Post by His Highness the TibetanMonkey, the Beach Cruiser Philosopher"Polluters are smokers on a grand scale. You are sick. Stop the
denial."
Then I said, "Gee, I think you nailed them this time, TibetanMonkey."
With all the negative publicity surrounding smoking, and the
undeniable link between Big Tobacco and Big Oil, that's all I need to
say.
Yeah, there's a real problem with "Big Oil". A half dozen companies that
supply the gasoline to a nation sucking it up.
And if anyone thinks that there will be electric cars in the future you're
crazy. In order to make that electricity you have to burn oil and so plus
the conversion it's more expensive in the long run than gas.
But has anyone asked themselves why there's this huge push on electricity
instead of CNG which requires fairly minor changes to internal combustion
engines and has hardly any dirty exhaust and is cheaper than heck? Also
since the USA has huge deposits on are own soil?
I'm not sure Big Oil is more innocent supplier than Big Tobacco. You
may argue that polluters tend to get obese, and that shortens your
life as much as smoking, maybe more because obese people are more
prevalent than smokers. Under 20% for smokers vs. 33% for obese couch
potatoes. I hope nobody questions that sitting on your ass will make
you fat.
What's CNG? I think we also need to downsize (become light smokers
instead of heavy smokers). The first line of defense though is riding
a bike.
On Feb 23, 10:44 am, "TibetanMonkey, the Beach Cruiser Philosopher"
Cyclists are nonsmokers for the most part.
Wait, cyclists are SECONDHAND SMOKERS. Some people even go as far as
to say we shouldn't ride next to traffic, but hey, we must survive in
a world full of smoke. Removing traffic is still an idealist goal.
Maybe we can aim at reducing the addiction to oil as much as possible.
That's where we kick in. The MIGHTY BIKE is the vehicle of choice, but
there are other choices out there. Electric vehicles may enter the
picture without putting out all those NASTY POLLUTANTS present in
automobile exhaust. Yes, "nasty" is all you need to remember if you
don't want to get technical...
Comparative toxicology of cigarette smoke and automobile exhaust
It is hard to believe that cigarette and automobile have comparable
characteristics. The worst thing what I found while searching for
hazardous companion for cigarette was that there is nothing as
hazardous as cigarette smoke (CS). CS contains approximately 5000
chemical compounds and at least 90 of them are known carcinogens.
Automobile exhaust (AE) was chosen from a big list of dangerous
chemicals contained in pesticides, industrial effluents or spent wash;
in which maximum number of comparable parameters are present. Both CS
and AE are indoor and outdoor pollutants.
...
AE is generated by combustion of fuels such as diesel, petrol, coal,
natural gas or kerosene used in automobiles. It is discharged into the
atmosphere via exhaust pipe of automobile. Typically, an AE contains
carbon dioxide, carbon, monoxide, nitrogen, nitrogen oxides, ammonia,
hydrogen, formaldehyde, hydrocarbons and PAHs, sulfur, sulfur oxides,
lead derivatives, tar, ozone, unused oxygen, water vapor and
particulate matter in the form of soot. These constituents are
hazardous to health of plants, animals and human beings and also to
environment. Formation of photochemical smog, plant damage, acid rain,
pulmonary irritation, eye irritation, anemia, odema and lung cancer
are some of the toxic effects of AE.
http://m.biotecharticles.com/Toxicology-Article/Comparative-Toxicology-of-Cigarette-Smoke-and-Automobile-Exhaust-698.html