On Tuesday my friend and I hopped in my car to pick up some groceries. We were both in a good mood talking about our wins this week in fantasy football. I turned the key and was greeted by probably the worst sound a car can make. I looked under the car to see two clean cuts in my exhaust piping outlining where my catalytic converter was only hours before. After looking into it, catalytic converter theft has become a pressing issue in the country, especially in southern California. Absolute scumbags wiggle under people’s cars with a power saw and make two cuts which takes about 30 seconds. They then scrap the part for a few hundred dollars, leaving the car owner in shambles, thousands of dollars in the hole.
Catalytic converters are expensive because they contain precious metals such as platinum and rhodium which react with harmful fumes, converting them into less harmful fumes as part of the exhaust system. By strict regulations, all gas cars in California must have them to reduce air pollution in already overpopulated areas like LA. California also has regulations specific to each vehicle and what kind of catalytic converter they must have which limits their availability and makes the market hard to predict for manufacturers. Demand is also slowing as the world transitions to electric vehicles so the rate at which they are manufactured is also slowing. On top of that, with the supply chain being stalled by the closing of platinum and rhodium mines during covid, converter prices have skyrocketed. It’s illegal to buy them used, so people are forced to spend thousands of dollars on new ones and wait months for the supply chain to catch up.
I’ve based my highschool and college education on sustainability. I aspire to use my engineering degree to make everyday life more environmentally friendly, it’s something I care about a lot. However, I was left salty and conflicted after that dirtbag piece of shit stole my converter. It was a very unfair situation: I take very good care of my car as I bought it with my own money; I’m always diligent about parking in safe places and leaving nothing inside that would prompt a break in. But sometimes life sucker punches you and teaches you to always get full coverage when buying insurance(especially in LA). While sulking about it I thought of taking it to a sketchy welder to just straight pipe it. Morally it didn’t sound like the worst decision; afterall, I didn’t deserve this, the car would work just as well as before without the converter, and it’d save me a lot of money(for now). The only difference is the car would release untreated toxic fumes and greenhouse gasses which is bad if everyone is doing it, but not terrible if it was just me.
After some time to reflect lividly, I came to accept that I’d have to do what’s right and spend half of what I made as an intern this summer to fix the damn thing. But the thought of doing the wrong thing was very interesting to me and can relate to the state of sustainable technology in the world. Here I was, an engineer who is all about sustainability, considering side stepping a breakthrough in sustainable technology invented by other engineers decades ago. A French mechanical engineer named Eugene Houdry invented the catalytic converter specifically to combat smog in Los Angeles in the 1950s. This invention led to the EPA successfully reducing harmful emissions by 90% in 1985 by requiring all car manufacturers to implement converters into new vehicles. I aspire to make a fraction of the impact Houdry made on the world, however, when faced with the hassle of doing what’s better for the environment, I questioned myself.
Sustainable technology implementation will always face angry corporations and people that don’t want to make their lives harder for the sake of future generations after they’re long gone, especially when the government forces it on them. I get it. However, sustainable technology is necessary to sustain the symbiotic environment we live off of that we’re slowly killing. It’s imperative that we’re always working to kill it slower. As unfortunate as getting an uninsured catalytic converter stolen is, if they were never forced to be implemented, the world, and specifically, LA would be a whole lot shittier and more uninhabitable(which is hard to imagine).
Getting you catalytic converted definitely sucks, it happened to my sister over the summer. You bring up a great point about them not being required. If LA smog isn't bad enough, I cant image what it would be like without the enforcement of cat converters, not mention how much louder it would be. (VROOM VROOM)
Overall this was a super interesting article, it was cool to see both points of view. Although sustainability is a key aspect of making the world a better place I believe that people opt out and choose the easiest route which typically is the cheapest route. Although many people choose the safe and easiest route, in the long run, this will end up affecting the earth in a negative sense.
Super interesting article. It seems like a lot of laws are built off the principle you're describing: it'd be okay if one or two people did action x, but it's forbidden because of how bad it could be if everyone did it. Makes me wonder to what extent we have this obligation to follow the law. Do we always need to act in a universalizable way (if everyone can't do this, then neither can I), or does it only apply to values that matter to us personally?