We have thoroughly wrecked the planet with plastic

[odanny]

Then tell me what you think I do.

We both already know what you do, there is no need for me to say anything.

 

[ding]

We both already know what you do, there is no need for me to say anything.

I disagree and the fact that you can't even state it says I'm right and you are wrong.

 

[Matted Joybeard]

https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/plastic-waste-chokes-congo-dam-causing-widespread-power-cuts-2024-11-18/

A tide of plastic waste flowing into a major hydroelectric dam in eastern Congo is causing regular power cuts in several major cities, creating a challenge that local authorities are trying to solve.

[...]

Surface-level cleaning isn't enough as the waste accumulates to a depth of 14 metres, with divers required to clean the river bed to prevent turbine blockages.

 

[elektra]

. And there's no denying we are responsible.

There is no doubt in my mind, that it is you that is personally responsible. Pick up after yourself, pig.

 

[initforme]

Our bodies have plastic in them. Add that to the list of wrongs.

 

[Matted Joybeard]

Record numbers of plastic industry lobbyists are attending global talks that are the last chance to hammer out a treaty to cut plastic pollution around the world.

The key issue at the conference will be whether caps on global plastic production will be included in the final UN treaty. Lobbyists and leading national producers are furiously arguing against any attempt to restrain the amount that can be produced, leaving the talks on a knife-edge.

New analysis by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) shows 220 fossil fuel and chemical industry representatives – more plastic producers than ever – are represented at the UN talks in Busan, South Korea.

Taken as a group, they would be the biggest delegation at the talks, with more plastic industry lobbyists than representatives from the EU and each of its member states, (191) or the host country, South Korea (140), according to the Centre for International Environmental Law. Their numbers overwhelm the 89 delegates from the Pacific small island developing states (PSIDs), countries that are among those suffering the most from plastic pollution.

Sixteen lobbyists from the plastics industry are at the talks as part of country delegations. China, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Finland, Iran, Kazakhstan and Malaysia all have industry vested interests within their delegations, the analysis shows.

The plastic producer representatives outnumber delegates from the Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty by three to one.

Approximately 460m tonnes of plastics are produced annually, and production is set to triple by 2060 under business-as-usual growth rates.

 

[ding]

View attachment 1048009


Record numbers of plastic industry lobbyists are attending global talks that are the last chance to hammer out a treaty to cut plastic pollution around the world.

The key issue at the conference will be whether caps on global plastic production will be included in the final UN treaty. Lobbyists and leading national producers are furiously arguing against any attempt to restrain the amount that can be produced, leaving the talks on a knife-edge.

New analysis by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) shows 220 fossil fuel and chemical industry representatives – more plastic producers than ever – are represented at the UN talks in Busan, South Korea.

Taken as a group, they would be the biggest delegation at the talks, with more plastic industry lobbyists than representatives from the EU and each of its member states, (191) or the host country, South Korea (140), according to the Centre for International Environmental Law. Their numbers overwhelm the 89 delegates from the Pacific small island developing states (PSIDs), countries that are among those suffering the most from plastic pollution.

Sixteen lobbyists from the plastics industry are at the talks as part of country delegations. China, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Finland, Iran, Kazakhstan and Malaysia all have industry vested interests within their delegations, the analysis shows.

The plastic producer representatives outnumber delegates from the Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty by three to one.

Approximately 460m tonnes of plastics are produced annually, and production is set to triple by 2060 under business-as-usual growth rates.

So you are saying someone's going to get paid.

 

[skookerasbil]

While everyone is still caught up in climate change denialism and discussion (if you call it that) centers on that topic, it is just one facet of our environmental polycrisis brought to us by the actions of humankind. While climate change is something we can theoretically move the needle on, the plastic pollution is not. It is an undeniable problem with no likely solution. It's everywhere, contaminating the entire biosphere. It's in our soil, water, our seas, the clouds and precipitation being spread far and wide. Presently is a feature of all our food and increasing in quantity. There's no reversing this as we produce in greater amounts. There's no defense that it's good health, the functions of our bodies, that is is somehow good for us. There are no glib remarks of 'I could really use me some more of that microplastic right now'. And there's no denying we are responsible. There's no argument to be had over 'well, you don't know what plastic accummulation' looked back in the past or that levels of plastic lags normal functioning of biological processes. There's no way out of this one.

Oh it's gonna be just fine

You know who worries about this?

1) People who tend to the hysterical

2) People with no real responsibilities in life.

Nobody else

 

[Matted Joybeard]

UN plastics treaty talks collapse as countries fail to agree on cutting production

Countries fail to agree on a target to cut plastic pollution and ban harmful chemicals as summit delayed to next year

www.the-independent.com

Negotiations to draft a legally binding treaty to tackle the global plastic pollution crisis have ended without an agreement, as countries failed to agree on key issues like cutting plastic production.

Delegates agreed to meet again next year to continue talks after a week of negotiations between almost 200 countries in Busan, South Korea, failed to agree on core issues like production cap, finance and harmful chemicals.

Small island nations, who are the most affected by plastics pollution, and a group of African nations as well as several European and developing countries refused to accept a draft proposal released by the chair of the UN talks which was slammed by observers as weak.

[...]

At the heart of the impasse was whether the treaty would include limits on plastic production. Over 100 nations, including small islands, African nations and several European and developing countries like Norway and Mexico, back a proposal to set a global target for reducing plastic production.

The amount of plastics the world is producing has been growing exponentially and could climb about 70 per cent by 2040 without policy changes.

Plastic waste is clogging beaches, polluting soil, air and water with microplastics seeping into human organs and even breast milk. Many chemicals associated with plastics have been known to cause harm to health.

