My answer to air pollution

[veloman]

I don't why I haven't worn it this year until this past week. I bought it last summer and loved how I could ride in heavy traffic and not smell that crap exhaust. I don't have it over my face all the time when riding, it sits around my neck and I pull it up when I hit a busy road or have a buss pull in front of me (which is all the time around the University. Air quality there is suprisely bad thanks to mostly empty bus shuttles driving all over, and I'm sure 99.9% of those 50,000 students/staff just accept it.)

I would say it is 80-90% effective, mostly because I know the seal near my chin and nose isn't perfect.

You can't ride hard with it on, but I think it's great for ebiking since you don't have to. It really sucks having to breath in ICE polution, especially when we are riding electric, doing our part. This makes me feel a lot better since I can't avoid many of the busy roads. As an added bonus, it keeps you warmer in cooler weather. (I've worn it while road biking in the 90s, and it's not a problem).

I probably make a few people laugh, and scare a few too. :lol: Just make sure to take it off before walking in a bank.

http://www.respro.com/products/industrial/urban-environment/techno_mask/

 

[nebriancent]

a mask... the answer to air pollution is a mask

i would have to say i am i little disappointed that i didn't stumble upon a plan to take the head ceo's of all the oil companies and demand them to stop producing one of the major causes of air pollution

or at least a good rant on how we should let the air out of the tires on anything that burns a petroleum based fuel

but instead i find that i am told to sit down shut up and take it like a man
breath in that toxic bullshit i do my dam best to avoid producing by riding a bike all year
i am told to just buy a mask and hope my grand kids don't have to wear one from birth

srry for the rant i just thought i may find a real answer instead of a consumer product to make my breathing a little easier in traffic

(bit of a sore spot for me)

 

[neptronix]

Hey nebrian; i know what you mean dude. I thought this would contain a solution to a problem that needed to be solved yesterday..err.. yestercentury!!!

Most people would rather get out of the smog by getting into a car and making more of it ( hey, as long as it's behind them. )

It's really unfortunate. People won't stop driving until they're pulled out of their cars kicking and screaming. It took $5/gal gasoline for ebikes to even enter America's realm of thought.

In the meantime i wish more areas would be doing smog checks. argh.

 

[veloman]

I actually am very involved in my community, making sure roadway redsigns allow safe bike travel. I am not some high up official who has THE answer for you and your grandkids. Although I would love to be that person someday.

Let air of vehicles that burn petroleum? WHAT? This isn't some loony environmentalist story here.... I am an environmentalist, I've been called one many times. But I'm not going to think for a second that such a lame offensive tactic would solve anything.

To be realistic, what can you possibly do to actually get people out of their cars?

What can you do to make cars run cleaner?

Did you really expect this thread to be an actual solution that would take away air pollution?

Do you know who you are talking to??!??! I eff'n despise it. Ask anyone I know, they might tell you I am a bit paranoid about it. I'm mad because I've realized there are few decent rents available that are not out in the burbs, or next to a major road spewing crap into the air I breath everyday. Did you get that from my OP that I am just like you. I wish my gf would get on my other ebike so I could leave my car home when we go out. What am I going to do?

I live 1/3mile away from the busiest interstate highway in TX, with tons of trucks going through 24/7. What am I going to do to change that? I do try.... I suggest to the city that they need to remove the toll from the new highway that was suppose to take the trucks out there, around the city, not through it. I am a nobody, I have no power. I am trying to change that, but damn, it's not going to happen overnight.

This thread is about MY answer to the air pollution I have absolutely no control over tomorrow or next week. What is wrong with saying that my mask SOLVES that, right here, right now?

Shit man.....

 

[veloman]

You want a real answer?

EPA standards - make them get REAL strict for autos AND industry

Gasoline tax - Add $3/gallon

Develop a battery that holds 100kwh and costs $1000 and last 3000 cycles and weighs 200lbs and outputs 300 hp

Stop subsidizing the oil industry

Legislate to support EVs

Rebuild the frieght rail system

Toll the sheet out of every highway in populated areas


So there you are. You are just like me, ride an ebike partly because you don't want to be part of the problem. You spend countless hours analyzing maps of your area, saying to yourself 'there must be a GOOD route downtown'. You think " the univeristy is a 'safe haven' its cleaner than the main roads" Then you realize there is a ton of construction going on there, busses are going every direction everywhere you look, the power plant is spewing a smelly exhaust, every route downtown involves riding at least half main roads since you don't want to stop 15 times over 3 miles. What do you do, so that next week, for once, you can breath and not be a victim of this holy modern society's pollution?

I'm not 'taking it like a man' and laying down like 99% of people (who prob don't even really care to begin with). I'm displaying my immediate solution so maybe I can reduce my risk of health problems down the road. I thought maybe someone else on ES would like to know, there is something you can use to deal with it.

