#and I need to know how microplastics function in the ocean

[collectiveclams]

I think that microplastics should function like plankton in the ecosystem for LEGO. The lowest tier on the food chain.

[productsafetyhealth]

Introduction

I am an industrial hygienist with biology and environmental science degrees. An industrial hygienist is someone who evaluates workplaces for health hazards. For about a year, I worked for a large chemical manufacturer, then left to work for the next 15 years for two different state-run OSHA-type programs.

While working for the state regulatory agencies, I had opportunities to see myriad types of workplaces, from heavy industrial operations with thousands of employees to mom-and-pop operations. Discovery’s television series How It’s Made was (and still is) a favorite, because it gives all of us a glimpse behind the scenes to see how everyday things come to be.

It’s truly fascinating to see manufacturing processes--almost magical. But as I get older, I feel it’s necessary make the public aware of the dark side of everyday things. We need to know that our desire for stuff comes at a cost, whether it’s detrimental to employee health and safety in the manufacturing process, public health risks from use, or environmental concerns from disposal.

You will find a common theme in many of these posts: plastic = bad. Without a doubt, plastic has made our lives extremely convenient. Its manufacture and use comes at a cost, however. Much like asbestos use in the early part of the 20th century, plastic use is becoming widespread without a true understanding of health impacts to people and the environment.

Image Source

One of the problems with plastic is that it takes tens of thousands of years to break down into its chemical elements. During that time, exposure to the elements causes plastic to break up into smaller and smaller pieces called microplastics.

I’ll spare you the images of wildlife (birds, turtles, whales) that have perished due to ingestion of plastic they found in the environment, but you should know that microplastics have been found from the top of Mt. Everest to the deepest parts of the ocean. They’re found everywhere on the planet now, and we don’t fully know the harm they could cause.

Another problem with most plastics is that they are made from oil. Oil is problematic in so many ways.

In manufacturing processes, the heating of plastic to form it into useful shapes can expose workers to toxic chemicals. These workers are often exposed to these chemicals for 40 hours a week. In my experience, workers exposed to chemicals from heating of plastics try to find other jobs rather quickly, because it literally stinks and often makes them sick, especially when ventilation in their work area is bad or they’re not wearing adequate respiratory protection. For people that are desperate for work, however, they could spend years working in those harmful areas until their bodies stop functioning properly.

Lastly, plastic is not as recyclable as the plastic industry would like us to believe. Plastics #1, 2, and sometimes 5 are the only types commonly recycled. The rest? Garbage. At the moment, we don’t have a good way to get rid of it. Unlike asbestos, we’re currently not treating plastic like a hazardous waste (very well contained to keep it out of the environment), the best method we have of disposal right now is to bury it in landfills--as long as we can be sure that the plastic can not find its way into the environment between the time you throw it in the trash and burial at your landfill, that is. Incineration should not be an option, as burning of plastics can release toxins and huge amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the environment.

As I re-watch the How It’s Made episodes and post my safety and health impressions here, I’ll still mention hazards associated with specific types of plastics, but avoid rehashing the big picture of the plastics problem. I’ll just make reference to this post and hope that you will do any research necessary to understand the problem further.

Disclaimer: I don’t want to get sued, so be aware that the hazards I observe in these episodes are generally present in these industries, but the degree of risk to the employee varies from business to business. Most (but sadly, not all) operations in the developed world take care of their employees and give them the equipment and training they need to do their hazardous jobs safely thanks to safety and health regulations. It’s worth it to be aware of where your goods are coming from, because while products made in other parts of the world are cheaper, employees there are likely being exposed to greater health and safety risks in the manufacturing of those goods.

[baliyanblog]

PLASTICS, a boon or a curse?

Since their creation in 1907 by Baekeland , plastics have managed to be the most controversial creation of humans! It is astonishing to know that with no value of its own , plastics have given skyrocket acceleration to growth of industries. Leaving few exceptions there is no industry that can do without plastics. Once I was attending a workshop on fast food industry and packaging, where I learnt that in the last 30 years Fast Food sector has grown manifolds due to packaging. Packaging gives a sense of security , it is hygienic and moreover handling products becomes convenient. In Fact it is now in human psychology that better the packing better is the quality of the product. Plastics are tough, durable, non corrosive , they are chemically non- reactive to maximum compounds, protect from rotting due to resistance from water, all this makes plastics the most desirable material for packaging. 

By now you might be relating every product we consume has a certain way of appealing us and mostly that is the way it is packed. In simple words you might have never bought your expensive perfume if it was packed in a clay pot with exactly the same smell ! 

  Do you remember all those posters you made in school to save earth and how there was no summer vacation without you protecting the environment! Nostalgia, right? Well looking at the present conditions I don’t think we succeeded rather we have added to the plethora of junk by consuming so much paper and plastic. This statement might be subject to debate as awareness is important, but only if ignorance is absent.

So why even bother if we are so trapped in plastics? According to me we must  not just bother ‘bother’ rather actively ‘bother’ and refuel our awareness senses if we want earth to remain the planet with life in future!

Humans have managed to disrupt  every level of life and in all ways possible. From street animals to mighty ocean’s inhabitants we have managed to destroy every form of life in our full capacity. What happens once a product is consumed, we throw away the packet but in reality it has nowhere to go but remain on earth for like forever! You remember the properties of plastic that made it desirable , well for the same reasons it has become a huge headache, since we are not able to manage its disposal. Today our oceans are full of garbage , plastic has entered into our food chain. No animal has any part in invention , distribution or consumption of plastics , yet they are most vulnerable to our deeds and they bear the cost of our greed and mismanagement.

If actually there is some almighty who has created mother earth she/he might be very disappointed looking down at the most advanced species created, at us! And more than that the superbrains of our planet might have some really hard time knowing we are still getting an F in  God’s assessment  after so much hard work put by them. Some good day I was watching a documentary on BBC on oceans narrated by the super David Attenborough and at one point I felt so overwhelmed that tears started rolling down my eyes, that was the clip where a blue whale was carrying her still born calf for days as she could not accept her loss! And most probably the calf died as the blue whale had consumed microplastics.

. 

