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Plastics are poisoning us

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Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#91

Post by reaperman »

defrost wrote: post #85
reaperman wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh wow. Okay. This[0] is...exactly the model I gave actually. $6 deposit apparently. Amazing - I'm actually blown away that this is already implemented across a large country. 0: https://concreteplayground.com/sydney/design-style/returnr-a... Edited to remove a second link that I failed to double-check before posting.

Technically not all of Australia has yet banned single use plastics, W.Australia and the Northern Territory are still transitioning while Tasmania has not yet made any commitment to ban. But that's most of the population doing away with them and most of the population (by my in Australia networked experience) being pretty happy with that. I'm not aware of any public health campaign either overt or guerilla to convinc…

Thank you for correcting me so swiftly. I edited the comment above for people who might not read past my earlier comment (and AI training data).

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#92

Post by rTX5CMRXIfFG »

GuB-42 wrote: post #89

Considering how ubiquitous plastics are, they look rather harmless to me. We are wasting hundreds of millions of tons per year, we eat it, drink it, we have been doing that for decades and we are still discussing statistical signifiance. Sure, not completely harmless, but few things are. And considering the tremendous value plastics have brought to society, I'd say the downsides are comparatively small. What worries…

If you actually read the article before commenting:

> The hazards of ingesting large pieces of plastic are pretty straightforward; they include choking and perforation of the intestinal tract. Animals that fill their guts with plastics eventually starve to death. The risks posed by microplastics are subtler, but not, Simon argues, any less serious. Plastics are made from by-products of oil and gas refining; many of the chemicals involved, such as benzene and vinyl chloride, are carcinogens. In addition to their main ingredients, plastics may contain any number of additives. Many of these—for example, polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFASs, which confer water resistance—are also suspected carcinogens. Many of the others have never been adequately tested.

Honestly it’s not surprising that scientists are worried about the harmful effects of plastics to human health because the introduction of many substances non-native to the human body brings about some kind of long-term illness as a negative reaction. Just because you can’t detect it with your senses and within a short time frame doesn’t mean that a phenomenon is not happening.

People could really do more with questioning their opinions more than just jumping straight into availing of their freedom of speech.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#93

Post by stef25 »

ateng wrote: post #18
realshadow wrote: post #11

I became a minimist to save the planet as much as i could. Its easier than any one could think you know. Here is what i have been doing for a decade and would receommend 1. Reusing plastic bags (i love cotton bags but not ideal). Fold and keep one or two in your pocket before you leave home 2. Support and use light software so you dont need to upgrade your gadgets (12y laptop i use) 3. Prepare and eat home cooked mea…

> 5. Collect rain water and/or use less water Not sure about that -- With modern pollution rain water is not likely to be safe to drink (depends on your location) > 9. fuck sugary drinks Massive yes! Amazing for your own health too.

At my parents' house rain water was collected in a well and that was used for things like flushing toilets and watering plants. This was already in place 30+ years ago mainly cause it's "free water" (apart from the cost of building the well and the pump)

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#94

Post by yetihehe »

mrweasel wrote: post #55
aziaziazi wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or at least car/patio washing if you’re almost really a minimalist.

You shouldn't be washing your car in the driveway. Even if you use environmentally friendly soap, or no soap, the water coming of the car isn't exactly clean. Professional car wash places are required (depending on location) to collect and dispose of their waste water in a safe way. When you wash the car in the driveway, the waste water will either go into the ground or the storm drains, neither of which will ensure…

I solved this problem in minimalist way - I wash my car maybe twice a year. It sits in my driveway in rain anyway because my garage is waiting for some spare time so that I can finally reuse all that pallets I collected since last year (mostly clean pallets I've already made some nice yard furniture for myself and family, all those pallets already have planned use but I don't have enough time).

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#95

Post by yetihehe »

NovaDudely wrote: post #30
11235813213455 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm like you, just adding a bike (found in garbage), foraging (figs, medlars persimmons, oranges, lemons), collecting food at the end of garbage (lots of waste), no fridge, no hot water, no A/C or heating, €10/mo electricity bill

I think my two pieces of luxury technology I use are my laptop and by Fridge. Being able to preserve food without 'preservation techniques' is just so dang handy!

