this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2025
53 points (75.2% liked)

Public Health

1104 readers
23 users here now

For issues concerning:

🩺 This community has a broader scope so please feel free to discuss. When it may not be clear, leave a comment talking about why something is important.

Related Communities

See the pinned post in the Medical Community Hub for links and descriptions. link (!medicine@lemmy.world)

Rules

Given the inherent intersection that these topics have with politics, we encourage thoughtful discussions while also adhering to the mander.xyz instance guidelines.

Try to focus on the scientific aspects and refrain from making overly partisan or inflammatory content

Our aim is to foster a respectful environment where we can delve into the scientific foundations of these topics. Thank you!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
otter@mander.xyz
otter@lemmy.ca
53
Inhalers drive carbon emissions equivalent to 530,000 cars each year, study shows (phys.org)
submitted 6 days ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/publichealth@mander.xyz
51 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Inhalers are the frontline treatment for asthma and COPD, but they come with a steep environmental cost, according to a new UCLA Health study—the largest to date quantifying inhaler-related emissions in the United States.

Researchers found that inhalers have generated over 2 million metric tons of carbon emissions annually over the past decade, equivalent to the emissions of roughly 530,000 gas-powered cars on the road each year.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] ZeroGravitas@lemmy.dbzer0.com 35 points 6 days ago (1 children)

This is way up there with "smokers have a smaller impact on the environment than non smokers".

Fuck right off. Decommission one oil tanker, problem solved.

[–] WolfLink@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Tbf if we weren’t shipping that stuff with one big ship it would be like 2000 planes.

I’m not saying there aren’t ways to improve cargo ships, like trying to build ones that are “greener”, or simply trying to reduce how much stuff we ship overseas.

But that’s the difficult thing in trying to point out “one thing to kill to have the biggest impact”. It’s complicated.

One bus pollutes a lot more than one car, but 100 fewer cars are on the road because of that bus, the bus is “greener” overall.

[–] ZeroGravitas@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 4 days ago

There was that bit about the oil tanker, but you're not wrong in general, sea shipping is one of the most efficient means of transport we got.

How about this: more efficient cars on the road, more WFH, increased use of public transport etc. lead to less demand for oil, which puts that tanker out of business. Win-win?