Is it fair ? If there is real hell and heaven , no one amongst us can ever make to heaven for the cumulative sufferings we have given to other living beings. Whoever has made this planet either god or geographical phenomenons it was made for all of us! We did not create this world nor can we run it by ourselves. Rather the world can function very effectively without humans in it. So it's high time for us to realise our limits and act accordingly.

We consider ourselves very intelligent , we have created computers , electricity , internet (which helps us “connect” ) and so much more! We have a juggernaut of intelligent people making policies and unions, collecting funds to protect what we have destroyed (that means everything)!

But yet again through the Coronavirus outbreak , mother earth has told us what we should do to protect her, and that is STOP. Yes just Stop! Nature still has the power to heal itself, if only we give it a chance. All our science , all our research are limited because all we have been doing is discovering! The feeling of supremacy is wrong. We need to limit our curiosities and stick to the balance or else homosapiens will be the only species flourishing in the red data book. 

After earth we have plans to spread our wings of curse to other planets of universe, then let us recall class 1 science book chapter number one - LIFE, it read life is possible only with 3 components air, water and sunlight. And that is the long and short of it , let us respect LIFE let us be more responsible.

Well practically speaking we cannot STOP neither can we omit plastics but still there are few habits through which we can bring effective change let us switch to jute ,cotton , glass and ceramic products , let us reduce plastic demand , let us walk , let us switch to bicycles and create demand for electric cars, Support biodegradable alternatives.You know the solutions, just follow them.

 Let us be kind and in true sense realise humanity.

 Or else meet you in hell !

Adios

[expen5e]

Sense of discovery – not knowing the answers, wanting to find out more

Society – beliefs, prejudice, carbon copy of parents, external influences, community (small minded, uneducated/unintelligent, educated/intelligent, ignorance/arrogance Religion/tribe/gang/follower/leader – social media, popularity, government, votes, status, privilege

Tabloid – manual to your life, newspapers/sources become manuals to life

Language – the earth speaks for itself but not through words, not through human language. Why do we not listen to the ones who do speak up for our planet?

Oceans – dirty, polluted Species – human diet, pure, quality, health Food packaging ??? Plastic toxins Survival – food, water, oxygen, shelter - accessible to developing countries?

Products – cosmetics, microbeads, microplastics – changing genetics, biodiversity loss, species extinction – not just effecting natural world, humans exposed to toxic chemical start to finish, willingly putting into/onto bodies

- Exposure to chemicals, exposure to carbon dioxide, particularly in developing countries

Bottled water – cleanliness? Hygiene? – bodily waste, shower, toilet - ocean

Germs - build up, landfill bacteria - OCD, overthinking everyday tasks plastic seeping into product ingredients, any plastic container can integrate into contents not just BPA cosmetics, fruit and veg in packaging, cling film, clothes - containing plastic – chemicals in dyes and materials - wrapped in plastic … Countries that don't regulate laws

Plastic is a valuable commodity recycling systems need to be regenerated

I'm part of an active minority, questioning, finding evidence, open discussions Ideas, materials - supply can't meet demand, mass produced, production, business, money, fossil fuels, pollution, non renewable resources – excess, product life cycle single used plastic, disposable - second hand materials - process of making, combining, environmentally friendly – renewable, natural, no more synthetic, no more throw away, zero waste population overload, why doesn't the whole population have food/warmth/shelter/medicine government laws are dated   war? Guns? Spreading awareness, accountable Create visual journey, how do I visualise: skills, passion. Questioning , good at what? Real interest…… Materials, where do mine come from? How can I purely use pre existing items so I don't cause the damage most other people contribute to? Research man made disposable short life products explore pre existing activist groups - answers to save what's in reach (methods to change humankind's habits and harsh closing life span - the bigger picture artists combining objects -installation of multiples -art that focuses attention 360 degree scale -minimal approach, pointing at message – ordered/displayed/transformed cases of global overpopulation affecting every element of surviving for shorter due to poor decision's/selfishness/greed/pushing and forcing decisions/lack of education /not caring about the future or humanity or planet earth and environment natural versus synthetic recycling - manufacturers - laws jobs part of issues - trapped working on self-destruction  

Drawing attention to objects one item versus 100 versus 1000 exposed desensitised to consumption spreading warning for future using technology and social media to my advantage inspiration call out to generations oxygen pollution, land pollution, cutting trees, killing wildlife – habitats, hunting - abuse polluting crops, running out of crops valuable materials/wasting materials burning chemicals through production, disposal discarding what can't be reused/transformed brand/manufacturers responsibility - personal responsibility personal possessions? Lifetime? education in ways to leave less man made on earth/less carbon footprint and save the sea, land and animals don't let history repeat itself government and law responsibility jobs – labourers, quality of life toxic hormones mimicking humans functioning system corruption and secrecy why does health get ‘paid for��� in only some places - population? why can't we create jobs for resolving climate change, education, crime, war non-judgmental or discriminative a fair system – taxes, freedom of speech news, misinformation, fame industrial revolution

[gianfranca1996]

