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Author Topic: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean  (Read 19732 times)

Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean
« Reply #80 on: April 25, 2018, 11:07:35 pm »

I once decided to wash plastic utensils in the dishwasher. One of them broke in half (as plastic does) and clogged the dishwasher. The cost of repair? Several hundred dollars. Never again. Speaking of (trying to be) socially liberal and fiscally conservative.

tom b

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Re: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean
« Reply #81 on: April 25, 2018, 11:08:55 pm »

Are you seriously suggesting that plastic utensils can be, should be, and are reused in restaurants!?

Slobodan, you must only eat Chinese takeout. Plastic chopsticks are common in all Chinese (plus other asian) restaurants except the high end ones, they are easily cleaned and last for ages, they are nothing like cheap plastic knives and forks.

The obvious solution is that you must gather friends and head for a good Dim Sum/Yum Cha restaurant as soon as possible. Have a prawn/shrimp dumpling (Har Gow) for me.

Cheers
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Tom Brown

RSL

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Re: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean
« Reply #82 on: April 26, 2018, 08:05:02 am »

Hi gang,

Well, it's been a lot of fun and I've had a lot of laughs, but it's time for me to drop out of this entertaining thread. I keep thinking about the observation attributed to P.T. Barnum: "There's a sucker born every minute," which seems to fit this thread quite well. Then there's this paraphrase of Matthew 25:11: "The gullible you will always have with you. . ."

Bottom line: If not using plastic makes you feel better about yourself then by all means eschew plastic. But reports from the usual suspects that the sky is falling; the sky is falling, don't convince me that the sky is going to come crashing down.

As always has been the case, if this really is a significant problem, the world's tribes aren't going to notice it until we're in the middle of a catastrophe. So relax and wait until you've actually observed signs of the sky falling before you come to any life-changing conclusions.
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean
« Reply #83 on: April 26, 2018, 08:47:03 am »

Disposable chopsticks; there is a major part of the problem. How many is us only eat with disposable (worse plastic) utensils?

Bamboo is a fastgrowing plant, not sure which material is used most commonly (and whether they are disposables or reusables), but 'chopsticks' come in all sorts of materials, and various degrees of decoration: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chopsticks

Cheers,
Bart
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== If you do what you did, you'll get what you got. ==

Ray

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Re: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean
« Reply #84 on: April 26, 2018, 09:06:40 am »

The solution is obvious. Burn the stuff. The potential for recovered energy makes incineration not only the safest, but also one of the most cost-effective disposal methods.

Oops! What about the CO2 emissions! Oh my Gawd! We can't do that. I guess we'll just have to live with the plastic waste.  ;D
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Ray

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Re: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean
« Reply #85 on: April 26, 2018, 09:59:50 am »

Of course, there's always the problem of poorly educated people (and sometimes even highly educated people) who have no respect for the environment and who mindlessly throw away emply plastic bottles, plastic bags, empty coke and beer cans, onto the beaches and the road side.

In Australia, one can be fined for littering. For example, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) in the state of Victoria has registered about 50,000 members of the public who are willing to report on any other members of the public who are witnessed dropping litter on the ground.
http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/get-involved/report-litter/if-youve-been-reported

"There are over 50,000 people who have registered to report litter to EPA – these reporters are members of the general public who have committed to being EPA’s eyes and ears – reporting littering from motor vehicles when they see it.
When anyone sees someone throw or drop litter from a vehicle they have the right to report the offence to EPA via our public litter reporting program. They are asked to provide a description of the vehicle that includes the vehicle registration number, colour, vehicle model and vehicle make. They also need to describe the litter and the person who threw the litter.
With this information, EPA verifies if the report is accurate by cross-checking the vehicle details with the VicRoads database – much like the police do. If the registration number and vehicle details match, an infringement will be issued to the owner of the vehicle in accordance to the EP Act."


Singapore has even more strict anti-littering laws.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/current-measures-against-littering-in-singapore
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amolitor

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Re: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean
« Reply #86 on: April 26, 2018, 10:11:34 am »

Russ is absolutely right. We've been hearing that the sky is falling every few years for decades and decades. And it hasn't fallen yet.

You know WHY it hasn't fallen? Because of constant, desperate, tooth and nail battles fought every inch the way by those crazy leftist loons, against naysayers like Russ. Every day, corporatist shills run off at the mouth about how the sky hasn't fallen yet, this is no different, let the free market do its thing. Every day, stupid crazy activists fight against the forces of unfettered capitalism to try to salvage a little of the planet's power to sustain life, and every day, they succeed enough to keep the corporatist shills breathing for another day.

The fact that corporations and blockheaded Imperialist ambition haven't killed us all isn't proof that these things are great, Russ. It's proof that the crazy leftists punks you so deride still have a little fight left. Our side has saved your ass before, and we're going to keep trying to save you and your children, even though we disagree with you.

You're welcome.
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PeterAit

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Re: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean
« Reply #87 on: April 26, 2018, 10:12:28 am »

Phil, I'm old enough to have seen this kind of doomsday crap over and over and over. We're still here. We'll probably still be here for a long time to come. A much more serious threat is something like an asteroid strike. But that's not a concern of left-wing politics, so nobody's hiding under the bed because of it.

