I’ve spent much of this year examining car bloat, the process through which smaller vehicles are being replaced by increasingly massive SUVs and trucks.

What I’ve learned: Huge cars are terrible for society, often in ways that are hidden.

Some basic facts:
◆ >80% of US car sales are now trucks/SUVs.
◆ Models keep expanding. For example, the F-150 is now ~800 lbs heavier and 7 inches taller than in 1991.
◆ EVs can make the problem worse due to huge batteries.

Continued (THREAD)

#cars #climate

Across the globe - north and south, ocean and land - climate change is super-sizing our heatwaves and heat extremes. While this puts us all at risk, some are much more vulnerable than others. Here's why.

First, people living in cities experience up to 4C (7F) hotter temperatures than surrounding rural areas due to the urban heat island effect. The strength of the heat island effect increases with the size of the city, driven by differences in evapotranspiration and convection efficiency between urban versus rural areas. Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1512-9

Even within the same city, though, low-income neighbourhoods can be up to 8C or 15F hotter than high income neighbourhoods in the same city during a heatwave. This means poorer and non-white people are at much greater risk from heat-related stress, illness, and even death. Once again, climate change is a threat multiplier, exacerbating the risks the most vulnerable and marginalized already face today. Source: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2021EF002016

This disparity is primarily due to a lack of green spaces and tree cover, exacerbated by the fact that poorer areas are often next to sources of heat like industrial areas -> which are in turn due to racist redlining practices stretching back to the 30s. Read: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-redlining-made-city-neighborhoods-hotter-180975754/

If you live in the U.S., find your city here: https://www.npr.org/2019/09/03/754044732/as-rising-heat-bakes-u-s-cities-the-poor-often-feel-it-most

Insta pulled the ad for my tour show this Thursday in Blackpool because in the joke I used I mention an MP and they think it’s political campaigning, so if you see this post PLEASE boost it to help me pack out the audience for the final date of my award winning show! (Best New Show, Leicester Comedy Festival)

“Laugh out loud, our jaws hit our laps” the Guardian
Blackpoolcomedyclub.com

Twitter is falling apart. Reddit is falling apart. Facebook fell apart ages ago. Meta is a trashfire. Instagram is baloney. Google can't even search for anything you want anymore.

You know what website still miraculously works?

Wikipedia.

You should donate to keep it that way.