more boys rescued from flooded thai cave

4 more boys rescued from flooded thai cave Le jeu consiste pour le lecteur, en cours de lecture d'une histoire, se demander par quel subterfuge, cela va finir par amener ce qu'une chaussure, une seule, finisse par se retrouver sur le toit de l'immeuble. Isabel and Maitland van der Zee, Anke H. " I don't think they understand how dangerous, and they can be taken so quick and never see anybody they love ever again.". I had a chance to play it last month and came away impressed with what Raven accomplished.. Monet's immaculately posed portraits of the well to do once seemed to lack the glamour and life of Renoir and Monet's sun washed exteriors. Do not chastise bad performances. And, while recycling is a step above trashing your beverage containers, reusable containers aim even higher by avoiding the need for a small container in the first place. The Colavita effect occurs when participants respond only to the visual element of an audio visual stimulus. Along with bagging four against Orlando last time out, Sunday hosts have now scored two or more goals in each of their last six MLS matches.. But this victory was all about responding well to yet another momentum swing that came on special teams: The Blues killed off a Bruins power play and then hemmed Boston in its own end for more than three minutes. According to the National Weight Control Registry, a common trait among individuals who have successfully maintained their weight loss is that they eat breakfast daily.. Good and useful information, im glad topics such as this are published. The verdict: A local tea and coffee expert that makes cracking tisane blends. STORIES. The United Nations Environment Programme estimates more than 8 million tonnes of plastic enter the world oceans each year equal to dumping a garbage truck of plastic every minute. An unexpected benefit is that it has led to improved communication as to the company direction within all of the business functions, boosting overall morale and (although still early days) improving staff retention levels. And on Monday night at Levi's Stadium, in a championship game played more than 2,000 miles away from Clemson's South Carolina campus, the Tigers were way too much for an Alabama team that had spent the season mauling its opposition. Passport, be of good moral character, have never been convicted of a crime of any nature (other than misdemeanor moving violations), and must have nothing in their background that would be an embarrassment to Sponsor as determined in its sole discretion. Jessy Cates, 25, now of Casterton, pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court to a range of generally low end offending while she got a sentencing indication on other more serious drug matters, including trafficking ice. Jiefu Chen and Dr. Portland around Northshore and the Breakwater seem to be the most productive areas to target. LILLIE BETH'S ANSWER: I always carry a formal evening bag and keep it with me because there are items I might need throughout an evening a driver's license, credit card, my keys and, of course, lipstick. He's married and he lives in Canarsie.'RELATED ARTICLES Previous 1 NextNew security footage shows nine year old black boy's BAG. Quartey has the best jab in boxing, but curiously enough he stopped using it in the coach outlet clearance later rounds. At TAO Nightclub in The Venetian, Gucci Mane headlined the party as he counted down to midnight before performing hits including "I Get the Bag" from the TAO stage. New Jersey kept the momentum going in the second period when Naumovski scored 13:04. This game should come down to which defense can make the biggest stands.. Family style, three course dinner with different wines.. Switch to the dough hook and knead on low speed until the dough smoothes out, about 3 minutes; it will still have a rough, broken look where the hook breaks the dough. The crystal structure of benzene was first published in 1932 by two scientists from Leeds University and the original paper can be found in Cox Smith, Proc. In his evidence, Mr Goodall said he had been diving for more than 40 years, including three years as a professional diver. As I was travelling as a courier I dressed smartly and even wore a tie through check in. All of the courses I have taken while finishingmy degree have had an impact on my writing; it's difficult, if not impossible, for me to select just a single course.. A 2014 study by Belgian researchers concluded that seafood consumers in Europe could be consuming 11,000 microplastic particles every year. VMI viewed the exposure for the school and its program on national TV too good to pass up.. Drinking tea is a very British tradition so much so that 165 million cups are consumed every single day.Brits will be celebrating the humble cuppa on National Tea Day on April 21 and someone who knows their Earl Grey from their Darjeeling is June Turner of Shropshire based tea and coffee merchants Aroma.She selects the teas that are going to tempt the tastebuds of visitors to their shop in St Mary's Place, Shrewsbury.Sales of loose leaf tea are booming up and down the country as more people turn their back on their trusty tea bags.While using bags has coach outlet online simplified tea making by making brewing easier and cleaner, many of us are now choosing quality over convenience."We're finding that people want to ditch the tea bags and drink loose leaf tea because they want a better quality tea."The leaves have more room to expand and release their flavour as they infuse than when they are confined in a tea bag."Most tea bags only contain cut up bits of tea leaves while loose leaf teas generally use the whole leaf."If you don't want to wait, then a fine leaf is best as that will give you the colour straight away but if you want more control over the taste and colour, a bigger leaf size is best and that takes longer."It's also about the environment because some tea bags contain plastic which is used to seal the bag.What makes the perfect cuppa? They opened a shop in Shrewsbury in 1981 with a roaster they bought from Vienna.At first tea was sold from a separate site so that it wasn't affected by the odour of the coffee but later the roasting side of the business was moved to new premises at Battlefield Enterprise Park.Aroma sells more than 50 different loose leaf black, green and white teas as well as fruit flavoured black teas, herbal teas and fruit infusions which are sourced from tea brokers in this country.They offer decaffeinated varieties as well as their own Shropshire Brew which has been especially formulated for Shropshire water.Described as a blend that cuts into the local water so 'you can taste the tea, not the water', it has proven very popular with customers and is also supplied to cafes and restaurants in the area."It's a fine leaf tea which infuses quickly to create a strong British tea flavour.

[gethealthy18-blog]

Why Plastic Pollution Is Everyone’s Problem

New Post has been published on http://healingawerness.com/news/why-plastic-pollution-is-everyones-problem/

Why Plastic Pollution Is Everyone’s Problem

You may know my stance on plastic and that I try to reduce or eliminate it from our home, but the fact is plastic is so pervasive in our modern lives that it’s almost impossible to get away from. Regardless, plastic pollution is a huge (and growing!) problem that we all need to do something about now. In fact, companies and organizations (as well as everyday families) are becoming increasingly aware that we must do something about the plastic problem immediately.

Let’s look at the facts…

Plastic in the Environment

As I wrote about in another post, there are many troubling statistics about plastic production and its effect on the environment and wildlife.

In a nutshell:

Plastic production is huge and increasing each year.

Most plastic that is created is single-use.

Plastic is polluting almost very inch of the planet.

Plastic debris harms thousands to millions of marine creatures every year.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the North Pacific Ocean is mostly made of microplastics.

Where is all this plastic coming from? Here are common sources we probably interact with or use every day:

Single-use plastic bottles are one of the biggest pollutants in existence, clogging up waterways and oceans. According to Earth Day, Americans purchase about 50 billion single-use plasticwater bottles per year. This averages to about 13 bottles per month for every person in the United States. Yes, some of us use fewer (even way fewer) than that, but that means others are using more (even way more) than that average. Many of these bottles are not recycled.

Plastic shopping bags are another huge concern. Only 1 percent (or less) are returned for recycling. Single-use plastics like grocery bags are only used for an average of 12 minutes and then sit for hundreds of years in a landfill (if not recycled).

Fiber from synthetic fabrics make their way into fresh water through washing machines and also enter the air after shedding from garments (one reason I stopped using microfiber cloths for cleaning). Estimates claim that there are roughly 5.25 trillion pieces of large plastic and microplastic floating in the ocean.

