A new study led by an international team of scientists highlights tire particles (TPs) as the leading contributor to microplastics and calls for urgent, targeted research to address their unique environmental and health risks.
Accounting for nearly one-third of all microplastics,
Wonder what environmental impact of trains is. I assume there must be some.
If we’re just looking at the grinding of the metal wheels against the rails, it’s very little. Some metallic particles are produced in the normal wear but ferrous metals easily react and oxidize into more inert and normal forms for life.
Anything modern human does will have “carbon footprint” as corpos like to say it. But a lot of it is outside of person level control.
Just picking your poison to be less toxic. Still worth it but it ain’t the final solution, just a better one
The trick with the train is there is less impact per person serviced compared to the car. Trains are also more fair to more people and can be way faster when built correctly. Rails also have significantly less friction compared to tires and roads. Trains are also safer as conflict points are more controlled among other things.