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Tire Particles as a Distinct Source of Environmental Damage

posted by hubie on Thursday November 21, @02:28PM   

canopic jug writes:

Science X's Phys.org site describes a report about the harm from tire particles, which account for about a third of all microplastic contamination in the environment. Unlike other types of plastic, tire particles are smaller, have greater chemical complexity, and different behavior in ecosystems. Thus the call is for them to be placed in a new, separate enviromental category.

The study, published in the journal Environmental Research, highlights the gap in current knowledge about the environmental presence, transportation, and toxic impact of these particles. The authors have identified ten priority research questions across four key themes: environmental detection, chemical composition, biotic impacts, and regulation.

The research brought together an interdisciplinary network of experts from countries including the U.K., U.S., Norway, Australia, South Korea, Finland, Austria, China, and Canada. Their findings underscore the need for a standardized framework to quantify and manage TPs and their leachates, especially as the global presence of these contaminants rises.

A second study is being carried out on the effects from tire chemicals and particles on marine life in UK waters.

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Original Submission

• Re:And that's why electric cars won't solve pollut(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday November 22, @01:11PM

  by khallow (3766) on Friday November 22, @01:11PM (#1382844) Journal

  Climate change is just one dimension of an ongoing ecological crisis caused by a constant need for more.

  The problem with these narratives of sacrifice is that we genuinely need more else we get more people. Poverty is a key source of high fertility people which will cause bigger problems in the long run. Further, the ecological crisis is bad because parts of the world are poor. For example, the largest source of ocean plastics comes from 10 rivers in Asia and Africa, all developing regions of the world without the environment protections of the developed world (and by majority, I mean over 60%, 95% of 67% [soylentnews.org] of plastic in oceans).

  The amount of pollution caused by just cars is absolutely massive, and while the pressing need to not cook the planet is an important one, cars are the primary source of noise pollution, particulate pollution, and (when combined with road lights) light pollution. And early evidence suggests that EVs are actually worse on the particulate pollution front than ICEs.

  It's telling that we don't actually know that there's an "absolutely massive" particulate problem in the first place! As to noise and light pollution, we have solutions to that which don't even require us to change cars in the first place (noise dampening and putting blinds in windows, for example).
  
  And we're missing an absolutely massive, pressing need to improve the lives of 8+ billion people on Earth. Both for its own sake and because they become low fertility in the process!

  Parent