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Plastics are poisoning us

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Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#301

Post by mint2 »

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…

coincidentally we have a lot of diseases that have skyrocketed in the last 50 years.

Yes Perhaps it’s not plastic itself but what plastic enables.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#302

Post by tfourb »

nukeman wrote: post #145
tfourb wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure how the "it's to late to do anything about it" is supposed to contribute to this debate. It's also factually wrong. The production of new plastics could be drastically reduced through regulation of both the production itself and its use cases. Most food and drink containers could be made from non-plastic materials. I've built a house that uses maybe 5% of the plastic that is common in construction where I li…

I’m curious to hear about what you did with the house (I’m thinking about building/renovating a house in a few years). Did you go DIY or hire a contractor? What were some of your replacements for plastics?

We basically built an all-wooden house: Timber posts and beams (not the flimsy sticks that are used commonly in construction in the US but solid 8" posts), interlocking OSB-boards on the inside for air tightness (this can also be achieved with other wood-based techniques, my house has an air tightness comparable to passive house construction), wood fibre insulation material (15+ inches on all sides and the roof), clay plastering on the inside (great for thermal mass).

The house is really air tight but moisture can get out through the walls easily without causing rot. There are thermal bridges. Window frames are from oak. We have a bit of plastics-based insulation around the foundation and the roof is covered with an oil-based-rubber, but that's about it except for smaller items like cable insulations, switches, etc.

We did some of the interior stuff DIY but the major parts of the construction were done by various contractors.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#303

Post by kmmlng »

reaperman wrote: post #58
com2kid wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I inherited my fabric shopping bags from my grandmother, she made some of them 30 years ago. They are also many times thicker than the cotton bags you can buy in stores, so they might very well need another couple generations before they are carbon neutral!

Yeah much of the problem is that people aren't currently willing to change their lifestyle to embrace the "reduce" and "reuse" part of "reduce, reuse, recycle" triad. They only know two options: "Paper or plastic?" because the vast majority of people don't want to bring their own bags from home to the store. Or their own cup to Starbucks. Or their own to-go food box to the pizza place. I'm trying to imagine how DoorD…

I'm willing to and I mostly do bring my own bags to the grocery store. Sometimes I forget. Let's say I forget twice a year and opt to buy paper bags in those cases. We have just learned "[...] to have a lower environmental impact than a plastic bag, a paper bag would have to be used forty-three times [...]". Depending on how often I go grocery shopping a year, I have now already come quite close to nullifying any positive effect of bringing my own bag compared to buying plastic bags every single time. And we haven't even considered the environmental impact of the bags I remember to bring with me most of the time.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#304

Post by aembleton »

11235813213455 wrote: post #17
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…

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

Meanwhile in the UK its nearly €20/mo standing charge before you consume any electricity.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#306

Post by semi-extrinsic »

droopyEyelids wrote: post #248
semi-extrinsic wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PLA - poly(lactic acid) - is biocompatible to the point that it is used in medical implants. It breaks down into lactic acid , which the body produces itself during exercise and can safely metabolize. Breathing smoke and dust from PLA is bad, because breathing any type of smoke or dust is bad. Wildfire smoke is bad, but wood is not a harmful chemical. We actually do understand the chemistry of plastics. And to a very…

What plasticizers, chain extenders, flame retardants, fillers, stabilizers, colorants, reinforcements, blowing agents, antistatic agents, and lubricants are used with PLA? I'm not asking to play 'gotcha' with your comment, but because when I've attempted to do my own research on this, I find it easy to get information on the polymer itself, but the polymer is never used by itself in a product. As far as I can tell, m…

Oh this is a very good point. Type and amount of additives is very rarely specified, although you can find some info in the academic literature.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#307

Post by VoodooJuJu »

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…

This stuff feels good on a personal level and does absolutely nothing to "save the planet" or our ailing bodies. Still tons of plastic everywhere throughout our lifestyles, primarily from industry and infrastructure.

The entire chain of things you listed are riddled with plastic. Tools in the manufacturing and shipping processes, to build the roads, insulation, millions of miles worth of pipes for fuel, insulation, water, all the packaging for the food and products, packaging for shipping the products, metric tons of single-use disposable things, large and small, used in all kinds of industry, in our air, food, water. Fucking everywhere.

Oh but thank God I planted a tree and reused a little plastic shopping bag. That'll really hedge against the hell wrought by the plastic-industrial leviathan that's coiled around every part of our lives.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#308

Post by 1970-01-01 »

Realize we literally cannot stop making plastic. If we did, modern civilization would collapse. All PCBs and electric devices have some type of plastic in them, including wires and plugs. The only way to read this comment is via plastic.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#309

Post by hejcloud »

In Germany, they introduced a system called "Grüner Punkt" (~green dot) in the 90s which was supposed to teach consumers how to separate different kinds of trash to be able to recycle the packaging plastic.

Now about 30 years later, the Germans are eager to sort their trash but the recycling quote is still laughably low. Less than 20% of sorted trash gets recycled for usage in plastic (and instead just burned, reusing the thermal energy) and people still have ridiculous habits (e.g. wrapping Bananas with plastic bags).

What we see is: It's all damn industry lies, one part of politicians susceptible for industry lobbying, the other part of politicians antagonized for "limiting consumer freedom", a lot of green-/whitewashing campaigns and consumers who refuse to change their habits.

Do you see a pattern?

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#310

Post by alostpuppy »

1970-01-01 wrote: post #308

Realize we literally cannot stop making plastic. If we did, modern civilization would collapse. All PCBs and electric devices have some type of plastic in them, including wires and plugs. The only way to read this comment is via plastic.

I always think of modern medicine and how much plastic is involved there.
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