Holding off of the Brakes Keeps the Environment Safe?
Photo Credit: Chris Annable
Cars and the environment have had a rocky relationship for years. Cars eat up fossil fuels, cause air pollution, and make urban freeways and roads necessary for the modern human’s everyday lifestyle. You may have heard about these certain points before, but I only have recently heard of yet another way cars can effect our natural environment. Ever heard of copper brake pads affecting our aquatic environment?
Copper has recently been a big environmental topic. It has been an investigated and tried issue for around 15 years now because of its toxic affect on phytoplankton (algae), which makes up the base of the food web in most of California’s coastal, aquatic environments. In studies done by the environmental non-profit organization called Sustainable Conservation in San Francisco Bay, it was found that more than half of human generated copper came from brake pads, the other sources of copper including fertilizers, pools, paint, and construction sites.
So here’s what’s causing the problem: everytime someone hits the brakes on their car, copper dust is emitted into the air. The dust is eventually deposited onto land, and gets washed into storm drains, freshwater ravines and creeks, and directly into the ocean.
Earlier this month, after a 15 year struggle to research and address the issue at hand, the state of California passed SB 346, a law that requires brake pad manufacturers to reduce the copper used in brake pads to 5% no later than 2021, and to .5% no later than 2025. The bill is being sponsored by the City of San Diego and Sustainable Conservation.
After hearing about this issue while at a meeting for an internship, it gets me wondering what other environmental issues I am missing out on.
Read more about copper brake pads here.
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Using the gas pedal less can also save you gas but overall just ride a bike!