@Sleepy,@Kahikatea,
Exactly. There is no point arguing about third world anyway.

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I come back, and it turns out that Kevyn didn’t even read the article.

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“and I imagine our parents’ generation didn’t notice the harm being done by pollution from cars in our cities, because it came at the same time as a decline in pollution from coal smoke. But, seeing as we can reduce it, it makes no sense not to reduce it just because the problem was worse in the past.”

“and I imagine our parents’ generation didn’t notice the harm being done by pollution from cars in our cities, because it came at the same time as a decline in pollution from coal smoke.”

we’ll have to go back to coal or alternatively nuclear if we’re all expected to give up our cars, because public transportation infrastructure (trolleys, light rail, electric buses) will inevitably put pressure on our power generation capacity. anyone in the green party done any figures on that?

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“and I imagine our parents’ generation didn’t notice the harm being done by pollution from cars in our cities, because it came at the same time as a decline in pollution from coal smoke. But, seeing as we can reduce it, it makes no sense not to reduce it just because the problem was worse in the past.”

“and I imagine our parents’ generation didn’t notice the harm being done by pollution from cars in our cities, because it came at the same time as a decline in pollution from coal smoke.”

we’ll have to go back to coal or alternatively nuclear if we’re all expected to give up our cars, because public transportation infrastructure (trolleys, light rail, electric buses) will inevitably put pressure on our power generation capacity. anyone in the green party done any figures on that?

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# SleepyTreehugger Says:
April 4th, 2008 at 12:31 pm

> Poverty is rather more toxic than cars are. People in the Third World suffer more from lung disease through exposure to smoke from open wood fires in their chimneyless huts than any Westerners do from car fumes.

and I imagine our parents’ generation didn’t notice the harm being done by pollution from cars in our cities, because it came at the same time as a decline in pollution from coal smoke. But, seeing as we can reduce it, it makes no sense not to reduce it just because the problem was worse in the past.

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Kevyn.

I don’t think the Third Worlders act out of consideration for their fellow men. Its due to their lack of technical sophistication.

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george, the study actually compared children living next to a road with children living within 500 metres of a freeway. It could be equally validly argued that living next to a road reduces lung damage in children. The truth, as usual, is in the middle. Most roads do not carry enough motor traffic to generate pollution levels greater than background levels.

These sorts of studies do provide further good reasons for having a hierachy of roads and road design that confine arterial traffic to arterial roads. Obviously this can and should be taken into account by prospective home owners with children.

I don’t know if school or day care hours generate enough exposure to warrant relocating such establishments if they are currently located on an arterial road. School hours coincide with the interpeak period which should also reduce exposure compared with homes. At home children tend to be most active and outdoors during the peak traffic periods.

Dare I suggest that the highest exposure away from freeways will be near schools at the start and end of the day as a direct result of the actions of parents. The very people who should be doing the most to protect the health of children.

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Sleepy, At least people in the Third World keep the smoke from their wood fires to themselves. It’s a pity more people in Christchurch and other NZ municipalities can’t be as considerate.

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Poverty is rather more toxic than cars are. People in the Third World suffer more from lung disease through exposure to smoke from open wood fires in their chimneyless huts than any Westerners do from car fumes.

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That was poignant Frog. Thank you.

It seems that hardly anybody realises just what kind of harm cars do to people just by running – ignoring the crashes and secondary environmental impacts. Living near to a road harms children (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6297701.stm), and no doubt adults too. Cars are toxic.

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fwwog say
“The point I am trying to make is that you cannot draw a line that marks where the air ends and I begin. There is no line. The air is stuck to us and circulating through our bodies. We are air. It is a part of us and it is in us…”

very poetic fwwog but air is not ‘sacred’ it is just there, you should not turn science into religion, fwwog just get in there and get your 7%,

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