But plastic in the environment is not just affecting animals and waterways. It’s affecting humans directly. The chemicals found in plastic are found in air, dust, and food.

Plastic in Our Bodies

We already knew that fish are ingesting micro-plastics that are polluting the water. But that doesn’t mean it’s only a problem for fish (or people who eat fish). Plastic is making its way into and up the food chain.

A small trial at the Medical University of Vienna performed in 2018 found plastics in the excrement of 8 people from 8 countries. While it’s easy to imagine that these people could have eaten fish that also ingested plastic, this trial noted that only six out of eight participants ate seafood. That means the other two ingested plastic in another way — potentially through food wrap, plastic straws, or even the air.

This recent study is the first to find clear evidence of plastic in the human body but is likely not the last. More studies are needed to explore this issue, but researchers concluded that these microplastics in the human body may disrupt immune function in the gut and cause other issues.

Plastic Isn’t Safe

While we don’t know for sure how ingesting plastic affects the human body, we have some clues. For example, a 2018 study found that plastic caused intestinal damage in sea animals.

We also know some important things about the chemicals in plastics and how they affect the body.

BPA is often added to plastics to make them more durable. But BPA is a known endocrine disruptor and can mimic the effect of estrogen in the body. This can then lead to weight gain and hormone imbalance. It may also cause deformities of the male and female genitals, premature puberty in females, and decreased sperm quality. It can also cause increases in breast and prostate cancers, infertility, miscarriages, obesity, type 2 diabetes, allergies, and neurological problems.

Phthalates are another chemical often found in plastics. They are considered to be especially harmful to men and boys because they can cause reduced testosterone and infertility in men. Phthalates are also linked to immune system impairment and many other problems. The European Union banned them in 2005 and many other countries have banned them as well.

But… I Recycle!

While it’s important to recycle when at all possible, it simply isn’t enough.

Even if something make it in the recycle bin, if we don’t rinse out containers well enough or accidentally put something into the wrong bin, we may have made the whole bin unrecyclable. In that case, the entire bin is sent to the landfill.

No-sort recycling (where you are supposed to throw everything in together) isn’t any better. Combination materials like plastic coated cardboard or squeeze pouches are some of the most confusing materials. These materials often boast that they are recyclable on the packaging, but in reality, they are only recyclable at a TerraCycle program.

As Bloomberg.com points out, this has caused so much recycling contamination that as much as 91 percent of recyclable plastic ends up in the landfill (or worse, the ocean).

In addition, now that oil prices are low again, it’s cheaper to produce new plastic than to recycle (or use recycled) plastic. A 2016 article in Business Insider explains that using new plastic is also more desirable because it’s easier to get the chemical composition just right.

Even if we recycled every possible water bottle and plastic bag (neither of which is likely), it wouldn’t be enough. We are producing more plastic each year than the year before. Recycling is important, but refusing plastic whenever possible will make a much bigger impact on the problem of plastic pollution.

What to Do Instead

If recycling isn’t the answer, making changes to reduce our consumption of plastic is the next step. There are many things we can do individually to make a difference.

Support Legislature

We can continue to support new legislature that helps reduce or ban single-use plastic in our environment. The National Conference of State Legislatures allows you to search for bills by topic of interest (air quality, wildlife, water) and state. Also call your local city or township office to find out what programs or groups you can follow to stay informed and participate in local events. Your local nature center or Sierra Club may be another good resource.

Demand Better Packaging

Money talks, and if we refuse to buy plastic packaging, companies will adapt to get our business back. Additionally, when we support companies that are low-waste, we’re encouraging more companies to follow suit. Some of the worst containers include:

Styrofoam take-out containers

Single serving containers (like yogurt and keurig containers)

Styrofoam peanuts

Combination materials (used for chip bags, food pouches, etc)

Instead, look for bulk packaging or bring your own to the bulk food aisle. Many food co-ops and natural food stores support this practice.

Use cardboard or paper when possible (get your meat from the meat counter and ask them to wrap it in butcher paper)

Bring your own reusable bags.

Look for packaging made from recycled materials.

Look for products with the least amount of packaging as possible (ideally no plastic).

Don’t use produce bags. If you have your own grocery bags to carry your produce home in, you’re saving at least a few plastic produce bags every trip.

Refuse

Whenever possible, refuse plastic utensils, bags, and straws. Bring your own along if you think you’ll need these items.

A harder thing to do (but just as important) is to refuse plastic toys whenever possible. Look for wooden and fabric toys instead. If you must buy plastic, only buy it secondhand.

Follow Recycling Rules

Follow the guidelines on your recycling containers. Don’t put in anything that doesn’t meet the specifications.

Find Alternatives

It’s much easier to refuse items if you already have your own reusable one. Here are some ideas (and you can see my full list here):

Stainless steel plates: These are lightweight, food-grade stainless steel that is dishwasher safe, oven safe and unbreakable! We use them every day and I think they are the best investment I made for healthy dishware for my kids.

Stainless steel cups: These cups are just as good as the plates and work well for little ones who like to get their own drinks.

Stainless steel bowls: These unbreakable bowls are some of the most used items in our kitchen.

Stainless steel latch containers: These are non-breakable, spacious, and great for freezer storage.

Glass mason jars: I like quart and half-gallon size jars for storing liquidy foods like soups, sauces, broth. They can even be used for leftover casseroles and as drinking glasses.

Silicone food storage: I love these collapsible fridge storage containers from Xtrema. They don’t take up much room in the cabinets when stored and are easy to stack in the fridge.

Glass and silicone storage: Lifefactory makes some great all-glass food storage containers. They also have a silicone cover to help avoid breakage.

Pyrex glass containers with lids: These are some of the least expensive glass containers. They do have plastic tops but are a good choice for the price.

Glasslock oven-safe food storage: I love this set of glass containers and use them all the time.

Reusable grocery bags: These are great for avoiding plastic bags while you’re out. They’re also collapsible for easy storage.

Produce bags: I like these easy to wash produce bags for grocery store trips.

Metal or glass water bottle: We fill these up and take them every time we leave the house.

Bamboo or stainless steel straws: Replace single-use straws with more sustainable options. Many even come with carrying cases or bags to take them on the go.

