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Microplastics are finding their way into fruit and vegetables as they grow

bbc.com

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Re: Microplastics are finding their way into fruit and vegetables as they grow

#111

Post by tyler-groves »

beecafe wrote: post #95
Der_Einzige wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real story is the massive increase in LGBT identification across the youth. I strongly believe that a large component of this is biological due to hormonal changes.

Or it could be that people are LGBT and can now safely come out and be LGBT? If you look at a chart of handness, as left-hander were no longer forced to be right-handers, the proportion of left-handers shot up till stabilizing at the naturally occuring population level. Why couldn't it be the exact same is occurring with LGBT identification?

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Re: Microplastics are finding their way into fruit and vegetables as they grow

#112

Post by maeil »

Arbortheus wrote: post #16
csmeder wrote: post #4

Something I don’t understand: Patagonia's stated mission is to save the earth and microplastics entering the oceans is a major environmental concern. However, it is also true that many of Patagonia's clothes are made from synthetic materials such as plastic. The use of synthetic materials in clothing (and each washing) greatly contribute to the problem of microplastics in the oceans. I’m I missing something? Is the a…

Saving the earth is a complex aim with so many different areas to prioritise. Synthetics may produce micro plastics, but then natural fibers like cotton require huge amounts of pesticides and water, viscose or bamboo requires a shit load of chemicals. Carbon footprints for almost all textiles are big. Recycled plastic is a low carbon, no pesticide, low impact material with one downside - micro plastics. Polyester is…

> This is the elephant in the room that most consumer goods companies don’t want to talk about

If it was just companies not wanting to talk about this, things would be fine. Problem is that neither policymakers, nor common citizens want to talk about this apart from a miniscule minority. This includes the overwhelming majority of those who claim to espouse eco-friendly values and to be willing to make lifestyle changes to stick to them. If you're not buying less new things, including e.g. doing a house renovation using new materials, you're almost certainly far less eco-friendly than the less wealthy who can't afford these things in the first place. One might try to placate their conscience by buying indulgences in the form of donations to climate causes but this doesn't really work.

Even what's commonly thought to be the biggest elephant in the room, "having kids is the worst thing you can do for the environment", is all but a sibling of the "making things is extremely bad" elephant, as the former is bad only because of the latter. If youre raising your kids in the woods living off the land like hunter-gatherers, or if you're raising them at the wealth level of the average Sierra Leonean child, having one isn't bad for the environment all.

Re: Microplastics are finding their way into fruit and vegetables as they grow

#114

Post by birdyrooster »

xwdv wrote: post #79
mlindner wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d say the cause is societal because it’s popular to become part of a protected class. You can’t change your race but you can change this.

I’m honestly surprised why you can’t change your race. Race, like gender, isn’t really a real thing beyond an abstract human concept. If you want to identify as black why not simply say you are black? Especially if you can pass as black without further modifications? Most people’s lineages aren’t even so pure that you can say they are a pure example of a certain “race” anyway. We just accept people at face value. You…

people see race as a proxy to lineage when it really isn't appropriate and leads to the doublespeak you are highlighting. nonetheless, the reason its not accepted to change race is because the adopting person would be, in the eyes of many, adopting a lineage which is not theirs. that lineage is one that is likely attached to suffering and there is cultural and potentially financial reparations that are occurring for people from these lineages who identify as black. these reparations, if taken by someone from another lineage, would be theft

Re: Microplastics are finding their way into fruit and vegetables as they grow

#115

Post by amanaplanacanal »

Traubenfuchs wrote: post #38
Eisenstein wrote: post #35

Plastics are inert. This is why they don't biodegrade easily. It is the additives in the plastics (to make them softer, or color them, or whatever) that are terrible for you. By the time these things are 'microplastics' I am having a hard time feeling scared that they are harmful. I'm not saying they aren't, but until someone can tie them to an actual problem, I don't see an issue -- especially since there is nothing…

I always dream about opening a single use plastic shop in the future, for those who just don‘t care and those who are actively opposed to it being removed everywhere. For example, drinking delicious Coca-Cola Zero Sugar at McDonalds from a paper straw is disgusting. The straw usually disintegrates before I am done and sticks to the lips at the start. I love single use plastic.

I’ve been seeing more and more PHA based straws, and they are great. Look and feel like plastic, but totally biodegradable.

Re: Microplastics are finding their way into fruit and vegetables as they grow

#116

Post by 2000UltraDeluxe »

colechristensen wrote: post #49
tomp wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Burying plastics in the ground; returning carbon to where it came from.

