Photo Credit: iStockOne now-viral Reddit post asked readers to picture a gallon of gasoline ending not in an invisible cloud of exhaust but in a heap of visible sludge. The person's argument was that society would have moved away from internal combustion engine vehicles much sooner if the waste from tailpipes were less possible to ignore.Here's what to knowThe discussion on Reddit's r/ElectricVehicles community focused on how much invisibility shapes public tolerance for gas-powered cars. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe original poster, an EV-owner, wrote that "I'm convinced that a large part of the reason people are okay with ICE is 1. The combustion and fuel and internal/hidden and 2. The tailpipe emissions are invisible to the naked eye… We're still convinced something isn't a problem simply because we can't see it with the naked eye."OP added, "Imagine if instead of outputting 18lbs of an invisible gas, ICE tailpipes put out 18lbs of literally anything visible… We'd have gone electric YEARS ago."A commenter argued that this dynamic has already played out before and pointed to California's long fight with smog, writing, "If you go back to looser emissions standards, you could see car exhaust and it helped convince people we needed to do something."A second user echoed this idea, adding, "It's not that long ago you could see it… Now I live in Norway, which is fairly electrified, and whenever I go to a foreign city on vacation, the noise of engines and the terrible smell of exhaust fumes set me back a lot."AdvertisementAdvertisementAt least one commenter strongly disagreed, writing, "Would it though? Cars produce visible exhaust in cold climates because of condensation and people don't exactly seem to care."Others mentioned the 1952 London smog disaster as another case in which visible pollution forced people and governments to confront the damage. One of the California commenters also remembered traveling to Riverside County during a severe smog event in the 1990s and said they "couldn't see across a city street it was so thick."One commenter smartly added, "Also if car or oil companies were required to pay for the environmental and health impacts of emissions."More backgroundThe conversation centered on what changes once exhaust becomes less obvious to the eye. When waste is hidden, it becomes easier for people, corporations, and policymakers to accept environmental damage and the disproportionate toll it can take on nearby neighborhoods.AdvertisementAdvertisementWhile cleaner-air regulations and technologies such as catalytic converters have reduced some of the most immediately dangerous compounds emitted from tailpipes, they have not eliminated the broader environmental costs of burning gasoline.The larger point raised in the thread was that invisible pollution is still pollution. Pushing back on the idea that catalytic converters merely disguise the problem, one commenter said modern exhaust is "Invisible and less acutely problematic, but still extremely problematic." People living near major roads can still bear the health burden, and emissions do not need to be visible to worsen air quality or heat the planet.EVs do not produce tailpipe pollution, but some commenters also emphasized that they are not impact-free. Their overall footprint still depends in part on how electricity is generated, how batteries are manufactured, and how raw materials are sourced. While not perfect, they still represent a massive environmental improvement over gas vehicles.AdvertisementAdvertisementGet TCD's free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.