B.C. by Mastroianni and Hart for July 16, 2019

“The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn’t know how to make it. Needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old egocentric philosophical question, “Why are we here?”

Plastic…" George Carlin.

Don’t forget to add people to the definition. We also ingest micro plastic.

Dang, that’s a good one.

Actually it needs a plastidectomy, surgical removal.

Plastic Surgery – One of the MANY items NOT “covered” by Medicare.

Wham!

Just makes me wonder, where on earth was all this plastic during the age of the dinosaurs? Because I feel sure humans aren’t mining plastic from the Moon.

Sad but all too true (sigh). Goodbye dolphins, turtles, sharks…

If people weren’t so self centered that they cared for no one except themselves, they wouldn’t litter and plastic wouldn’t be a problem. Plastic isn’t the problem. People are.

You can’t blame plastic, an inanimate object .. blame moronic people who don’t care to dispose of their own personal waste properly.

Then do it.

Companies must take the bull by the horns and start a new trend. There is one company making paper straws…but the price is outrageous….go figure….if they don’t get you one way they get you another….

Why focus on Marine life? What about Army life? Air Force? National Guard? Coast Guard?

We’ve become a disposable society. Phone too old, throw it away. TV breaks, don’t repair it, throw it away! Planet breaks, don’t repair it, throw it away.

This is my pet subject. I’ve coined the term “antiplastician” to describe myself. Re-usable bags, stainless steel straws, re-fillable water bottle, mason jars for food storage, buying loose veg at the farmer’s market, bamboo toothbrush, homemade toothpaste (yes, it’s possible, and seems to work better than the horribly expensive stuff in a tube,) buying condiments in a jar or not at all, shampoo bar, soap packaged in cardboard and paper, homemade cleaning products (work just as well and cheaper in many cases.) This is what I do, but I’ve been doing this a while. The big problem though, the REALLY big problem, is beverages and just about all foodstuffs. The next time any of you go to the grocery, just try to really see the plastic that’s packaging almost everything except for a few loose fruit and vegetables and the odd box (which is probably plastic lined.) PLASTIC IS FOREVER.

Eldest daughter lives near Charleston, SC. Her area has completely banned all single-use items. No straws at the fast food places, no plastic bags a t the stores. If you don’t bring a bag, they give you a really nice reusable bag of some sort of fiber.

I recently read that fishing nets and other fishing gear constitute … 47% of all plastic in the oceans. Shouldn’t we do something about that while we’re going after straws and the deadly plastic bags?

The issue is not going to go away until we stop producing plastic stuff. I mean really. It has only been around a generation or two. I am sure there are people around who can remember how to use and clean stainless steel utensils. Paper bags were extremely compost-able. Remember burning garbage? I do. Of course that was before air pollution, that we could see, beat out water pollution, which we couldn’t see. I wonder what we will do to mess up the environment next?

Earth still supports marine life, there is just one more danger and one more source of food something will soon evolve to eat.

A news blurb a while ago mentioned that someone has developed a substance that they think will eat most kinds of plastic. Sounds good until one realizes what might happen if the stuff got loose in this world of plastic everything. Reminded me of the book: Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters. 1972, Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis. Very good and Interesting book and maybe 60 years before its time.

80-85% of all plastics in the ocean come from Asia….but the British have a system to convert it to clean energy….there’s hope….

Take more than fixing the plastic problem to return marine life. Over fishing has messed up the natural mix and it will take several centuries of no fishing to repair it. And.. that ain’t likely to happen.

Plastic escaping into the environment is the biggest threat to our planet (NOT climate change, stop wasting %billions tilting at that windmill).

The irony is plastic was the first mass “Green” product!

Yes. Let’s get rid of all things plastic for everyday use and while we are at it let’s ban all junk mail. Make as much as possible out of biodegradable materials. We could do that if we really put our minds to it.

@Michael G: a telling conversation:

A man said to the universe:

“Sir, I exist!”

“However,” replied the universe,

“The fact has not created in me

A sense of obligation.”

War Is Kind, Stanza 96 – Stephen Crane (1871-1900)

Times change. Johnny would call plastic a gift from his god. Glad to see some ecological awareness from this strip.

Just as a thought: it’s not consumers who use plastic that are the problem. We have no control over what happens to that plastic once we dispose of it. It is the lack of Federal (or whatever country) mandate in how those are disposed of.

Plastic is totally recyclable (or can be destroyed if necessary). Re-using it would cut down significantly on oil depletion and prevent a great deal of pollution. We all know this. The politicians know this. Everyone talks about pollution— so why aren’t there Federal laws requiring that all plastic waste be recycled?

Is making new plastic cheaper than recycling? Is this pollution a matter of greed putting money ahead of planetary welfare? Or is it just that the human species as a whole, although intelligent enough to produce plastic in the first place, is basically stupider than a box of rocks?

I guess as consumers we do share some responsibility— by not insisting loudly enough such laws be put into place. Perhaps as individuals we should all realize: there are consequences for actions. Quite often the nature and scope of those consequences are not foreseen… and quite often they are far worse than anything we expected while we were conveniently ignoring the problem.

Love it

Sad, but true.