Tea bags: Instead of buying tea bags (that may have plastic in them) try a loose leaf infuser.

Soap nuts: Soap nuts help avoid the plastic containers that laundry detergent comes in. You can also buy a very concentrated laundry detergent to cut down on plastic waste.

Concentrated plant-based cleaner: I’ve replaced pretty much all of my cleaners with Branch Basics, which is so concentrated it replaces the need for 12-13 bottles.

If you replace one plastic item with a reusable, non-plastic alternative when you have the money, eventually you’ll have created a nice collection of healthy and sustainable items.

Final Thoughts on Plastic Pollution

This global problem can seem too big to do anything about, but doing something is better than doing nothing. Human health and the environment will be better off with every sustainable choice we make. Eventually, our demand will make plastic production unprofitable for many companies and sustainable packaging will become mainstream.

What are your tips for reducing plastic?

Sources

Fact Sheet: Single Use Plastics. (2018, April 10). Retrieved from https://www.earthday.org/2018/03/29/fact-sheet-single-use-plastics/

Plastic Pollution – Facts and Figures • Surfers Against Sewage. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.sas.org.uk/our-work/plastic-pollution/plastic-pollution-facts-figures/

Power, T. A. (2017, August 21). 15 Key Facts & Statistics About Plastic Pollution. Retrieved from https://blog.arcadiapower.com/15-key-facts-statistics-about-plastic-pollution/

Ocean Life Eats Tons of Plastic-Here’s Why That Matters. (2017, August 18). Retrieved from https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/08/ocean-life-eats-plastic-larvaceans-anchovy-environment/

Harvey, F., & Watts, J. (2018, October 22). Microplastics found in human stools for the first time. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/22/microplastics-found-in-human-stools-for-the-first-time

Microplastic particles cause intestinal damage and other adverse effects in zebrafish Danio rerio and nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. (2017, November 11). Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969717331613

Kramer, S. (2016, April 05). The one thing that makes recycling plastic work is falling apart. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/low-oil-prices-hurt-plastics-recycling-2016-4

What is Recycling Contamination and Why is it Important? (2019, January 02). Retrieved from https://www.rubiconglobal.com/blog-recycling-contamination/

The Recycling Game Is Rigged Against You. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-06-27/plastic-recycling-is-a-problem-consumers-can-t-solve

Source: https://wellnessmama.com/402811/plastic-pollution/

[elizabethleslie7654]

PissEarth, 2025

buy jewelry with free shipping

Tweet

Originally published on The American Sun by John Chapman on December 16, 2018.

““If much in the world were mystery the limits of that world were not, for it was without measure or bound and there were contained within it creatures more horrible yet and men of other colors and beings which no man has looked upon and yet not alien none of it more than were their own hearts alien in them, whatever wilderness contained there and whatever beasts.”

– Cormac McCarthy, “Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West”

“ＢＯＲＮ ＴＯ ＤＩＥ WORLD IS A FUCK 鬼神 Kill Em All 1989 I am trash man 410,757,864,530 DEAD COPS”

PissEarth, 2025

It is cliche at this point to speak of how horrified you are at the detritus of our postmodern world. There is, of course, a certain kind of thrill in digging beneath the pallid white corpses of decency to see what strange and mutated life is writhing beneath, just so you can scoop it up and toss it in the faces of your friends. However, it has become rote and formulaic to look at just another story of neoliberal capitalism functioning in its just-as-planned absurdity and pull out the clown horn to signal to your friends how far we’ve fallen and how far left there is to get to hell. Our receptors for rage-flavored dopamine need something more, our haterade must be topped off. So I come to you as a prophet and I offer you a vision of the world to come.

I offer you, PissEarth, 2025.

When one hears the name PissEarth, it may conjure up images of ammonia-scented oceans of fetid yellow water, ebbing and flowing in tide under a bloodmoon in a night-sky bereft of stars, while little islands of human refuse taper across like logs of flotsam and jetsam. The spirituality of such a world is not that far off. The seers who are blind know that they were blessed to have lost their sight. You, too, may find yourself in such a state, like Oedipus staring wistfully at the golden pins after his terrible, horrible, no-good very bad lunch date with the shepherd. Like Oedipus, you’re all tainted motherfuckers.

You must understand, I do not tell you these things to hurt you, but to warn you that this new world wants to hurt you. It will. Oh, believe me it will. PissEarth, 2025 is accelerated humanity, and there is no more room for obsolescent units that think in terms of the abolished humanity. They will not return you for store credit or sit you up in Dorothy McGillicuddy’s Home for Antiques. Anything less than total depravity of your spirit, dispossession of your body, and annihilation of your mind would be a mercy. I say ‘you’ because if ‘you’ are still reading this past the first 150 words, then you are already a member of the abolished.

Everything you hate, everything you fear, everything that disgusts you inside, all of that will come quite naturally to PissEarth, 2025. A totalistic reality wholly assumed with no history. What you see now as the “slippery slope” will simply be the waterslide into a community piss-pool everyone will be baptized in. You will never gawk, never sigh and point at just how far we’ve come. You’ll be amazed at the efficiency of it all when it whittles down the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths down to just the very First one.

“I teach suffering.”

– some Indian who sat under a tree

Let us be clear. There is Clown World, and there is PissEarth. When we speak of Clown World, we speak of the contradictions and absurdities that the present culture and political order are built on. We speak of a president who is able to shoot impotent missiles at a country his own citizens can’t find on a map but who is powerless to stop a caravan of admixtured Aztecs wearing the hand-me-downs that Fat Bob of Fat Bob’s T-Shirt Emporium wasn’t able to sell. We speak of the nation grounding to a halt over whether or not little girls should be exposed to the Halloween parade hopped up on homemade HRT hobbling into their bathrooms. We speak of dozens of men who have lost gainful employment for making OKAY signs in photos because the Morris Dees newsletter fell for a prank from mischievous, anonymous frogs.

When we speak of these clownish things, we speak with a feeling that dragging these things into the light and exposing them for all the world to see will allow the light to shine in and obliterate the vampires with its cleansing sunbeams. These are all flashpoints in the broad and all-encompassing culture war that the West has found itself embroiled in, with each day yielding a brand new skirmish to deploy for, though the war is already lost. When we speak of Clown World, we speak of trying to find a way to shoo out the clowns.

