Many countries are still stranded with "cold war" environmental problems.
The US has many "superfunds" dedicated to cleaning up "cold war radioactivity" issues.
A bit more info on the Quebec asbestos issues. Canada didnt stop exporting it until 2012.
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Canada led world production of asbestos before the country’s two largest mines (both in Quebec) halted operations in 2012. The closure marked the suspension of the country’s asbestos production for the first time in 130 years.
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"The June 28 decision by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals further restricts employees’ ability to change their working conditions at a time when U.S. workplaces have become a locus of divisive cultural battles and disagreements over some Americans’ basic rights."
In this "similar" case the ruling is drastically different?
Both attempt to "ban"clothing due to "dress code" rules?
> Not really.... But even if it were damaging, the damage would be very localized, it would affect at most one cell, and the immune system is easily able to handle that.
you could not be more wrong about this. Alpha and Beta are fairly safe OUTSIDE the body. In the case of Alpha it is not able to penetrate the layer of dead skin on your hands.
Internal, it is VERY damaging because there is no "dead skin" to protect the internal organs.
"Some beta particles are capable of penetrating the skin and causing damage such as skin burns. However, as with alpha-emitters, beta-emitters are most hazardous when they are inhaled or swallowed."
CANDU (Canadian reactor design) is moderated via deuterium in which case there is a LOT of it circulating in the reactor core.
The heavy water is syphoned off to a tritium separation unit for recovery.
With a market value of $30,000 a gram, there is a clear incentive to recover it ;)
non-metals have their own problems and glass tends to have some really weird properties.
I would think a major one would be their failure mode. Metals flex and expand before they eventually fail. Glass/ceramic is fine until suddenly it isn't and has a total failure.
Think of a window being hit. If it were metal it would probably deform but if it is glass it shatters.
Next would be joining them on-site. If needed, metal piping can be bent and welded in-place. what do you do with a glass pipe that needs a join? what do you do if there is a small variation in the plans and the pipe needs an adjustment?
I think there are a host of reasons why glass is not used for pipes.
i love it when people make statements liek "you are projecting" yet dont fully understand them.
What it means to be projecting?
According to Karen R. Koenig, M. Ed, LCSW, projection refers to unconsciously taking unwanted emotions or traits you don't like about yourself and attributing them to someone else. A common example is a cheating spouse who suspects their partner is being unfaithful.
I've not taken any of my views and projected them anywhere.
you simply look around, and you can find TONS of so called "Social justice warriors" demanding more public transit, more density..
Usually under some "Stop urban sprawl" mantra - who gives them the right to enforce how others want to live?
Most people who do manage to afford to live in Toronto still have to commute. you can get condo's right in the downtown core, but they are insanely expensive.
So the debate he had was a ~30 min commute and a "toronto" address vs a 45-60 min commute and an address in a small city outside Toronto.
I worked in toronto a very long time, dont know many people who actually lived there. Most commuted from cities in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area).
Sometimes the commute is sort of unavoidable.
What are the options to avoid a 30 min commute if you work in a specific industry which prefers "on site" work, and that company owns property in a city you cant afford to live in?
You can change industries, etc.. but those are personal choices.
> So i am wondering isnt the root of all evil the fact that high paying jobs are clustered around large urban centres? Shouldnt tech have solved this issue by now? Even if people prefer office work, cant this work be done in smaller urban areas?
This gets into an interesting "can of worms" problem.
My background is finance which tends to be clustered around "financial hubs" (London, New York, Toronto...).
Again, I will keep my "Toronto" perspective as I am most familiar with it.
Why are all the banks located on "Bay street"? Because if you dont have a "bay street" address you are a "nobody". This odd mentality can be found globally, "wall street" , specific "pockets" of London.
The "big 5" banks here COULD build places in smaller urban areas, but those lack the "power" of that Bay street address.
Now that we established that for odd reasons you have to be located in "bay street" there is also the view that you must be "seen". Remote work is a career killer in Finance.
One large Canadian bank has started the "we want you back in the office" discussions :
RBC CEO asks staff to come into the office more often 'Technology can’t replicate the energy, spontaneity, big ideas, true sense of belonging and fun' of being in the office, CEO says
Now RBC has issued a press statement on this, the other Canadian banks will quickly follow suit (they move in lock-step with one another).
So.. work in finance, you need to be on "bay street" monday to friday.
You don't want to commute, increase demand to live in Toronto.
Basic economics show that increased demand leads to increases in pricing..
you are overlooking several other "american" issues.
1) Lawsuits
- The US court system is often used as some sort of "i won the lotto" system where people do dumb things, and somehow win substantial sums of money. It is often easier to preemptively prevent anything that could trigger a lawsuit
2) Powerful lobby groups.
- Many things that are legal elsewhere are not in the US, and often there is a government lobby group behind it.
I love how people seem to feel they can enforce their views of how a city should be build on others.
The fact of the matter is very clear.. we have so many detach houses because that is what people WANT.
For some odd reason there is a subset of the population who feel entitled to dictate how OTHERS should live. These people go on and on about "increasing density" while ignoring that some don't want to live like this.