The pandemic marks a shift in how we see our homes and relate to the outside world. Panic over wealthy people leaving cities misses the point: cities shouldn’t revolve around them in the first place. Our love of same-day shipping is clogging up traffic and hurting the environment.
The home as a fortress: Our homes have transitioned from just a place to sleep at the end of the day to a full time fortress against all perils; germs, fires, flooding, heat and more. And in the future with more intelligent features and design, our homes will also become more personalized to our individual needs, but perhaps a bit more antisocial and unequal as well. (Max Holleran | The New Republic)
Stormwater flushes bits of aging vehicle tires on roads into neighboring waterways
Researchers have discovered a chemical that kills coho salmon in urban streams.
December 8, 2020
Every fall, more than half the coho salmon that return to Puget Sound s urban streams die before they can spawn. In some streams, all die. But scientists didn t know why.
Now, a U.S. National Science Foundation-funded research team at the University of Washington Tacoma and Washington State University Puyallup has discovered the answer. When it rains, stormwater flushes bits of aging vehicle tires on roads into neighboring streams. The killer is in the mix of chemicals that leaches from tire wear particles: a molecule related to a preservative that keeps tires from breaking down too quickly.