PissEarth is different. PissEarth is the surrender. PissEarth is the occupation. PissEarth is the Morgenthau Plan for your shattered psyche. PissEarth is the moment this has all been building up to. Clown World ain’t nothing on PissEarth, 2025, the real Greatest Show on Earth.

WORLD IS A FUCK

“Get on with it,” I hear you (and the editor) say, “You’ve talked enough, like you’re trying to warn us from hearing out your vision, like no matter how awful it is we aren’t going to look anyway. Just put me in the hurt-box, please. Just show me what sights there are to behold.”

Very well. Behold, PissEarth, 2025.

Behold PissEarth, where the tech-giants have spread their privatized favelas far-and-wide, where debt-ridden PhDs hustle from gig-to-gig, chasing bounties that allow you to snitch on anyone insufficiently committed to diversity. It will become a game all unto its own, with high scores for ‘scalps’ that were claimed, no matter how absurd the bounties one gets. The dopamine must flow.

Behold PissEarth, where you celebrate your abortion from a mail-order kit as you make a public pledge to reduce your carbon footprint by remaining childless while Nuevo Americano rides a river of trash into your welcoming arms. Adopting enormous underprivileged families becomes the norm as a form of public atonement, and their weak-chinned fathers beam with pride and joy that their daughters are doing such a public service to the world.

Behold PissEarth, where pornographers have the social capital to demand and force aggressive men to watch pornography lest their employment and finances are endangered, mocking them for the damage it does at the same time. A thousand smirking social climbers, all in unison saying “have a fap, you’ll feel better” as their malice goes unchecked.

Behold PissEarth, where procreation is a quaint novelty–every boy a girl, every girl a boy, belonging to everyone and no one, in beautiful rainbow shades of light brown to dark brown, as even the socially ostracized will respect the pronoun and they will suck the feminine penis. Then real communism can finally be tried.

Behold PissEarth, where war is abolished but skirmishes are constant and daily with little purpose to them other than the grim remains of human resistance or simple lashings of animal rage.  No one is happy, but at last they are free. A friendly notification pops up in your latest smart-device, warning you of which roads to avoid for threat of most recent self-contained riot.

Behold PissEarth, with such technological wonders like the IUD that filters the microplastics out of your dick, “air purifiers” in place of trees, and artisanal soylent green but it’s from free-range, cruelty-free cockroaches. Status vloggers chase clicks by dumping half their paycheck to eat dressed up prole food made for them by a group of queer hijabis who receive their funding from a nearby corporation.

Behold PissEarth, where the purpose of a lifetime of labor is to fund research into how corpulent immovable masses of flesh can have better and more revolutionary forms of sex. The research and test subjects themselves become their own programming, another screen to pass the time in your shrinking apartment.

Behold PissEarth, where every neurosis has become a fetish to be enacted in order to attain collective cummies, to be taught in schools, and to be talked about incessantly on perpetual content devices. While the fear of pedophiles will always remain as a release vale for anger, its normalization will be so thorough that vigilantism against it is arbitrary.

Behold PissEarth, where the President will be a figurehead American idol, sworn-in on a human resources manual as they pledge to do their utmost to continue the pursuit of equality before a million teeming masses yearning to breathe at all in the crowd so that they can snap selfies for their social credit score. Though the president will be known as a figurehead, and though everyone will acknowledge that tech corporations have all the power, everyone still states solemnly the importance of a hallowed or is it hollowed democratic institution.

Behold PissEarth, where the gods of the new world are men disfigured into chimeras made from the new sacred rituals and paraded out in victory for their ascendance. Where children are made to be their wards by loving and approving parents. The parents will allow their children to be “babysat” by these creatures, in order that values of acceptance be inculcated at an early age.

Behold PissEarth, where any intellectual curiosity beyond the new and revised canon will be immediately suspect, where not having a strong opinion on the most current pop culture multimedia franchise will mark you with a big red flag on your social credit score, where you will never be able to escape the perpetual content stream as the algorithms pioneered by Netflix find a way to be lodged inside your brain like some kind of mind-control slug slithering its way inside. Your future has been written by media mathematics.

Behold PissEarth, where your experience with nature is a virtual reality simulation that you share with the few people online that you’ve been able to light any embers of a human connection with. Though the simulation glitches and shimmers in an unnatural way, you cling to this image because that little voice in the back of your head fears what you will do if you lose even this little bit of hope’s simulacrum.

I can hear you protest that this is already happening. Yes, the sprouts have sprung but they have not yet bloomed. Only when you have accepted all of these things as assumed and normal, when instead of being complacent your friends and family applaud it will you truly understand the reality of PissEarth, 2025. There will be no more pieces to point and gawk and decry that the world has gone mad. It will all be as staid as the abolished Sunday dinner.

This is what you must understand about the reality of PissEarth, 2025. Everything you joke about is assumed. Everything you satirize is simple reality. Whatever protests you think you’ll register against it simply won’t exist. You’ll keep your head down and just try to get through this life if you have any thoughts of rebellion, because you saw what Clown World did to the ones before you. You saw what it did to your friends, your family, and your brothers. You have accepted that you are but a drop of wine in the entire piss-bucket.

Technology will improve, but your quality of life will not. Materially it will not. Spiritually it will not. Every force that champions this great progress being made will be actively trying harm you every which way in totalistic system if there is any sense that you are not on board or there was a point you were never on board.

If you truly wish to understand PissEarth, 2025 on an intellectual level beyond the confetti-and-glitterbomb sermon I’ve laid out, then you must understand the nature of post-totalitarian ideology. Vaclav Havel lays out many of these concepts in his work The Power of the Powerless but elucidates the nature of PissEarth quite well in his concept of the greengrocer:

“{9} The post-totalitarian system touches people at every step, but it does so with its ideological gloves on. This is why life in the system is so thoroughly permeated with hypocrisy and lies: government by bureaucracy is called popular government; the working class is enslaved in the name of the working class; … Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies statistics. …

{10} Individuals need not believe all these mystifications, but they must behave as though they did, or they must at least tolerate them in silence, or get along well with those who work with them. For this reason, however, they must live within a lie. They need not accept the lie. It is enough for them to have accepted their life with it and in it. For by this very fact, individuals confirm the system, fulfill the system, make the system, are the system. . . . .”