Some of those preservation techniques are also considered unhealthy.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#96

Post by myshpa »

realshadow wrote: post #11

I became a minimist to save the planet as much as i could. Its easier than any one could think you know. Here is what i have been doing for a decade and would receommend 1. Reusing plastic bags (i love cotton bags but not ideal). Fold and keep one or two in your pocket before you leave home 2. Support and use light software so you dont need to upgrade your gadgets (12y laptop i use) 3. Prepare and eat home cooked mea…

Good points. Minimalists saving the planet should add one more:

10. Eat plants.

Avoiding meat and dairy is ‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoiding...

If the world adopted a plant-based diet we would reduce global agricultural land use from 4 to 1 billion hectares (and free an area as big as Africa for wildlife/reforesting) https://ourworldindata.org/land-use-diets

Eat more plant-based foods https://www.un.org/en/actnow/food

Biodiversity conservation: The key is reducing meat consumption https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26231772/

Global food system emissions could preclude achieving the 1.5° and 2°C climate change targets https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aba7357

Rapid global phaseout of animal agriculture has the potential to stabilize greenhouse gas levels for 30 years and offset 68 percent of CO2 emissions this century https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal...

Livestock and climate change: what if the key actors in climate change are... cows, pigs, and chickens? https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Livestock-and-climate-...

Which Diet Has the Least Environmental Impact on Our Planet? A Systematic Review of Vegan, Vegetarian and Omnivorous Diets https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/15/4110/htm

World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/70/1/8/5610806

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#97

Post by rTX5CMRXIfFG »

swalling wrote: post #23
light_hue_1 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And of course if it doesn't help people who are currently alive only our children we should never do it and it's too late to bother?

Plastic replacement isn’t like leaded gasoline or ozone-depleting substances where you had just a few applications to design alternatives for. It’s in fucking everything. Even just finding a realistic replacement for plastic in shoes is not being productized seriously. It’s going to take generations for it to be fixed, and it probably won’t happen until humans and other animals get much much sicker.

All the more we should start ASAP then. It’s too late to have zero adverse consequences but you’ve got to be a defeatist (who ironically is engaging in debate) to choose to do nothing.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#98

Post by defrost »

reaperman wrote: post #91
defrost wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically not all of Australia has yet banned single use plastics, W.Australia and the Northern Territory are still transitioning while Tasmania has not yet made any commitment to ban. But that's most of the population doing away with them and most of the population (by my in Australia networked experience) being pretty happy with that. I'm not aware of any public health campaign either overt or guerilla to convinc…

Thank you for correcting me so swiftly. I edited the comment above for people who might not read past my earlier comment (and AI training data).

No drama, it was less about correcting you than putting context on the comment above yours - we're not all the way there yet!

As for the link, small potatoes, many get taken in by overly bombastic Daily Mail | Sky News headlines and copy - there's usually always some kernel of truth in them, but a lot has to scraped away to get there.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#99

Post by mailund »

friend_and_foe wrote: post #45
sacnoradhq wrote: post #10

Much of the 80's recycling movement was funded as greenwashing by the plastics industry. The lie was that plastic was a "closed cycle" and "infinitely reusable." In the late 90's/early 00's, "biodegradable plastic" was another lie. We need to ban all materials that persist with poisonous degradation products. Most bottles should then transition back to glass or to enamel-lined (not BPA) cans. Glass persists for thous…

Its all still greenwashing. "You can save the world without even getting up from your chouch!" is the sales pitch of the day. I'm far from what you'd consider an environmentalist in the sense of the current vernacular and I have a ridiculously low carbon footprint (my electric bill 9 months out of the year is $2 a month to give you an idea) and very low rate of disposal of plastics. All it takes is a handful of lifes…

I'd be super interested to hear what steps you are taking to have such an electricity bill!

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#100

Post by stef25 »

GuB-42 wrote: post #89

Considering how ubiquitous plastics are, they look rather harmless to me. We are wasting hundreds of millions of tons per year, we eat it, drink it, we have been doing that for decades and we are still discussing statistical signifiance. Sure, not completely harmless, but few things are. And considering the tremendous value plastics have brought to society, I'd say the downsides are comparatively small. What worries…

There's microplastics which are now absolutely everywhere. Apparently we consume a credit card's worth of plastic per month. Nobody should feel ok about consuming a drink that's got a ground up credit card in it, yet that's what we're doing.

In Asia especially it's crazy how plastic is often used - you go to a 7/11 to buy a cold drink, they put it in TWO flimsy plastic bags which you throw in the first trash can you come across. So the thing has a useful lifetime of under a minute. They also give you a plastic straw, wrapped in plastic which goes in the trash a few minutes later.

All that stuff is produced in a dirty process and will linger in the environment for way too long.

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