extend the range of walking distance without embracing bikes as a transportation utility, in the sprawling american suburbs, is just delusional. But it's the delusion that most of our city budgets and plans are built on. Biking in Portland is faster than walking+transit for most values of A to B but I can nearly guarantee you need to elbow your way through car traffic somewhere on that trip. Land use and transit need bikes for glue.
@pleaseclap there's actually a lot of good reasons beyond #ClimateChange and #CarbonEmissions for cities to invest in bikes as #transportation, geometrically the #HousingCrisis needs more density because multi-level streets for cars are extraordinarily expensive and we've maxed out the drive-and-park model that much of the US grew and developed under. #GeometryHatesCars so the only way out of traffic #congestion, also solves #AirPollution, #VisionZero is viable alternatives to driving, is bikes
Electric vehicles are making an increasingly bigger dent in oil use, both globally and in Australia. In 2022, they displaced the use of 1.5m barrels of oil a day. Daily global oil demand is around 97m barrels, so there's a long way to go.
But it is not electric cars doing most of the work. It is e-bikes and mopeds. These #micromobility devices are ten times as common as electric cars globally (led by widespread adoption in #China), and twice as popular as e-cars in Australia. In 2022, electric micromobility devices globally displaced more than four times as much oil as electric cars.
If you've never tried one, consider giving it a go. Most bike shops will give you a free test ride. Personally, getting an #ebike has been one of the best decisions I've made in the last few years and has been one important way of maintaining our household record of never having owned a car.
It's Easter weekend. The weather is expected to be a bit better than we've had through winter, and lots of people have holidays. So, is this a nice time to go cycling ?
Unfortunately not in the Netherlands.
Over the Easter weekend this country is held ransom by religious (and non-religious) lunatics who light absolutely enormous fires made up of assorted rubbish and these cause ridiculous levels of air pollution, especially of particulates, which blanket the entire country. The Germans also do this, so an easterly wind (which is predicted) doesn't blow the smoke away but just brings extra smoke from Germany.
As a result of this you basically don't want to breath outside on the Easter weekend, let alone do any exercise which would make you breath deeper.
There are fires planned for this evening, tomorrow evening and Monday evening. So there's no quick escape.
The selfish people make Easter in the Netherlands almost as much "fun" as New Year's Eve !
"Combined with separate Environmental Protection Agency rules restricting other pollutants from #HeavyTrucks, the slate of rules — for model years 2027 through 2032 — are meant to address both carbon #emissions that drive climate change and the soot and smog that directly harms human health.
The oil industry has vowed to challenge the rules in court."
When allergy season hits, many blame their reactions on the local flora in the spring. However, African Saharan-Sahelian #dustplumes, large enough to register on weather radar, travel around the globe every summer, bringing their own form of #airpollution.
Dr Andrew Boswell is trying to hold government to account for not meeting its #NetZero commitments or acknowledging if you build more roads, there will ultimately be more traffic to fill those roads…but local #Tories and my local rightwing rag are determined to cast him as the villain.
Trees and bushes planted near highways do more than improve the scenery. A new Georgia State University study finds they significantly reduce air pollution caused by motor vehicles, which has been linked to a host of illnesses
Study: Trees, Bushes Near Highways Can Significantly Reduce Air Pollution
Trees and bushes planted near highways do more than improve the scenery. A new Georgia State University study finds they significantly reduce air pollution caused by motor vehicles, which has been linked to a host of illnesses
"The #EPA said that under its final rule, the industry could meet the limits if 56% of new vehicle sales are electric by 2032, along with at least 13% plug-in #hybrids
The EPA rule applies to model years 2027 to 2032 and will significantly reduce #emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases, as well as other #AirPollution such as nitrogen oxides and particulate matter from new passenger cars, light trucks and pickups."
"The researchers pointed to vehicle traffic, coal and industrial emissions, particularly from brick kilns, as major sources of the region’s pollution."
"Right-wing politicians have launched a bid to block the passing of the #EU’s flagship nature protection law, which scientists have described as a “cornerstone of food security and human health”.
Derailing the law could come at significant cost to farmers, who are facing increasingly uncertain conditions due to climate #breakdown and #biodiversity loss."
Over 80% of the #EU’s farming subsidies support #emissions-intensive animal products – new study
"These products overwhelmingly drive the EU’s food-related greenhouse gas emissions, #biodiversity loss, #water consumption, #AirPollution, water pollution and more.
These subsidies are also influencing production and consumption in other countries that import food from the EU."
"The report showed that improvements in #AirQuality between 2019 and 2022 from lowering motor vehicle pollution – even before the expansion of the #ULEZ throughout the capital since August – rivalled the potential savings from entirely cleaning up #London’s aviation or industrial and commercial heat and power generation."
"#Antwerp was the first city to set up a zone in 2017. This was followed by #Brussels, and then #Ghent. Like #London’s ultra-low emission zone (#ULEZ), and more than 320 schemes across Europe, the Belgian zones are designed to improve air pollution by deterring the most polluting vehicles from driving on city streets (generally the oldest diesels)."
In these cities, #AirPollution has decreased faster than in cities without low emissions zones.
Scientists Discover How to Convert CO2 into Powder That Can Be Stored for Decades (lighthouse-eco.co.za)
A team of scientists has figured out how to convert planet-warming CO2 into a harmless powdery fuel that could be converted into clean electricity
Study: Trees, Bushes Near Highways Can Significantly Reduce Air Pollution (lighthouse-eco.co.za)
Trees and bushes planted near highways do more than improve the scenery. A new Georgia State University study finds they significantly reduce air pollution caused by motor vehicles, which has been linked to a host of illnesses