• Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    It didn’t. Air quality is substantially better world wide, there are better, real indicators of how bad the state of the world is the artist could have used. But also far more metrics about how better the world is, which no one ever likes to talk about. Way less extreme poverty, way less starvation, way less war, way more access to clean water, way more vaccinations, etc. The problem is the ultra rich are making life worse for the majority of privileged people, and we are really feeling it. But worldwide, humanity is objectively leaps and bounds better than it was 100 years ago

    • Aneb@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      But its also air pollutants like smoke particles and car fumes. I’m genuinely thinking of taking the bus today instead of biking because I don’t want to kill my lungs.

      • Photonic@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Yes but those were worse in the 80s too. Cars used leaded fuel and diesel cars didn’t have mandatory soot filters. I drove behind a Mercedes with a broken (or removed) soot filter the other day and half of the backside of that car was just covered in soot. Like it had shit itself.

        You’re probably still better off riding a bicycle due to the simple fact that you’re getting exercise, unless you’re in, say, New Delhi or you ride along a literal highway filled with diesel trucks.

    • ripcord@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Right, it’s like - is it worse now than being, say, a middle ages European serf? Or anyone at almost any point in 99% of human history?