 

[neptronix]

Nah haha.. i am not putting the hope of the environment on you. It's just that you have been pushing the ebike thing hard lately and i thought you had a magnificent idea

I need to start wearing a mask myself. I live within 3 miles of a coal plant for god's sake.. :|

 

[veloman]

Nah haha.. i am not putting the hope of the environment on you. It's just that you have been pushing the ebike thing hard lately and i thought you had a magnificent idea

I need to start wearing a mask myself. I live within 3 miles of a coal plant for god's sake.. :|

I was directing my comments to nebrian, I should of been more clear.


I've seen just one other rider wearing a mask, ever. You will prob get strange looks if you do. I don't care. It's sort of a statement I think.

Get ready for winter... that means wood fireplace burning in a gazillion homes. Talk about unfiltered exhaust.... wood smoke is pretty bad. Makes a new SUV look like an ebiker.

 

[amberwolf]

My older sister uses such a mask because of asthma problems, and she had planned to send me one some time ago, but has probably forgotten about it.

 

[dogman dan]

My big worry at the moment it is the dust bowl. It's back here in the SW. A tiny breeze now lofts incredible dust into the air, and silicosis of the lungs is far worse and more permanent than anything coming out of a tailpipe. Pretty hard to live your entire life with a dust mask on.

 

[nebriancent]

This thread is about MY answer to the air pollution I have absolutely no control over tomorrow or next week. What is wrong with saying that my mask SOLVES that, right here, right now?

Shit man.....

the mask you so praise so highly is just another bullshit consumer product made for your convenient by creating more pollution

its like saying .... i know lets just burn all the oil b4 they get the chance to burn it in a car

 

[Joseph C.]

Here's an idea for cities and large towns worldwide. Force every new or repaired building to use concrete that absorbs pollution.

Iron-fist regulation is very handy in certain areas of society, while unwanted in others. Here it is needed. The mask is still a good short-term solution, Veloman.

 

[hnasc]

I don't why I haven't worn it this year until this past week. I bought it last summer and loved how I could ride in heavy traffic and not smell that crap exhaust. I don't have it over my face all the time when riding, it sits around my neck and I pull it up when I hit a busy road or have a buss pull in front of me (which is all the time around the University. Air quality there is suprisely bad thanks to mostly empty bus shuttles driving all over, and I'm sure 99.9% of those 50,000 students/staff just accept it.)

I would say it is 80-90% effective, mostly because I know the seal near my chin and nose isn't perfect.

You can't ride hard with it on, but I think it's great for ebiking since you don't have to. It really sucks having to breath in ICE polution, especially when we are riding electric, doing our part. This makes me feel a lot better since I can't avoid many of the busy roads. As an added bonus, it keeps you warmer in cooler weather. (I've worn it while road biking in the 90s, and it's not a problem).

I probably make a few people laugh, and scare a few too. :lol: Just make sure to take it off before walking in a bank.

http://www.respro.com/products/industrial/urban-environment/techno_mask/

hi veloman, i am just understand some words in your post what you use like heavy traffic, but what i want to say Air pollution has many disastrous effects that need to be curbed. In order to accomplish this, governments, scientists and environmentalists are using or testing a variety of methods aimed at reducing pollution.

There are two main types of pollution control.

Input control involves preventing a problem before it occurs, or at least limiting the effects the process will produce.

Five major input control methods exist. People may try to restrict population growth, use less energy, improve energy efficiency, reduce waste, and move to non-polluting renewable forms of energy production. Also, automobile-produced pollution can be decreased with highly beneficial results.

Output control, the opposite method, seeks to fix the problems caused by air pollution. This usually means cleaning up an area that has been damaged by pollution.

Input controls are usually more effective than output controls. Output controls are also more expensive, making them less desirable to tax payers and polluting industries.

Current air pollution control efforts are not all highly effective. In wealthier countries, industries are often able to shift to methods that decrease air pollution. In the United States, for example, air pollution control laws have been successful in stopping air pollution levels from rising. However, in developing countries and even in countries where pollution is strictly regulated, much more needs to be done.

 

[Pure]

As winter is coming, I've been looking for some sort of mask. I like this one as it also filters. I wonder if they ship to the US.

 

[veloman]

I bought mine from a dealer in the US. Might have been on ebay or amazon, check around. It was $70 shipped for the mask and 2 more replacement filters which get dirty every month or two.

Dealer name was "allergybegone" or something.

I love being able to ride the fast efficient main roads and not smell the crap air.

 

[veloman]

I am totally behind air pollution CONTROLS, to PREVENT it from occuring. I did not want to make it seem like I'm only reacting to it.

 

[Lessss]

reduce 7 billion to 3

 

[nebriancent]

I am totally behind air pollution CONTROLS, to PREVENT it from occuring. I did not want to make it seem like I'm only reacting to it.

don't get me wrong i know we all need to control our impact on not only air quality but many other ,forms of pollution but i just got frustrated to see what appeared to be the (oh yah ill just take in the arse dry and like it ) attitude that i thought you had buy saying we can all wear masks