this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2024
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The memes of the climate
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The climate of the memes of the climate!
Planet is on fire!
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i vaguely remember plastic straws were for another reason. was it microplastics?
Yes, well microplastics, but primarily because straws are relatively small and often ended up in nature, causing direct damage to animals both on land and in water.
It was all because of that turtle video
Oh I thought it was going to be this turtle video
https://youtu.be/CMNry4PE93Y
Single use plastics and ocean garbage patch
I work with bicycles all day, and the warehouse I currently work in (it changes periodically) is honestly the biggest waster of plastic I've ever seen. Bigger waste than individually wrapped plastic straws.
When pallets come in, they are wrapped in plastic shrink wrap to keep them from shifting.
Then they're processed on one side to be stored in the shelves, cutting the plastic off.
When they get picked, they're wrapped in plastic as the pallet gets taller, which just gets cut off before being sorted for their destinations.
And once again, they get wrapped in plastic.
So about 5lbs or more of plastic wrap per pallet, 4 or more times.
And if they get stored for more than a few minutes anywhere without handling they have to be wrapped again.
Thousands of pallets go through this one warehouse daily. They have a compactor going 24/7 to manage all the plastic waste separate from their cardboard box crusher.
I used to feel bad about tiny pieces of plastic on items I get. Not so much anymore.
Actually most of the plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch come from fishing and and fish farming/aqua-culture.
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-16529-0
Yes, however the question was what prompted the move to paper straws.
Yes, it's not about climate change and it really annoys me when people lump them together without remotely using their brains. Not all environmentalism is about fighting climate change. The rationale behind banning plastic straws is the same for banning plastic bags and those plastic 6 pack holders. They get all over the place, are hard to contain in landfills, kill wildlife, spread microplastics, don't decompose, etc, etc. It's not about emissions, which I'm sure it helps with too, but is nowhere near the primary reason to ban them. Saying it doesn't fight climate change is the dumbest argument because nobody was using that as a reason in the first place.
Started with litter. Same with plastic bags. The first countries that banned plastic bags were developing nations that didn't have strong... um. "litter awareness". Cultures that previous either used reusable natural fiber bags or something that biodegraded. The influx of plastic bags in those communities lead to tree branches being filled with plastic waste.
could be yes, I mean plastic is bad, but it's not enough compared to what's happening.
The big one is just that it fucking sucks to see plastic all over the ground, it utterly baffles me that people can oppose getting rid of trash in the streets!
80% of all microplastic are from tires