Sounds like removing trucks in the logistics chain as much as possible is the better option then? The trucks' parts and/or fuel (or crude) is also getting shipped using bunker oil fuel.
But generally the tips and taxes is something you know about if you are a US resident. And you might not be unconscious at the time of payment :) And restaurant staff getting paid a decent wage without relying on tips is also something that should get fixed sooner than later.
That sounds like a strawman argument. If you don't wear a helment while doing activity A, why wear it while doing activity B.
To answer your question, perhaps because the common factor in all of these activities is that I am moving relatively slowly and my surroundings are basically stationary. These factors are void if I am riding a bike (or a motorcycle), where I might be moving at a few mph and there could be vehicles around me that might be moving even faster.
I am curious if you have tried to learn a musical instrument or learn to sing? Learning to play a musical instrument (or sing) at a level were someone would want to pay you, is probably equally hard, if not harder.
While I am not an antisocial smoker myself, I disagree with complete ban on public smoking as the parent comment suggested. Designated areas for smoking, sure!
There are ways to make cars that don't make smoke cheaply (Nissan Leaf, Chevy Bolt etc) and the argument about "without any other negatives" is really debatable when compared with manufacturing process of any other car.
Can you give an example of your train trips that are shorter than the flights. It seems like a short flight between SFO-LAX is about ~1.5 hours of sitting-inside-the-tube. I am not aware of a train between these two cities that can do this trip in any significantly less time than that.
At this point UPS/Fedex should step in and offer free shipping for ballots. Voters can drop off in their stores or their delivery people/trucks can act as pick up spots too. If nothing else it might buy them some goodwill. Or conscience.
Here's the other side - How many deaths are acceptable? If death is a certainty for all, should we just get rid of the health care systems? Should we stop research into some of the diseases? Which ones? How many person-days/productivity has been lost because of preventable deaths?
We are talking about a 4/6/8 week lockdown, that's not long term, that's immediate term.
It's amazing to wonder whether any step, any inconvenience is worth saving even lives when the magnitude of that is in the thousands. Countries have literally been bombed over far fewer deaths.
Different political leader - we don't know. A different political leader who was not divisive and dismissive of science - yes, it would have been better.