The difference between Havel’s greengrocer and the PissEarth denizen is that the people of the former are a people trained to avoid negative stimuli while the latter have learned to love the negative stimuli. They embrace it as a mission, as a religious calling, and like Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ they will strike their own perverted Christlike pose and submerge themselves wholly into these bodily fluids. They will immerse themselves and baptize themselves into a world they will lovingly embrace despite every dissonant thought, despite every horrible incident, and despite every pain that’s inflicted on them. They will hate you if you try to pull them out of it.

This is the totalistic reality of PissEarth, 2025.

Okay, Yeah, That Sounds Pretty Awful. How Do I Escape From PissEarth?

You don’t. You don’t escape PissEarth. You fight. You struggle. You take your Boomer father’s yacht that he spent your inheritance on and like Johansen you ram that shit as far into Cthulhu’s sleepy eye as you possibly can. Regardless of how it all ends. You delegitimize the system. You take everything you possibly can get from it and you rob it blind any way you can. Legally of course through any clever loophole you can find, because (taps NSA microphone) we’re good upright citizens who don’t commit any crimes and disavow any and all illegal activity.

Some seek a much more simple way to terminate this endless suffering. Listening to the wisdom of the modern nomads, they have joined the caldera deathcult and pray earnestly five times a day in the direction of Yellowstone for one final eruption to scald away our modern sins. Along this same vein, even the insects in people suits who work unpaid overtime to bring about PissEarth, 2025 stare hopefully up at the stars, not to explore them but to pull down a meteor and simply end it all. Personally, I’m pulling for a nice little grey goo scenario, an experiment of the Han Empire run amok that engulfs, smothers, and consumes the entire world. These are understandable expressions. The trashworld citizen, who knows the world for what it is, who often sat in silence like a totemic mystic once intoned “we are fucking up shit that cannot be easily unfucked“. It’s the bleak reality of a grim future, so why not end it all with a pithy “gg, everybody”.

I have another vision though. A hypnopompic one not as clear, like a dream that fades in the morning but you retain some inkling of it as you go about your day-to-day life. When I meditate I can almost see it within my mind’s eye.

I can see that even in a world lit up in gasoline-doused fires, where pain is maximal, there are men who have learned to love life so much that they will defend the last dignified patch of wood with their very lives, and not a care for how little it all means. I can still see little babies being born and suckling at their mother’s breasts in the dark of night as plastic meteors go down over the lonely mountains. I can see bands of foolhardy boys laugh about the stories they’ve heard, when technological demons once roamed the earth. I can see cold, bitter days made just a bit less uncomfortable by a fire that people learned to light by their grandfathers and great-uncles.

It must be made clear that these green dreams are not premonitions, only some slumbering notions of a better future after the inevitable long dark. Extinction is always on the table, always a possibility, and that wave of existential terror thunders inside like a beating heart in every action.

Short of a miraculous consciousness simultaneously sweeping across the great swaths of the abolished humanity, you will not stop PissEarth. It lumbers and slouches toward us, consuming everything it sees with the moral imperative of a brimstone preacher. To fight against PissEarth will be to engage in the inner jihad, to always be at war with one’s self and the world as the wars of PissEarth, 2025 are maximal wars. The forever wars.

We are not the middle children of history. We are the abandoned children of history, set down in the bulrushes of a river so polluted that it’s being set on fire. Like the Cuyahoga, I don’t know if this one has any chance of being fixed in time to undo any of the damage. Humanity has been abolished and PissEarth is rolling out the recall. You might call this bleak, you might call this depressing, but the facts are the facts and it has become clear there are two types of people in the modern world and there will only ever be these two types of people. Those who want to live and those who want to die. Those who want to die, who have given up on life, are the denizens of PissEarth, whose own lives are simulacrum broadcast back to them by malevolent entities charging them for the privilege. Those who want to live will, to a man and woman, be banished to the outer dark and be made to fend for themselves against every hostile entity, their own just desserts for rejecting the Superior Future.

Do you love life? Do you want life for your descendants? Do you want any hope against just how bad things are going to be? Then you better learn to swim in a burning river, my man, because what else are you going to do?

Tweet

MY FAVORITE ACCESSORIES

from LIZ FASHION FEED http://bit.ly/2GJOuWz via IFTTT

[eureauwaternews]

