In the News The Problem Of Plastic

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/06/plastic-planet-waste-pollution-trash-crisis/
Yeah we’re kinda screwed.

Edit: Maybe Not
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/plastic-pollution-environment-chemical-process

 

Was the world better without humans?
I mean, think about it....
With all that the human race has done, such as cars, the internet, rocket ships, all that...
would the planet earth just be better off without us in the first place?
I need to stop thinking so much and start dumbing more...

 

Eh... The Earth has gone through several mass extinctions in the last few billions years. Some were even caused by microscopic bacteria that put so much oxygen in the atmosphere that it created an ice age! So while we do have a negative impact on the rest of life, it’s fair to say that something would inevitably happen that would kill almost everything again. On a more optimistic note, technology might become so advanced that we can finally heal the environment and effectively control our waste. Like genetically engineering crops to use less water, or bacteria that break down microplastics.

 

we can only hope...

 

Can we meaningfully quantify if it was better when nobody with an understanding of such a concept existed?

 

correction: some humans

 

I feel like plastic is a substantial issue mainly because of many items we make with them aren’t recycle able (Plastic straws for instance)

 

Correction: Most humans
sad but true.

 

Well by that logic, the population of nearly all of China and most of North Africa would disappear. Limiting our use of plastic and other environmentally harmful materials is only one part of the puzzle. Even if all of those places I mentioned stoped producing plastic waste, there would still be a huge amount of plastic in the ocean.

 

ok, thats fine with me, also yeah humans literally wrecked the world...

 

I’m still holding out that humanity could become a Tier III civilization (basically we master space travel and colonize the entire galaxy). We’ve gone a long way, so maybe we might be able to solve these problems. It’s pretty amazing that we haven’t been wiped out by nuclear war... yet.

 

Remember buy metal straws and bring them to restaurants

 

Huh, I didn’t know that was a thing. I’ve never seen restaurants do it before.

 

As long as there is Mac N Cheese, there can be no problems, also there are good people in the world that pick up trash (like boy scouts)

 

Restaurants don’t do it
You gotta get them yourself

 

Boy scouts can't pick up microplastics or plastic in Asia ;)

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Oh, huh. I would think they wouldn't do it themselves since the metal straws cost more and weigh more.

 

Also keep in mind that the U.S. and other developed countries send a lot of their own plastic to China to be recycled, so while China does have lax environmental restrictions and a large population, it wouldn’t be fair to put all of the blame on them.

 

Each country just needs to make sure they recycle as much as they can

 

That’s the problem; a lot of plastic isn’t recycled because it’s either thrown away, too dirty, or not the right kind. Recycling plants don’t accept dirty plastic for quality reasons, but since most plastic is mixed with trash, there’s only so much they could do. And most countries simply can’t keep recycling at the pace of their plastic production just because of how much plastic is used in everything.

 

Israel has a tax on plastic bags so you have to buy them.
If you have a good recycling system the plastic doesn't get dirty