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Sorry-- popular press fantasies don't count. They make statements with no documentation by data. Anecdotal photos are meaningless in this day of computer graphics.
On another thread here, someone posted actual research studies showing all the plastic ingested by filter feeders and the changes it apparently induced in their metabolism. But that merely shows that foreign bodies induce a response from the protective systems in those organisms-- no pathology could be demonstrated (ie- it caused no apparent "illness")...Other studies posted showed no apparent significant passage of the plastic "up the food chain" as supposed by the naïve.
On yet another thread here, I posted an article outlining the modus operandi of the panic inducing popular press: alert the public to a problem they have no way of verifying for themselves-- huge garbage patches in the ocean (have you seen it yourself?)--"Global" warming (have you taken temps at the N. Pole?)--glaciers disappearing (have you ever seen a glacier- and followed it over the last 50 yrs?) --world insect populations falling (easy to believe if you live in an urban area with no natural habitat) etc etc
There are some huge problems we need to confront so we don't needlessly squander the Natural World. Plastic and co2 aren't among them.
Well, you have your opinion, but I don't believe it is shared by the general scientific community. CO2 and plastics are one of our larger problems, according to many, many well-documented reports. And I don't believe you haven't seen any of these, although you purport not to have seen any. But perhaps you are in the small percentage of folk who dispute the results of these studies. And that's fine.
I think a bigger problem than plastic pens is the proliferation of plastic bags. Honestly, as they are constructed now, they should be abolished from the face of the earth.
Yeah, I know they can be recycled, but they end up in the oceans anyway.
Plastic bags yes, but perhaps ever worse are plastic water bottles. In almost all cases, I think tap water is just fine and in an insulated container should satisfy anybody over buying water in a plastic bottle, then tossing it away. Same can be said for plastic soda bottles ... why not use returnable, reusable glass bottles instead?
We recycle virtually all our plastic, but not everybody does.
…. many well-documented reports. And I don't believe you haven't seen any of these, although you purport not to have seen any..
Classic comment from the naïve..just what I was talking about believing reports that can't be verified from personal experience.
Please post even ONE of these many great research papers, which you probably have not read, but believe religiously, without questioning. Child-like faith is the cornerstone of religion.
There's a crisis in science. Ethics are no longer practiced by a very large number of those scrambling to get funding. (Cf- Climategate). Peer review is a "buddy system" to protect the reputations of those doing the reviewing. Most published research studies show results that can't be duplicated & verified. https://www.jove.com/blog/editors-no...-is-happening/
Well, you have your opinion, but I don't believe it is shared by the general scientific community. CO2 and plastics are one of our larger problems, according to many, many well-documented reports. And I don't believe you haven't seen any of these, although you purport not to have seen any. But perhaps you are in the small percentage of folk who dispute the results of these studies. And that's fine.
Are Co2 and plastics one of our larger problems or just one of the most popular problems? I am not sure which is true, The question is no rhetorical. I simply do not know. I do know the scientific community blows popular issues out of proportion in order tp keep them popular and keep research funds flowing.
Bigger problems that we cannot do anything about are not popular, so instead we tend to ignore them and focus on much smaller problems because someone thinks they might possibly have an answer to the small problem. If we focus on a small ting and make ourselves think it is a big thing, then we feel better about ourselves by doing something about it. However if we accept the small thing is a small thing or fruitlessly flail ad a bigger problem, we do not end up feeling better about ourselves, and may end up feeling worse.
Plastic bags yes, but perhaps ever worse are plastic water bottles. In almost all cases, I think tap water is just fine and in an insulated container should satisfy anybody over buying water in a plastic bottle, then tossing it away. Same can be said for plastic soda bottles ... why not use returnable, reusable glass bottles instead?
We recycle virtually all our plastic, but not everybody does.
I have seen articles that claim that nearly all of the plastics in the oceans come from China and India. It might even be true. I do not think there is anyone who can actually say whether this is true or not, but some people certainly believe it to be true.
Of course a lot of the "recycled" plastics are purchased by Chinese companies and shipped to China and may then end up dumped in the ocean. Since it is all subsidized, it can be profitable to buy recycling even if you end up just dumping it someplace.
Classic comment from the naïve..just what I was talking about believing reports that can't be verified from personal experience.
Please post even ONE of these many great research papers, which you probably have not read, but believe religiously, without questioning. Child-like faith is the cornerstone of religion.
Well, I figure even if I do spoon-feed you with research papers you will find a reason to disbelieve them; however, here goes:
When you delve into this paper you will be able to find all the references which have been used to compile the report, and plenty of data to help with understanding the problem with plastics.
When you delve into this paper you will be able to find all the references which have been used to compile the report, and plenty of data to help with understanding the problem with plastics.
I reviewed a few of the references listed in that articles. Laughable science. The best they could do was come up with all the "could be's,""maybe's," and "possibly's" typical of panic-mongering. None of them detail number of individual animals entangled or swallowing plastic, or recording the number as a percentage of the total population, but rather as "number of species observed" to have had an unfortunate encounter with plastic. BFD. We could have guessed that....The papers show plastic is encountered by sea life but NO PATHOLOGY is documented....(Cf- right now you have 10s of 1000s of microscopic mites living on the dead skin on your face.. Is it a problem?)
Your site claims that in 2013 there were 188,000 tons of plastic floating in our oceans. Using data form this source https://www.statista.com/statistics/...cs-since-1950/ we can see that from 1950 to 2013, 1,713,000,000 (1.7 Billion) tons of plastic were produced world-wide....
1.88 x 10^5 / 1.7 x 10^9 = 1.1 x 10^-4 or 1/100th of one per cent of plastic has wound up in the ocean. What does one do to make a very rare event even more rare?
Well, I do believe we must agree to disagree on this topic.
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