Delayed Echoes

New York’s First Environmental Problem

what I learned today:

The horse pollution crisis in the 1890s ignited fears of pollution, traffic jams, coupled with the rising prices of hay, oats, and urban land, and ultimately led governments and urban city dwellers to embrace the automobile. By the early 1900s the horse had become unprofitable and a great environmental hazard. The car, the modern-day environmentalists’ nemesis, was, at the time, a savior. I wonder what will be ours.

Indeed.