See also: * Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16793888 * Microplastics found in 90 percent of table salt https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18248471 * Microplastics Are Blowing in the Wind https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19672514 * Microplastics found in supermarket fish, shellfish https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14245133 I think people…
It's possible the microplastics could be to blame for the decline in male fertility.
There are some preliminary findings that specific types of plastics, when ingested, reduce fertility in both humans and dogs:
See also: * Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16793888 * Microplastics found in 90 percent of table salt https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18248471 * Microplastics Are Blowing in the Wind https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19672514 * Microplastics found in supermarket fish, shellfish https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14245133 I think people…
It's possible the microplastics could be to blame for the decline in male fertility.
Well, the problem would solve itself. And that's not actually a joke. A book from a very popular author (no name because spoiler) creates a world where this is a reality. The movie changed the ending and thereby the whole book (I'm still pissed), but the book has this, and having a third of the world population be infertile for a generation might help us quite a bit. When the deed is already done by a mad scientist, the leading people in the book are wondering whether they should actually want to revert it. (You probably won't recognize the book until you're near or at the end, so I don't think this should spoil it for anyone.) I'm not sure if in the real world it would work as well as it did in the story, but hypothetically, it's interesting to talk about. Killing people, we won't support. But what about restricting kids? It creates a livable world for the kids that we do bring into the world. We'll still have a huge climate issue, but it'll greatly increase our chances of managing it. (This is one of the reasons I'm not getting kids.)
Lots of people smoke cigarettes, and only incur negative health consequences 20+ years down the line. That doesn't mean that cigarettes are probably pretty safe for humans.
Regular smokers incur negative health consequences very quickly. Their fitness goes down, coughing, loss of sense of smell/taste, etc.
Sure, but in addition, the really serious consequences start only 30 years later. Say we have only subtle or no immediate reaction to plastics, but in 30 years an additional third of us gets cancer.
we should start calling bottled water "plastic water"
> we should start calling bottled water "plastic water" Might that be surprisingly effective as way to reduce bottled water use? As a drop-in replacement for the phrase "bottled water", it meme-ishly supports interpersonal and self discouragement of use: "Here's your plastic water dear."; "Don't forget to buy my plastic water.". The "plasticness" of bottles is highly salient when opening, handling, and trashing them,…
I already call it that way, but for different reasons.
My wife only drinks carbonated bottled water as she's a
germaphobe and dislikes home-carbonators (I've tried everything...), but once she became pregnant I had to start dragging her bottles up to our apartment. I became very resentful of the fact that I had to either buy and drag glass or plastic bottles up to our flat only to bring them back to the store empty.
So I started calling it plastic water as a minor display of rebellion. She doesn't care though. :(
Since the parent comment says "Germany" I can say with confidence: We have both, so that qualifier is not true unless you specifically buy exactly carbonated water. It is true though that for whatever reason that I just cannot comprehend the majority of water sold in bottles in this country (Germany) is carbonated. nor can I understand why so much of it is sold - tap water is very good in most places. I know a water…
> It is true though that for whatever reason that I just cannot comprehend the majority of water sold in bottles in this country (Germany) is carbonated.
When I was a kid, my parents would only buy carbonated water. Still water was available from the tap. Today, I stopped buying even that, I can carbonate my water myself.
As to why we buy so much bottled water: Marketing. Some waters have a distinct taste, but at least for me, it’s just a matter of getting used to a different tap water taste when moving.
This isn't true in my experience. I've witnessed plenty of people in wealthy US suburbs that stock bottled water at home and even stock up on vacation. They claim it's for the taste and purity.
I don't know about purity but the taste can indeed be better than tap.
My family is from Israel, we recently visited Athens. We have excellent tap water in Israel, and we only drink water at home. No soft drinks and very little juices.
The tap was in Athens was, for us, extremely good tasting. We found ourselves constantly drinking the water, it was actually a treat to drink. We found it far better than either our own tap water, or the bottled water (Ein Gedi) that we bring with us when camping.
Larger pieces of plastic in the environment break down into smaller and smaller pieces. If we outlawed plastic today, and quit making it, the number of microplastic particles would continue to increase in the environment for a very long time.
It's possible the microplastics could be to blame for the decline in male fertility.
Well, the problem would solve itself. And that's not actually a joke. A book from a very popular author (no name because spoiler) creates a world where this is a reality. The movie changed the ending and thereby the whole book (I'm still pissed), but the book has this, and having a third of the world population be infertile for a generation might help us quite a bit. When the deed is already done by a mad scientist,…
> A book from a very popular author (no name because spoiler)
The author's name is a spoiler? Are you talking about P. D. James' The Children of Men?
Depending on what the hazard is, disinfection tablets can be effective and much cheaper than buying water. Or SODIS sunlight disinfection.
Water purification tabs, straws, and bottles are not practical unless you are in an extreme environment to find clean water (hikes, for example). - They tested awful. Iodine tablets have an awful taste after. We often use orange flavored powder to hide it. - They are expensive in third world countries. You have to use one tablet per liter, and it costs about 10 cents USD per tablet. In comparison, you can buy a 1L pl…
I couldn’t tell any taste with the NaDCC based chlorinating tablets. They’re not household bleach.
Iodine is old tech, and has other issues.
10cents < 30cents. And don’t underestimate the logistics of transporting bottled water.