Category: gas

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Amsterdam Enacts a Ban on All Gas and Diesel Vehicles

Pollution is the global issue of our time, and around the world more and more cities are trying to take measures to reduce their carbon impact.

Most recently, the city of Amsterdam has taken a MAJOR step towards cleaner air: the Dutch city has announced that it is planning to phase out all gas and diesel vehicles by 2030.

Amsterdam’s traffic councillor recently said, “Pollution often is a silent killer and is one of the greatest health hazards in Amsterdam.” You might be surprised that such a world-renowned bike-friendly city (30% of Dutch commuters travel by bike) has such an awful pollution problem, but air pollution in the Netherlands is worse than European rules permit. This is mainly due to the heavy traffic in Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

The city’s plan is to replace all gas and diesel engines with electric or hydrogen cars, or other emission-free alternatives, by 2030. The plan will begin next year when diesel engines built before 2005 will be banned from Amsterdam. The plan then calls for gradual banning of more vehicles from city streets.

The current levels of nitrogen dioxide and particle matter in Amsterdam’s air can cause respiratory illnesses and shorten life expectancy by more than a year. The city plans to get rid of public buses that run on gas by 2022, to increase the number of electrical charging stations to 23,000 by 2025, and to offer subsidies and special parking permits to encourage residents to make the switch to electric and hydrogen cars sooner than later. We all know how crucial a nice parking spot can be, right?

Hopefully, other cities around the globe will take note – and in fact Brussels, Belgium, is already looking to follow Amsterdam’s lead.

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So… Apparently, If You Hold In a Fart, It Might Leak out Your Mouth

Well, this is extremely disturbing. Apparently, the old saying “better out than in” definitely applies to farts.

Clare Collins, a nutrition and dietetics professor at the University of Newcastle found that pent-up gas can actually pass through your gut wall, eventually re-absorbing into your bloodstream where it then circulates through your body.

If that happens, the gas has nowhere to escape except…yup, you guessed it – your mouth.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

“A build up of intestinal gas can trigger abdominal distension, with some gas reabsorbed into the circulation and exhaled in your breath,” she writes on The Conversation.

A 2010 paper on “Methane and the Gastrointestinal Tract” supports Collins’ comments about farts making their way elsewhere if you hold them in, stating that methane, hydrogen sulfide, and other gases that are produced in the body are mostly eliminated via the anus, but can also be “expelled from the lungs.”

But there’s so much more we can learn from these scientists who study flatulence as part of their profession! In one study, 10 volunteers ate a half a can of baked beans in addition to their regular diet, then signed up for rectal catheters that measured their expelled gas for the following 24-hour period.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

No word on where they find the people for these studies or what they offer them in return, but it’s got to be something good, right?

The outcomes showed that the average number of gaseous episodes per 24-hour period was 8 with no difference between men and women.

A second study showed that high-fiber diets led to fewer but bigger farts, while a third found that diets containing foods that broke down into sulfur were behind the smelliest sort of gas.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

I can only hope the people judging this horrifying contest of toots made it out of the room without passing out on the floor.

In conclusion, science says go ahead and let those farts out because holding them in can lead to excess belching, more gas, bloating, and intestinal pain. It can even, in some severe cases, lead to diverticulitis. Plus, you know, some gas may come out your mouth.

And nobody wants that.

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These Jeans Are Designed to Absorb the Smell, So Get Fartin’

Are you ashamed of your gas problem? Do you find yourself blaming farts on friends, strangers, or dogs? Well, it’s time to leave that life behind.

Photo Credit: Unsplash,Chad Kirchoff

Seriously, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Apparently, healthy people fart about 20 times per day. Buuuuuut, let’s be honest here. You don’t want to be the one whose fart clears a room and ruins everyone’s day (especially yours), right?

That’s why you might want to invest in “Flatulence Jeans” produced by a company called Shreddies. Yes, you read that correctly. The company insists that these jeans (they have other products too, like underwear and pajamas) are “flatulence filtering” and that the worst smells you’re producing will be eliminated before you really upset your friends and family (or co-workers, or church-goers, or political constituents).

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The jeans, and other products made by Shreddies, are lined with activated charcoal that absorbs odors and gases. Home air filters and purifiers use it on a regular basis, so you know it’s legit. What’s more, Shreddies says that their products last two to three years, so you’ll get good use out of them.

Photo Credit: Twitter,ShreddiesPants

The Shreddies website says the following:

“To avoid flatulence escaping around the filter we recommend that you stand with your legs together and try to let your wind out slowly. When sitting, keep your knees together so that flatulence escapes through the carbon panel.”

The company also recommends you get a pair that fits like a second skin.

The jeans run about $130 plus shipping and are available for men and women. I think I know what you’re getting for Christmas this year!

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