 

[Matted Joybeard]

Few human-made substances are as individually ubiquitous and dangerous as PFAS and microplastics, and when they join forces there is a synergistic effect that makes them even more toxic and pernicious, new research suggests.

The study’s authors exposed water fleas to mixtures of the toxic substances and found they suffered more severe health effects, including lower birth rates, and developmental problems, such as delayed sexual maturity and stunted growth.

The enhanced toxic effects raise alarm because PFAS and microplastics are researched and regulated in isolation from one one another, but humans are virtually always exposed to both. The research also showed those fleas previously exposed to chemical pollution were less able to withstand the new exposures.

The findings “underscore the critical need to understand the impacts of chemical mixtures on wildlife and human health”, wrote the study’s authors, who are with the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

PFAS are a class of about 15,000 compounds typically used to make products that resist water, stains and heat. They are called “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down and accumulate, and are linked to cancer, kidney disease, liver problems, immune disorders, birth defects and other serious health problems.

Microplastics are tiny bits of plastic that are either intentionally added to products or are shed by plastic goods as they deteriorate. They have been found throughout human bodies, and can cross the blood-brain barrier. Research has linked them to developmental harms, hormone disruption cardiovascular disease and other health issues.

Plastic is often treated with PFAS, so microplastics can contain the chemical.

 

[initforme]

Oh it's gonna be just fine

You know who worries about this?

1) People who tend to the hysterical

2) People with no real responsibilities in life.

Nobody else

View attachment 1049251

Ignorance is bliss. Nothing wrong at all with some lawsuits against big plastics corporations if need be.

 

[Ringo]

Plastic-shmastc, listen to this:

Magma accumulations under the Yellowstone supervolcano began to shift towards the poorly studied northeastern part of the park. This is stated in a paper published in the journal Nature.

A team of US geologists led by Clifford Thurber, a professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison (USA), found that this region of the volcano has accumulated about as much magma today as it did before its major eruption 1.3 million years ago.

“Our measurements indicate that basaltic masses from the lower crustal strata have recently begun to move toward, merge with, and further warm the rhyolitic magma accumulations in the northeastern part of Yellowstone Park. This indicates that the centers of future explosive volcanism have moved into this region of the current caldera of this supervolcano”,

The conclusions are based on data collected in Yellowstone National Park using seismographs and magnetotelluric Earth sensing systems. These instruments track the movement of magma by changes in the electrical and magnetic properties of different layers of the crust.

Scientists recently installed more than a hundred such sensors in Yellowstone Park to create the first detailed map of magma reservoirs and observations of magma movements in the upper and lower crust. They used the collected materials to create a three-dimensional model of the network of magma chambers located beneath the Yellowstone supervolcano at depths ranging from 2 kilometers to 40 kilometers.

In total, the researchers were able to detect seven large magma reservoirs, some of which are actively filled with rocks from the class of rhyolites, capable of generating powerful explosive eruptions. A significant part of these growing magma chambers is located in the northeastern part of the current caldera of Yellowstone volcano, which was previously considered quiet and because of this virtually unexplored.

 

[Matted Joybeard]

Scientists issue dire warning: Microplastic accumulation in human brains escalating

Scientists have made a disturbing discovery: human brains contain microplastics, and at higher concentrations than other organs. Worse, brain levels have jumped 50% in just eight years.

www.psypost.org

Another striking finding was that brain tissue from individuals who had been diagnosed with dementia contained significantly higher levels of microplastics – up to 10 times more – than brain tissue from people without dementia.

Brain tissue samples from 2024 had significantly higher levels of microplastics than samples from 2016, representing an approximate 50% increase in just eight years.

 

[Scoutster]

I agree, plastic is the largest contributor probably in the world at this point of pollution. Micro plastics are concerning. There’s no going back at this point though it’s too widely used in food packaging, medical industry… humans have been polluting this planet since we came out of caves and got “smart” creating things to our benefit and bending the planet and its species to our will.

 

[Captain Caveman]

I agree, plastic is the largest contributor probably in the world at this point of pollution. Micro plastics are concerning. There’s no going back at this point though it’s too widely used in food packaging, medical industry… humans have been polluting this planet since we came out of caves and got “smart” creating things to our benefit and bending the planet and its species to our will.

When I was a kid, most groceries and products were supplied in glass, cans, and/or cardboard. Pop (soda) was in a glass bottle where the shop gave to 2p to 5p back (probably the equivalent to nearly 80p these days) when you took the empty back. They were washed out and reused. Milk was delivered to your door in glass bottles, the empty bottles collected, washed out, and reused. Now everything is in plastic, thrown out from cars for the council to shred the plastic when they cut the grass.

 

[MarathonMike]

You mean eating 50 plastic bags a year, or the equivalent of one credit card per week, is not good for humans?

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666911022000247#:~:text=Abstract,et%20al.%2C%202021).

Good roughage?

 

[Matted Joybeard]

 

[odanny]

View attachment 1088730

That might explain the average Trump supporter.

 

[Matted Joybeard]

Microplastics Could Be Fueling Antibiotic Resistance, BU Study Finds

Researchers shocked to see that bacteria’s antimicrobial resistance is strengthened when exposed to plastic particles and point to a potential outsized impact on refugees

www.bu.edu

“We’re demonstrating that the presence of plastics is doing a whole lot more than just providing a surface for the bacteria to stick—they are actually leading to the development of resistant organisms.”

 

[Redfish]

That might explain the average Trump supporter.

no, but it explains the entire dem party.