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Tires? Yeah, tires. While the earliest version were bands of iron or steel, today's rubber tires can present a bit of a problem for the planet—especially once they are scrapped. Sure, there are laws dictating how old rubber tires can be properly disposed of, but the pervasiveness of America's car culture can make it difficult to monitor. Some folks are using old tires to make sandals while others have managed to conjure up a water filter. Even so, with millions and millions of discarded tires littering our increasingly paved landscape, our efforts must intensify.
Meditate upon this: Every tire loses one pound of rubber per year, spewing minute grains of rubber into the stratosphere and then back down to find a new home in our water and/or our lungs. Therefore, recycling and proper disposal are just small steps. A larger shift—away from an auto-centric society—is long overdue.
This post was inspired by Greensburg