It's not doomsday crap. It's not doomsday anything. But it is one more small, incremental degradation of our planet, of which there is a seemingly endless list, that drags things downward. As a related example, polyester microfibers have been found in the bodies of lobsters and other sea animals. So have an expensive lobster dinner and eat your sweater.
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digitaldog

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Re: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean
« Reply #88 on: April 26, 2018, 10:18:38 am »



As always has been the case, if this really is a significant problem, the world's tribes aren't going to notice it until we're in the middle of a catastrophe. So relax and wait until you've actually observed signs of the sky falling before you come to any life-changing conclusions.
And:
Russ is absolutely right. We've been hearing that the sky is falling every few years for decades and decades. And it hasn't fallen yet.
What utter silliness; the idea if I can be so kind, that once the sky falls, there's anyone around to fix the issue or say "we told you so". Too little, too late!
And the sky can't fall. But sea level can and are raising, the ocean is filled with plastic and we humans can and are ingesting it.
Stick your head in the sand, you'll never see the sky.
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amolitor

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Re: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean
« Reply #89 on: April 26, 2018, 10:24:05 am »

Read the whoooooole post, andrew ;)
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digitaldog

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Re: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean
« Reply #90 on: April 26, 2018, 10:32:53 am »

Read the whoooooole post, andrew ;)
Read the whooooole post amolitor in context.  ;)
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Peter McLennan

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Re: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean
« Reply #91 on: April 26, 2018, 11:47:47 am »

The problem is not plastics.  The problem is human nature.  Plastics are an extremely valuable result of human ingenuity.  Without them, life would be much more difficult and expensive.

However, Capitalism's profit-at-all-costs credo preys on human greed by making vast quantities of plastics disposable.  Single use. The more "single uses" the plastic industry can encourage, the more money they make.  That's why the plastic industry has lobbyists fighting regulation.

The consumers' human nature causes them to discard the single use items in the easiest way possible. For them. They don't need to care, so they don't.

Until we limit single use items, especially plastic ones, we'll have plastic pollution in ever-increasing quantity.

One way to clean up the existing pollution is to use Capitalism.  If we make cleaning up the mess a money-maker, business will find a way to do it.
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Peter McLennan

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Re: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean
« Reply #92 on: April 26, 2018, 11:53:30 am »

... but it's time for me to drop out of this entertaining thread. ... "There's a sucker born every minute," ...there's this paraphrase of Matthew 25:11:  the

Poor RSL.  He's first announced he's bailing, then resorted to quoting scripture.  In other words, he just flat ran out of arguments to validate his impossible attitude.
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digitaldog

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Re: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean
« Reply #93 on: April 26, 2018, 12:01:01 pm »

The problem is not plastics.  The problem is human nature.  Plastics are an extremely valuable result of human ingenuity.  Without them, life would be much more difficult and expensive.
Absolutely agree. It's just silly to suggest we eliminate all plastic. It's massively useful. But there are small steps each of us can take to eliminate waste and pollution with plastics or otherwise. At least those of us that feel some responsibility towards the planet and what shape we leave it in for the future.
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digitaldog

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Re: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean
« Reply #94 on: April 26, 2018, 12:06:56 pm »

Bamboo is a fastgrowing plant, not sure which material is used most commonly (and whether they are disposables or reusables), but 'chopsticks' come in all sorts of materials, and various degrees of decoration: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chopsticks

Cheers,
Bart
Absolutely, an amazing product: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-981-10-3115-1_34
When we built our green house (LEED gold, net zero) in 2012, all the cabinets in the house were made from Bamboo because it's really beautiful, durable and sustainable. Even the bathroom sinks are made of Bamboo and have held up wonderfully over the years.
What's kind of annoying about building 'green' is how much more one has to spend for products with recycled content. But it was all worthwhile.
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean
« Reply #95 on: April 26, 2018, 12:22:36 pm »

... One way to clean up the existing pollution is to use Capitalism.  If we make cleaning up the mess a money-maker, business will find a way to do it.

Amen to that.

Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean
« Reply #96 on: April 26, 2018, 12:34:33 pm »

... Capitalism's profit-at-all-costs credo preys on human greed by making vast quantities of plastics disposable....

Capitalism is simply more efficient than other systems in responding to human needs.

What caused the need for disposable products in the first place? The Left. You wanted women "out of kitchen" and now we have floating plastic islands in the ocean. The law of unintended consequences strikes back. You don't want plastic bags - Amazon (the forest) suffers.

P.S. Somebody please give Andrew M. a chill pill, otherwise he'll have a heart attack reading the above

digitaldog

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Re: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean
« Reply #97 on: April 26, 2018, 12:41:30 pm »

What caused the need for disposable products in the first place? The Left*.

That’s just the rubbish of your confirmation bias:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

* more evidence of mistrustful and expected rhetoric:
This is a serious question, no sarcasm, politics or anything else intended.
Try to get serious.... :-X
Quote
P.S. Somebody please give Andrew M. a chill pill, otherwise he'll have a heart attack reading the above
When/IF he shows up, maybe you'll have a valid POV.
« Last Edit: April 26, 2018, 12:44:40 pm by andrewrodney »
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amolitor

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Re: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean
« Reply #98 on: April 26, 2018, 12:46:36 pm »

Slobodan is referring to me, andrew. I was mean to him once and he's going to keep sniping forever on account of that.

Slobodan, your concern is appreciated, but I assure you I'm perfectly fine. It's a lovely day here in Bellingham and apart from my recalcitrant toaster which refuses to toast when there are too many crumbs in  it,  I am quite relaxed.
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digitaldog

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Re: Microplastics in Arctic Ocean
« Reply #99 on: April 26, 2018, 12:49:15 pm »

Slobodan is referring to me, andrew. I was mean to him once and he's going to keep sniping forever on account of that.
Ah, understood now. And expected from his keyboard.
Worse than being mean to him is illustrating his untruthful writings and desire to make everything a political argument, even after stating he isn't going to. Par for the course.
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