[disadvantage]

> Consultant engineer Joseph Bazalgette, who was already working as a surveyor for the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers, was employed to mastermind a plan for sewers, pumping stations and the redevelopment of the embankments of London. The results of his remarkable efforts are still maintaining London’s health today. The Great Stink may not have the historic cachet of the Great Fire or the Plague of London, but its influence was ultimately to the good of the city.

Now the UK still has to deal with smog. Cars might be all electric in my lifetime, but smog is still a persistent problem and causes respiratory problems.

[wigster]

a descendent of Bazalgette invented the Big Brother reality TV show. I always think they reversed the process established by their ancestor and started pumping shit back into our homes.

[throwup238]

The laws of the conservation of shit are immutable and inescapable. You can displace shit in spacetime but eventually it comes back.

[boringg]

How would the cars (And heavy duty vehicles) being all electric/hydrogen not solve the smog problem?

[dkdbejwi383]

Electric cars only get rid of tailpipe emissions. Cars still leave other contaminants via their tyres, for instance

[ggm]

At least one book I have read about the rise of plastics said that during the worst years of rubber shortages in WW2 there were serious proposals to scrape roads and recover tire materials in the USA. I believe the discovery of stable artificial rubber materials, capable of being produced in volume in time for the D Day landings helped with the supply chain crisis as the armed forces moved forward (the rate of supply became a major issue and logistics demands were high)

[boringg]

While that is true it that has little to do with smog. Smog is air contaminants.

[mikestew]

What do those “other contaminants” that aren’t tailpipe emissions have to do with smog?

[aqfamnzc]

They contribute to the smog

[boringg]

Most of them don't - they are heavy particulates that fall to the ground.

[tcmart14]

I've heard that break dust is also really carcinogenic.

[sonofhans]

Brake pads used to be made of asbestos, but that’s been phasing out since the 1990s. Now it’s pretty rare.

[tcmart14]

Gotcha, so the newer materials are not as bad then, I am guessing?