EPISODE 112: Unintended Consequences with Steven Johnson
Added 2023-10-10 13:00:44 +0000 UTCHello, Patreon Supporters:
Episode 112 is here!
This year, 2023, marks the hundredth anniversary of the invention of leaded gasoline. Of all the many harms that the automobile has imposed on the environment and humanity over the last century, the effects of leaded gasoline have to be pretty close to the top of the list.
Science and industry were well aware of the dangers of lead in the 1920s. But adding small amounts of tetraethyl lead to motor fuel made internal combustion engines work better, and that made it possible to turn the automobile into a viable mass market product. As a result, pretty much every American born between 1960 and 1980 was, to some extent, poisoned by lead.
Back in March, bestselling author Steven Johnson wrote a somewhat mind-blowing essay in the New York Times Magazine titled, "The Man Who Broke the World." In it, Steven told the story of Thomas Midgley, Jr., the chemical engineer who not only invented leaded gasoline -- he also invented the chemical compound that made modern refrigeration possible. As with lead (branded as Ethyl to sound innocuous) , Midgley's miraculous chlorofluorocarbons unleashed an almost unbelievably destructive set of unintended consequences. Four decades later, scientists discovered that CFCs were burning holes in the ozone layer of Earth's upper atmosphere, causing a planetary-scale catastrophe.
We've been wanting to do an episode on leaded gasoline for a while now. This conversation with Steven accomplishes that and goes so much further, weaving together so many different threads. It was a lot fun and we hope you enjoy it.
-- Aaron
LINKS:
The Man Who Broke the World” by Steven Johnson for the New York Times Magazine, March 15, 2023.
Find more of Steven Johnson’s work on his website.
Subscribe to Steven’s newsletter, Adjacent Possible.
Find all thirteen of Steven’s books here. War on Cars fans will enjoy The Ghost Map — it’s a page-turner of a mystery/thriller about urban planning and epidemiology. You can buy Steven’s books at our Bookshop.org store.
Interested in digging deeper into the history of leaded gasoline? Check out Toxic Truth by Lydia Denworth.
Patreon supporters who want to listen to this ad-free episode on Apple Podcasts or another podcast app should check out these instructions on how to find and use your private RSS audio link from Patreon. You can also use the Patreon app or listen in your browser.
Comments
I'm all for more traffic calming, but until we get it, police enforcement can help to keep the fear in people, what they largely use to choose to not speed. Ideally: speed governors, your car won't let you speed. Next good: speed humps, raised crosswalks, chicanes, narrow traffic lanes, making it uncomfortable to speed. Not the best, but helpful: speed cameras, keeps police and potential for fishing expeditions of search and harass, or possible violence out of the way. About the worst, but necessary when areas, federal state, local fail at the others allowing engineers to set a level of safety that they are okay with (none): police traffic enforcement And for those getting tickets income based would be awesome, but our society doesn't seem to be there yet. The fines should be set reasonable but certainly ESCALATE rapidly for repeat offenders. There are small % of drivers who are nasty on the road. More arrests and big time fines car impoundment are needed. Dozens of speeding tickets in a 6 months period? How? The fines need to rise. If they aren't paid boot the car. get these tyrants off the road. People don't have a right to endanger people on the public road and get away with it so repeatedly. What I see in my area of the world, is that police enforcement just mostly doesnt' happen for the past 10-15 years or more. Long ago there was a fear of getting pulled over. Now people drag race, drive like an. imals and just don't care. Traffic calming is needed everywhere. Until then, bring on the enforcement.
Daniel Keough
2023-10-31 04:39:49 +0000 UTCI've heard that argument before, "war on the poor" for being held accountable. While I think traffic tickets or any financial penalty for an illegal act should sting equally for those doing it, I've come to a different view on it. While I would love to see the long long term goal of speed governors blocking speeding entirely, or a long term goal of traffic calming encouraging safer speeds (sped humps raised crosswalks etc), traffic enforcement still plays a role and doesn't happen nearly enough for the system we currently have. The view that's not often spoke of: who benefits the most from keeping streets safer, whether it's traffic enforcement, or traffic calming, those who walk or bike the most, especially on the stroads and especially late at night early morning (a quadruple banger: less traffic means more speeding, night time decreases visibility of driver to pedestrian and the reverse, police traffic enforcement seems to be focused (at least in my small city) for banker hours--NOT at night, and being at night also means more intoxicated drivers are out and about. Who benefits from the enforcement? those who cannot afford a car. Those who work very early morning hours, opening restaurants before breakfast, hotel staff, hospitals night shift or the wee hours when there's probably no bus route and they're walking or biking along that dark stroad. While income base ticketing is ideal, it's better to keep those fines in place for the protection of EVERYONE than to reduce a penalty for those driving in a selfish way. For those who feel they can't afford a $100 speeding ticket, court costs, etc, that can be a great deterrent to choosing to speed. A way to keep the potential for police violence out of the enforcement part, is more speed cameras put into use. Street design traffic calming is always better, but drivers complain about speed humps and fight them too.
Daniel Keough
2023-10-31 04:30:31 +0000 UTCAs an advocate for both justice for all people but also for society to reach a much saner and sustainable relationship to automobiles, I feel a great conflict about this. I know that much of traffic policing is nonsense and is more about generating opportunities for police to harass and conduct searches of autos, but that’s not all of it. Sometimes drivers really are a danger to themselves and others, and we need a way to respond — pedestrians and bicyclists are being slaughtered all across the country by inattentive and distracted drivers and by drivers who have simply adopted a “Mad Max” attitude with super aggressive driving. Of course fines (paid or not) don’t stop people from driving dangerously and risking the lives of themselves and others. We know that delicensing people doesn’t stop them from driving. Build a society where driving is absolutely necessary to being a full fledged participant in life, you’re not going to get people to stop driving just by pulling their licenses or hitting them with fines they can’t pay. I wonder if we’re going to have to go for technical solutions if we want to actually make progress in terms of reducing highway slaughter — mandatory radio or infrared speed governors installed on cars so that speed limits are not up to driver discretion, as each roadway will constantly control the speeds of the vehicles on the roadway. We know that drivers pay no attention to posted speeds, but rather drive at what they feel is the safe speed for the road, which has to do with its width, curvature, and smoothness. I can only imagine that Americans will lose their minds at the thought of not being able to punch the pedal to the metal at any moment and having an effective limit on speeding. But what is the alternative. Clearly there is no amount of punitive-based speed enforcement that works, if we could afford it at all.
John Gear
2023-10-15 22:02:54 +0000 UTCAnyway (don’t hit return I guess!) — I’m thinking of how we have to completely rethink our approach to traffic enforcement, which mainly turns into a war on the poor and does nothing much for safety. Washington and maybe some other states are trying to address the discriminatory aspect but nobody seems to be trying to keep the baby from being thrown out with the bathwater.
John Gear
2023-10-15 22:00:04 +0000 UTC
