201–210 of 309 posts
I'm just now reminded of stories from a guy who served on a troopship. The waste and pollution was staggering.
Dumping fuel, garbage, bilge water.
Expending all your ration of ammo, killing the porpoises riding the bow wave, so that you don't have to unload all that ammo later.
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Aren't there better materials to make the resuable bags out of than cotton ? Also, you can reuse the plastic bags.
My favorites are made of nylon. It's a much lighter material than what most stores are selling as reusable bags. Enough so that you can easily keep 1 or 2 with you all the time if you're the kind of person to carry a purse or courier bag. Meaning that, unlike those canvas bags or the ones made out of that big heavy stiff plastic material, they're convenient enough to actually get used regularly. I found one study tha…
This is known. The number I have heard floated around is 45%. So, commercial fishing nets are a big problem when it comes to plastic in the oceans. And here we are "saving the planet", by reducing the plastic straw consumption: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/07/18/anti-straw-mo... https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-06-07/plasti... https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/business/plastic-straws-b...…
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/11/world/europe/metal-straws...
Extensive air pollution from China or India that surpasses the West also doesn't seem to get much attention, e.g. [1] [2] Greta visited the US and gave some compelling speeches. Will she visit China and India and do the same? [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2018/07/01/china-emits-... [2] https://qz.com/india/1581665/indias-carbon-emissions-growing...
It gets loads of attention, not least as both India and China have developed way beyond the free "developing nation" pass they got in previous climate agreements. Which plenty said was a big mistake at the time, but we are where we are. No doubt if the climate movement in China and India invite her, she might well go. Well, perhaps not China as they lack freedom of association and speech. There have been protests in…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> we need to focus on the thing that has the bigger impact first Why is this, why wait to solve the fishing net problems before taking other measures? I see this line of thought a lot here in Hacker News, especially in topics related to climate change for example. These things can and should be tackled in parallel at the same time. We can all take responsibility personally, how about trying to use less single-use pla…
Everyone everywhere could change thousands of things about their daily lives and things would be perfect. This has been true since the dawn of time. It's never happened and most don't think it's realistic for it to suddenly happen now. This is why people want to focus change on the things that matter the most first, they know not everything is going to change. That being said if anyone is up for the challenge persona…
Society is not an abstract entity, its all of us, we are the society. The responsibility is of each and every individual and not governments.
Governments are elected by individuals to represent their viewpoints. Governments will not act on these issues unless there are enough individual voters supporting these views, politicians, as usual, will only do and say what is popular and gets them elected.
Governments are a reflection of the thoughts and beliefs of the people that vote for them. The real responsibility is of the individual.
If people are so worried about the impact of fishing nets, then stop eating fish and directly supporting that industry. Its completely a matter of personal choice, fish is optional for a healthy diet and nobody is flushing it down people's throats.
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From your own source: > Now scientists have found that 10 rivers around the world where plastic waste is mismanaged contribute to most of the oceans' total loads THAT COME FROM RIVERS. (emphasis mine)
Uh, that's embarassing. Completely missed this (since two years... :-( ). Thank you.
I recall reading two years ago several reports which claimed that around 90% of all the plastic in the world's oceans flows there through just 10 rivers. > "The shipping and fishing industries also play a part. In 2018 researchers found that, in terms of weight, almost half of the plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- a notorious area of floating trash three times the size of France -- was made up of fishing…
But that isn't what the study says - the study only deals with plastic that comes from rivers, not all plastic in the ocean.
Jesus fucking Christ.
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> We will improve the planet by doing multiple things. The problem is that people don't have infinite time or attention. So if you raise awareness and guy buy-in for something like straws, you took away time and awareness from things that could have actually made a difference. To make things worse, people will eventually realize that getting rid of straws didn't have much impact and would be less likely to participat…
People supported the anti-straw movement because it has zero impact on their life. The only people who even ask for straws are some women wearing lipstick. It's an easy issue to support. Now consider your ideas that would actually make a difference. I bet they actually change people's lifestyles which means those proposals are going to be political suicide unlike plastic straws/bags. For example, look how angry and d…
My impression was the exact opposite. A plastic straw ban is invasive and annoying, which makes it a good way to prove commitment to the environmental movement.
I just want to enjoy an occasional unplanned fountain drink without having to use a straw that dissolves in my mouth. I never litter, and would happily cut out some other use of plastic from my life to compensate.
> So, maybe it's plastic straws today, but tomorrow a politician will have a real shot with a platform against waste wrt TFA.
Plastic straw bans are not a prerequisite for fishing reforms. Regulating the commercial fishing industry to fix this problem will be difficult to coordinate internationally, but the end result is not going to have a noticeable effect on most people's lives.
Those sort of reforms are the easiest policy wins and the most impactful, so the focus should be on campaigning for them directly.
This is known. The number I have heard floated around is 45%. So, commercial fishing nets are a big problem when it comes to plastic in the oceans. And here we are "saving the planet", by reducing the plastic straw consumption: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/07/18/anti-straw-mo... https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-06-07/plasti... https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/business/plastic-straws-b...…