Cruel irony that cyclists, part of the solution, inhale the worst of the problem.
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But, crucially, this should not be taken as discouraging people from cycling. In almost all cases, the health benefits of active commuting outweigh the additional pollution consumed: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009174351...
Yea but that's different from saying that cycling is correlated with a reduction in, say, lung cancer. I'm not sure I'll be any more grateful to die of lung cancer at age 82 than 72; I'd really prefer not to die of lung cancer at all, even if that means dying of heart attack or stroke a few years earlier.
Right. That is a subjective personal decision, and absolutely understandable. To accomplish that, one has to stay at home, though. Even sedentary modes of transport expose their inhabitants to pollution, unfortunately.
This is why it would be only fair if there was regulation that said that a car's exhaust must end in the cabin.
Noise pollution is another thing that cars directly cause but protect their users from—and indeed partake in the vicious circle where people want to move to calmer areas away from the noise, which creates more traffic and thus more noise!
Generally, it is more important for all deliveries to reduce their emissions, so making deliveries pipe their exhausts into the products they deliver is the right way to go.
Here, enjoy your new couch! And let us get the air from the back of our truck into your apartment.
While we are at it, let's make sure that any toilet flush goes directly back into one's water supply and disposal of waste and trash takes place in the household's garden.
We used to have a system where people ejected sewage into the street, too. It’s telling that you equate air pollution to sewage, and then imply that pumping it into the street constitutes proper disposal.
I think you are missing GP's point: a parent post to theirs is suggesting piping exhaust gasses from cars into the very small space that cabin has. Our sewage does go to rivers, lakes or seas (a huge environmental issue as well), so GPs example is quite to the point, because that's the equivalent in water use (with the benefit that our apartments are bigger and we do not reuse the water right away so there is more time to filter waste out).
If you still don't get the parallel, let's move one step up: all greenhouse gasses produced from your energy use in your apartment have to stay in (including those from coal power plants, grocery production and delivery...). Sorry, no opening windows for you to get your own CO2 out to other people.
My point is that air is a shared resource, and thus a shared responsibility. But someone turning the narrative extreme does not help drive any solution forward (I am reminded of Stan's dad Randy getting a Prius in Southpark).
If the alternative were to dump the waste into the commons, like cars do, why not? These days we have better ways to deal with wastewater and garbage, but cars are still mostly allowed to externalize their negatives without a second thought. Although admittedly we have come a long way since the really crazy days.
I found that wearing an anti pollution mask really was a night and day difference.
I’d love to hear what you’re using and how you came to settle on that.
Respro masks were the only ones for which I could google studies showing that they actually filter fine particulates. They are quite expensive though.
Given my experience with masks while walking through a supermarket on a hot day, I can't say that doing anything vaguely sportlike with a mask seems extremely unappealing to me. I figured this was some special kind of mask but it sounds like one meant to catch extremely small particles rather than have some special airflow feature.
But perhaps it doesn't seem worth it to me because the smog here isn't as bad as where GP is? I've never really seen a haze in cities like Aachen or Eindhoven the way TV shows it is abroad (particularly China comes to mind, but probably car-oriented USA also?).
Yes. The nature of a filtering mask will mean that you will need to exert more energy to breathe through it.
I would say that initially I felt that I couldn't cycle as far with a mask. But as I did it more it became easier, effectively like exercise for your lungs.
And would say that if you have trouble with a mask walking then strenuous activity with one is probably not a good idea unless you work up to it.
In terms of the effect, I live in London which is so-so when it comes to pollution. But you really notice the difference, especially going behind the exhausts of diesel vehicles.
Breathing is a little harder with a respro mask, but it doesn't impede me by much on a bike. The filter is pretty large so the airflow is good and in has valves for breathing out. What kind of mask are you wearing in the supermarket? The Respro mask is a lot more like a N95 mask a contractor would wear while handling heavy tools than a surgical mask.
Yes and no. Riding a bike at your best speed isn’t going to happen with a mask, but I prefer not to work up a sweat while commuting, so I’m not using enough oxygen for the mask to make a difference. That said I might feel differently in a hotter climate.
Disposable N95 masks work fine. They're about five bucks.
I use the Respro ultralight [0], I got recommended it from someone at my local bike store.
Cycling behind a large lorry is less unpleasant. But of course it's not gonna block everything.
I'm concerned by the promo picture on that website[1], that mask really doesn't look tight, and it only has one strap. There's a reason most N95 masks have two straps[2] and that's because a tight fit is essential for filtering particles in the surrounding air. Even a small gap between your skin and the mask will mess with the negative pressure expected to happen within the mask to force the surrounding air to pass through the filter when you breathe in (which, in the case of [2] is the entire mask).
They might not look pretty but for anyone looking for a cheap and reliable mask, just get a regular N95 mask from a hardware store, it's used by carpenters etc. all the time to block particles and it works well for most car/truck pollutants. Of course it won't filter gases or whatever else cars emit that may damage your health.
[1]: https://respro.info/images/v3_product_background/_ProductBac... [2]: http://wasip.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/W795110-P
Back when Toronto regularly had smog alerts, I could only bike commute (on major arteries) with a mask on.
It requires some knowledge of the area, but I think it is possible to at least route around the worst air in polluted cities. I usually check local AQI and wind direction to pick a (possibly longer) route with less pollution[0] upwind before biking, using AirVisual for overall AQI and Windy to get a rough idea how wind is flowing.
[0] Busy roads, factories, plants or places with conspicuously high local AQI.
Cyclists are leading the way though. Maybe we could get a statue to honor them along some important (bike) path?