And which of those scientists are actually prepared to massively reduce their quality of life that would be necessary to remove plastics from all the crucial needs we use them for? Without oil-based fuels and plastics, you’re back to a pre-industrial level of life quality, and that’s AFTER a couple billion have already died.
Vomitbelch on
The corporations/wealthy can’t hear you over the counting of their money
SrgtDoakes on
can we call for action on alzheimer’s and different types of dementias?
Secret_Thing7482 on
Wonder how the right wing politicians will fight this one
InSight89 on
1300 species? I thought microplastics were found in just about everything these days?
jedimindtriks on
Unless we burn it locally, there is no way for the average person to do anything about it
recycling plastic might be(probably is) a scam.
And we cant avoid buying it, its in everything from packaging to clothing.
salacious_sonogram on
I swear this had been going on since like the early 90’s when we found some plastics can work as synthetic hormones in the environment. It’s like the exact same story as DDT, cigarettes, leaded gasoline, and climate change. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. Corporate interests influence news media to ignore topics, then question the veracity of studies, push their own studies that are cherry picked to spread doubt, they pay lobbyists and use educational connection to defund studies. Ultimately the truth that was known a few decades previous finally finally comes out. The rich got richer, they externalized their costs to the people and the environment and laughed their way to the bank.
Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring was not supposed to be an instruction manual. We seem collectively hellbent on obliterating nature and poisoning ourselves. One day nature will fall silent and us, our greed and our laziness will be the only thing to blame. The last glimmer of happiness or satisfaction will be of the scientists we ignored and laughed at as the rest of us realized what we had done. By then it will be far too late.
IrksomFlotsom on
~~pee~~ Microplastics are stored in the balls
nicfunkadelic on
Probably all species, we’ve only just tested 1,300.
raleighs on
Microplastics is the new leaded gasoline.
Forsaken_Brilliant22 on
I know it’s a grim situation, but action is taken all over the world and only a percentage reaches the media. We should all pull our weight and have faith in humankind to fix what we have caused.
I know it’s rough, but to be optimistic is part of the solution. We got this, together
therealjerrystaute on
Maybe something like this is the reason we can’t find any sign of civilizations in our galaxy managing to do anything big in space, even within their own solar systems. Because they do something like poison themselves with microplastics, and go extinct in just a couple generations because of it. And just like that, there’s no one exploring the galaxy. 🙁
ghostfaceschiller on
Reminder that 80% of microplastic pollution come from car tires (the microscopic bits that wear off as you drive).
If you want to reduce microplastics, you can A) reduce driving B) drive smaller, lighter vehicles
In fact, that’s sort of the ONLY thing you can do to significantly reduce them, bc again, the bits from tires make up 4x all other sources combined.
And I’ll preempt the reply I often get on this now – there was some guy who made a post a few months ago trying to debunk this stat. Before you reference that, please go back to his post and see my exchange with him in the comments where I point out the basic reading comprehension error which led to his misinterpretation of the study.
Why he didn’t delete the whole post after learning he was wrong, I’ll never know.
Kaje26 on
I feel like real life is a sick badly written sitcom, now.
2justski on
Remember when they said we needed to go to plastic bags to save the trees?
Recent-Cantaloupe863 on
This seems to be a problem rooted in Capitalism and Imperialism.
20 Comments
[removed]
Yeah I’m sure we’ll get right on that. ..
That battle has been lost. Even if we severely diminished plastic manufacturing we wouldn’t even make a dent in its environmental and health impacts.
I think this is the study they’re talking about, since I couldn’t find a link to it in the article.
[Twenty years of microplastics pollution research—what have we learned? | Science](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl2746)
And which of those scientists are actually prepared to massively reduce their quality of life that would be necessary to remove plastics from all the crucial needs we use them for? Without oil-based fuels and plastics, you’re back to a pre-industrial level of life quality, and that’s AFTER a couple billion have already died.
The corporations/wealthy can’t hear you over the counting of their money
can we call for action on alzheimer’s and different types of dementias?
Wonder how the right wing politicians will fight this one
1300 species? I thought microplastics were found in just about everything these days?
Unless we burn it locally, there is no way for the average person to do anything about it
recycling plastic might be(probably is) a scam.
And we cant avoid buying it, its in everything from packaging to clothing.
I swear this had been going on since like the early 90’s when we found some plastics can work as synthetic hormones in the environment. It’s like the exact same story as DDT, cigarettes, leaded gasoline, and climate change. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. Corporate interests influence news media to ignore topics, then question the veracity of studies, push their own studies that are cherry picked to spread doubt, they pay lobbyists and use educational connection to defund studies. Ultimately the truth that was known a few decades previous finally finally comes out. The rich got richer, they externalized their costs to the people and the environment and laughed their way to the bank.
Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring was not supposed to be an instruction manual. We seem collectively hellbent on obliterating nature and poisoning ourselves. One day nature will fall silent and us, our greed and our laziness will be the only thing to blame. The last glimmer of happiness or satisfaction will be of the scientists we ignored and laughed at as the rest of us realized what we had done. By then it will be far too late.
~~pee~~ Microplastics are stored in the balls
Probably all species, we’ve only just tested 1,300.
Microplastics is the new leaded gasoline.
I know it’s a grim situation, but action is taken all over the world and only a percentage reaches the media. We should all pull our weight and have faith in humankind to fix what we have caused.
I know it’s rough, but to be optimistic is part of the solution. We got this, together
Maybe something like this is the reason we can’t find any sign of civilizations in our galaxy managing to do anything big in space, even within their own solar systems. Because they do something like poison themselves with microplastics, and go extinct in just a couple generations because of it. And just like that, there’s no one exploring the galaxy. 🙁
Reminder that 80% of microplastic pollution come from car tires (the microscopic bits that wear off as you drive).
If you want to reduce microplastics, you can A) reduce driving B) drive smaller, lighter vehicles
In fact, that’s sort of the ONLY thing you can do to significantly reduce them, bc again, the bits from tires make up 4x all other sources combined.
And I’ll preempt the reply I often get on this now – there was some guy who made a post a few months ago trying to debunk this stat. Before you reference that, please go back to his post and see my exchange with him in the comments where I point out the basic reading comprehension error which led to his misinterpretation of the study.
Why he didn’t delete the whole post after learning he was wrong, I’ll never know.
I feel like real life is a sick badly written sitcom, now.
Remember when they said we needed to go to plastic bags to save the trees?
This seems to be a problem rooted in Capitalism and Imperialism.