Tyres are an order of magnitude worse source of particles pollution than exhausts.
“We came to a bewildering amount of material being released into the environment – 300,000 tonnes of tyre rubber in the UK and US, just from cars and vans every year.”
Whereas “Tailpipes are now so clean for pollutants that, if you were starting out afresh, you wouldn’t even bother regulating them.”
Listed tyre companies (GT, ML) are generally ranked low on ESG risk.
Chart below (from this paper) is a meta analysis of “globally reconciled and methodologically harmonized” data on the environmental impact (from GHG emissions to eutrophication) of 40 major foods.
What is interesting is the range – even the best meat farms still outweigh the worst grains.
“Humanity’s ability to heal the depleted ozone layer is not only our biggest environmental success, it is the most impressive example of international cooperation on any challenge in history.“
Simply fascinating read on how the confluence of science, politics and industry led to this human triumph.
Governments are getting serious about reducing CO2 emissions – with over 80% of global CO2 emissions “pledged” to be eliminated if we include what is currently in policy documents.
How bad? “Forty million acres of land in the US consists of lawns. Maintaining them requires 800 million gallons of mower fuel and three million tonnes of (carcinogenic, endocrine-disrupting) fertilisers a year, and they guzzle up to 60 per cent of fresh water in urban areas.“
To make matters worse, grass only works as a carbon sink if it is left wild.
“Maintaining a patch of blank land on which no food grows, no animal feeds and no carbon is stored is as absurd as installing fake plastic grass.“