EurEau newsletter - edition 11

EurEau Committees - winter meetings February was a highly busy month for EurEau experts and the EurEau Secretariat. The EurEau Committee on Drinking Water met in Lausanne, Switzerland at the beginning of the month. Our experts dicussed the upcoming revision of the DWD, materials and products in contact with drinking water and other issues such as agriculture and the challeges of climate change. Highlights of the meetings were the workshop on on Annex I of the Drinking Water Directive ‘Quality Parameters’, and a presentation from the Swiss Water Association VSA on their micropollutants action plan. Thanks to SVGW for organising this meeting, and the municipality of Lausanne. The EurEau experts on Economic and Legal Affairs were warmly welcomed in Nis, Serbia, by the local water company Naissus. In this very productive meeting we discussed the need for investments in the water sector, water services governance, economic and regulatory issues linked to climate change and the implementation of the sustainable development goals. EU2 (Waste Water) met in January. The Maltese presidency of the Council of the EU The Maltese presidency will organise a meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean in April where they aim at adopting a Water Strategy for the Mediterranean. In the same month they will organise an informal meeting of the Ministers of the Environment of the Council of the EU where they will address climate change adaptation, ocean governance and environmental policy, environmental issues such as marine litter and the new plastic strategy in the wider context of the circular economy. Drinking Water Directive: workshop on materials and products in contact with drinking water The 3rd Symposium on material and products in contact with drinking water will be co-organised by EurEau and held in Brussels on 18 May 2017. Dr Claudia Castell-Exner will present for EurEau at this meeting.  Here is the programme and the information to register.   Micropollutants The European Commission published a roadmap on the ‘Analysis of the interface between chemicals, products and waste legislation and identification of policy options’. It will feed in the upcoming Strategy for a non-toxic environment expected by 2018. You can find it here. Another roadmap looking, inter alia, at microplastics was published concerning a ‘Strategy on Plastics in a Circular Economy’. It is available here. A public consultation, to which EurEau will submit its views, is also open on a ‘One Health Action Plan to support Member States in the fight against Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)’. The deadline is 28 April 2017. A Communication from the Commission on ‘An Action Plan for nature, people and the economy’ is available online. Common Agricultural Policy The European Commission issued a roadmap on the Communication on ‘Modernising and Simplifying the Common Agricultural Policy’. A public consultation, to which EurEau will answer, is also open for stakeholders and citizens to submit their views by the 2nd May. Circular Economy Related to Water Reuse, the European Commission published the latest version of the Joint Research Centre’s report on minimum quality requirement for water reuse in irrigation in agriculture and groundwater recharge on 3 February. The European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) and the Scientific Committees Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) were consulted on this report; their opinions are expected in late Spring. On the afternoon of Wednesday 8 March, the European Commission will hold a workshop on the open public consultation EurEau answered. More than 340 contributions were received. The purpose of this workshop is to share and discuss the draft analysis of the outcome of this consultation and collect additional contributions. Oliver Loebel and Bertrand Vallet from the secretariat will represent EurEau. Oliver will present our answer to the consultation as the starting point for the discussion. Fertiliser Regulation The reports from the AGRI and ENVI Committees were published on 2 February with a deadline for amendments on 7 March. The report from IMCO Committee was published on 14 February with a deadline for amendments on 28 March.We’re very happy to see some of our amendments in both reports. We continue to advocate our position to maximise our success on this file. The EurEau position was published and is available on the website. Intergroup meetings ‘Water and Agriculture’ will be the topic of the next meeting of the working group of the Intergroup on climate change, biodiversity and sustainable development chaired by MEP Dantin. It will take place on Tuesday 21 March 2017 at 08.00 in the European Parliament Members Restaurant. EurEau Vice-President Dr Claudia Castell-Exner will give the water services perspective on how agricultural policy should be adapted to protect water resources. Michel Dantin MEP hosted a meeting on ‘Water Governance Across Europe in Light of the Review of the EU Water Framework Directive’ on February 1. You can find more information about the meeting here. Environmental Implementation Review (EIR) On 3 February the Commission adopted an Environmental Implementation Review (EIR) package. The website provides summary and detailed country reports covering all relevant environmental legislation. Wet wipes The wet wipes industry announced new disposal labelling code of practice. For more information see the Edana website. Roadmaps

Communication from the Commission on an Action Plan on Environmental Compliance Assurance

Evaluation of the impact of CAP measures towards the general objective 'Viable food production'

News from members Call to Register for the EBC’s International Benchmarking exercise 2017 - IB2016 In 2017 the European Benchmarking Co-operation organises the 11th edition of its programme of annual benchmarking exercises for drinking water- & wastewater utilities in Western Europe (IB2016). Registration is now open. The exercises aim to assess the actual performance of drinking water- and wastewater utilities, determine strong points in which these utilities are leading and also identify performance gaps where utilities can learn from others to improve. Joining the EBC-programme is a commitment to asses, learn and improve! This year, an interesting group of utilities from all over Europe (and beyond) is expected to participate in the exercise and join us at the annual benchmarking workshop, which will be hosted and co-organised by Water Services Corporation Malta. Registration for the new benchmarking exercise (IB2016) is now open. More information on the exercise and the registration process can be found in the 'Call to Register' or on the website: www.waterbenchmark.org Out ‘n about Bioanalytical Tools in Water: From Research to Implementation EurEau President Bruno Tisserand opened a workshop on bioanalytical tools in water in Paris on 21-22 February. EUROCITIES Carla Chiaretti, from the EurEau Secretariat, is invited to share EurEau’s views with EUROCITIES’ water task-force on the developments of water policy at EU level at their meeting on the 15 March in Antwerp. Water reuse Oliver will be speaking at the stakeholders meeting on the outcome of the water reuse public consultation on 8 March in Brussels. World Water Day The UN celebrates WWD annually on March 22. This year’s theme is waste water. AEAS encourages a treatment facility open day: The Spanish Association of Water Supply and Sanitation (AEAS) launched an initiative to encourage the urban water sector to organise an open day at the waste water collection and treatment facilities to inform citizens, in a practical way, on their functioning, as well as social and environmental importance. AEAS encourages its members and all stakeholders to join this initiative to highlight the value these basic activities have for the society. Communications and media The EurEau Annual Report 2016 is now available. You can read it here. We published one media article and were extensively cited in two others this month. The first was written by Arne Haarr, the Chairman of our Working Group on Waste Water Resources and focussed on why sewage sludge should be included as a component material for fertilisers. We then featured in a news item about endocrine disruptors, also for EurActiv. Finally, our views were included in a piece by ENDs onwater reuse.   We are finalising the ‘Water Matters’ publication that many of you contributed to. This is due for World Water Day on 22 March. Each of your organisations will receive copies to disseminate. EurEau meets its members On 22 February Oliver Loebel met with the Bulgarian Water Association in Sofia. Carla Chiaretti and Oliver Loebel met with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia in Belgrade on 24 February. Events You can see a list of events happening around Europe here. The following are a selection. If you have events happening in your country, let us know, especially if you would like to get the EurEau perspective by having us represented at it! Important dates 7 March: A public session on 'Water reuse’ will take place in the European Parliament. 7 March: Oliver Loebel will address the SME Union of the EU Parliament’s EPP group. 21 March: Intergroup breakfast meeting in the European Parliament on water and agriculture. 27 March: EurEau Vice President Dr Claudia Castell-Exner will represent EurEau at the Drinking Water expert group. 15-17 May: IWA Performance Indicators conference in Vienna. 18 May: Symposium on materials and products in contact with drinking water in Brussels. You can find out more here. 24-26 May: AEAS - the XXXIV edition of the Technical  Conferences. 6-9 June: ASTEE in Liege, Belgium. 20-22 June: IWA – conference in Trondheim June 2017. More... Your colleagues can subscribe to this newsletter by emailing Caroline. You can keep up with all the EurEau news via our website, our blog on the EU and on our Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter feeds. For more events, visit our calendar.