No, burning them in a waste to energy plant. While we still use hydrocarbons for a while for power, we might as well let some of them hang out as our stuff for a bit before being burned for energy.

I get that argument, but wouldn't it be better to bury it deep so that the carbon is taken away rather than added to the ecosystem?

Sure, small-scale "energy recycling" makes sense, but if everyone did it with all our waste plastic outout then we'd pretty much just be using fossil fuels with extra steps, and the carbon will end up in the atmosphere.

Re: Microplastics are finding their way into fruit and vegetables as they grow

#117

Post by 2000UltraDeluxe »

kennywinker wrote: post #82
userbinator wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before the plastic bag ban, I'd just grab a "single-use" bag, and then use it as a trash bag for my kitchen or bathroom. Since the ban I regularly buy kitchen trash bags I wonder if those who come up with these ideas realise the irony of forcing people to buy bags which are truly going to be single-use instead of reusing what they would've already had.

How many people in your life re-use grocery bags? I'm fairly certain grocery bag bans are a net-win when viewed from the perspective of total plastic usage, because MOST people would have to be using them at least twice for the result to be anything other than a net-win from any perspective but mine. I only managed to use about as many as I was given because I got pretty good at remembering my re-usable bags... The p…

My in-group used them extensively. For just about everything.

It doesn't really matter though; the ban on straws and taxes on shopping bags have resulted in a noticably lower amount of said products blowing around main roads. Totally worth it in my opinion.

Now, if we could just get biodegradable coffee and soda lids...

Re: Microplastics are finding their way into fruit and vegetables as they grow

#118

Post by im3w1l »

davejohnclark wrote: post #63
LarsAlereon wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The flawed premise is that synthetic clothing significantly contributes to microplastic pollution, particularly in the ocean. Plastic pollution in the ocean comes primarily from fishing gear like nets, debris unintentionally released by major storms and wave events, and countries that use rivers leading to the ocean as primary waste disposal. If you want to make a difference to plastic pollution, advocate for sustain…

I was stunned to read that, in the UK, after carefully separating out the microplastics with the solid waste, that waste is then... spread on farmland as fertiliser, microplastics and all. >In the UK, of the sewage sludge screened out by treatment works, 87% is sent to farms. The microplastics so carefully removed from wastewater by the treatment process are then spread across the land in the sewage sludge the water…

I wonder if you could treat the sludge to get rid of it? Break the plastics down with heat (dry, burn, rehydrate?) or some enzyme?

Re: Microplastics are finding their way into fruit and vegetables as they grow

#119

Post by 9dev »

Traubenfuchs wrote: post #55
Eisenstein wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is everyone using straws as an example? First, they are not what I am talking about -- we used to get beverages in re-usable containers and now it is almost impossible to find anything in glass. We don't need plastic to-go containers, we don't need everything in a plastic wrapper or vacuum sealed in a thick plastic container (as evidenced by companies not doing that and having zero problems with their products be…

But I want to leave the store with the beaverage and throw away the container afterwards. Another great horror: Thin plastic bottles! Drinks in crinkly plastic bottles that feel like you could just roll them into a ball. Yuck. I want the thick plastic ones you can use to bonk someone on the head. I want back my cheap single use plastic bags that I could just throw away after use, instead of managing storage and avail…

I mean you’ve read the same news as I did, but you still cannot be bothered with not throwing stuff away immediately and managing grocery bags in a drawer at home? Why is it so hard for people like you to contribute a teeny-tiny thing to society once in their lives?

Re: Microplastics are finding their way into fruit and vegetables as they grow

#120

Post by colechristensen »

2000UltraDeluxe wrote: post #116
colechristensen wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, burning them in a waste to energy plant. While we still use hydrocarbons for a while for power, we might as well let some of them hang out as our stuff for a bit before being burned for energy.

I get that argument, but wouldn't it be better to bury it deep so that the carbon is taken away rather than added to the ecosystem? Sure, small-scale "energy recycling" makes sense, but if everyone did it with all our waste plastic outout then we'd pretty much just be using fossil fuels with extra steps, and the carbon will end up in the atmosphere.

It is fossil fuels with extra steps but see that when you burn garbage for power that’s displacing the equivalent amount of power that would be provided by fossil fuels (almost everywhere around the world today).

Therefore you get to leave some oil or whatever in the ground instead of going to the trouble of burying garbage.

Burning garbage instead of fossil fuels should be carbon neutral with some benefits of not filling landfills etc.

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