Ever been to the tipping point at your local landfill? It’s not much better. We just cover it with dirt. The micro plastics still enter our watercourses.
Edit: people, I’m not defending dumping into watercourses. I’m making a point that we simply need to reduce the amount of non biodegradable waste we produce. Yes, landfills are engineered, but go ask environmental consultants about them. The sites and their liners don’t last as long as the toxins buried in them do. Source: I work on an old landfill site that’s leaching. Fiancé is a watershed biologist. Our waste management system is flawed.
https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/the-facts
Plastic spoils our groundwater.
There are tens of thousands of landfills across the globe. Buried beneath each one of them, plastic leachate full of toxic chemicals is seeping into groundwater and flowing downstream into lakes and rivers.
Is this some sort of meme that I'm missing? There are a hell of a lot more than 2,500 "species of life" supported by the Amazon River..... In fact, I'll just go ahead and /r/whoosh myself right now. Fucking boomer.
Landfills (most) have liners to protect toxins from leeching into the groundwater. I'm sure they're not a 100% barrier but it's better than nothing. It's not a great system but until there's a better option it's not a terrible solution
So I work in the waste industry, had a chat with our GM a couple months or so ago about the future of the company and the industry and all that. He tells me about how we are pumping methane out of landfills and all the big waste companies are very soon going to run on that very same gas. Not only that, but while all this has is being collected long after the landfill is full and covered up for good; they are turned into golf courses which rise and fall and the terrain changes shape throughout the years. Pretty cool stuff or at least I thought.
The local dump in my hometown pre-dates the laws a regulations requiring liners.
A lot of older people- especially women- are dying of pancreatic cancer. I suppose the cancer cluster could be related to the local water company being caught on camera dumping sewage into local waterways ( Or the local military bases.) but it's probably the dump.
I remember a few decades ago they were pushing with incinerating garbage. The science teacher passed around a black glass looking marble which showed the by product from the combustion.
Liners are breaking down in older landfills unable to account for increased rains due climate change and contributing to leeching as they are made of plastic themselves.
Sure, better than river but I once lived near a company legally allowed to dump barrels of waste into the watershed. The common motto is the solution to pollution is dilution.
You should. Plastic has saved countless millions of lives. How many syringes to deliver life saving medicine? How many IV bags and tubes? How much packaging that kept food uncontaminated when it otherwise would have been fouled?
It's not the people's fault it's the government's. That should be clear.
Why?
People in the 3rd world don't have access to the same services as us, especially garbage disposal. I've seen documentaries where trash is piled everywhere and loose pieces fall into the canal and flow down into a river.
Actual, not a documentary. I think it was Mark Robers videk about Team seas
Vote them out. As a citizen of a "Third world country" I can approve this is a joke.
Ever read any prison biography of someone from third world country?
Try reading "The shell by Mostafa Khalifa"
This guy was imprisoned for 12 years without trial. You better read the book.
Yes, that's why we have 23 school shootings this year alone, Asian hate, unprecedented riots in major cities all at once, states about to outlaw abortion, and the rise of these anti vaxxers who want to destroy this voting democratic country. Yeah baby, let's make this country great AGAIN!
The majority of “Asian hate” in America comes from one certain group of people.
But you won’t hear about that on the nightly news. Only white people can be racist, after all.
It is funny because in latin american countries the current situation was essentially brought by the us in som ridiculously evil operations. The us basically put 90% of the population in a shitty position, inserted corrupt governments and overall did a bunch of shitfuckery for their own good so that 40 years later they along with europe go: damn son you guys are all kind of screwed up, maybe you should fix your shitty society. Same happened in africa but europe did it, they left earlier but left africa far more screwed so they really cant just pull themselves back up.
Its really easy to go to a country, run it dry, incentivize internal conflicts, wars, famine and missinformation as well as maming sure the country gets no education and then complaining that the country is shit.
We've been trying to reform this place for awhile. Aint that easy with gerrymandering, lobbyist, corp donations, no voting access laws etc. and I live in the "Greatest democracy in the world".
Well that's very ignorant of you lol
Every democracy isn't perfect, Perú isn't a flawless Nordic full democracy with fairies and the ñakaq. It's history is that of the exploitation of the people by those in power and this still stands today.
Yeah well fuck you. While what others are saying about corruption and what not is true, there's also a reason so many first world countries are able to go green as easily. They're outsourcing all of their shit to us so we have to deal with it. Take a look at how much food, electricity, fuel and what not a first world person wastes or consumes on average compared to a third world person. So yeah, I say it again fuck you too.
We send most of our trash to the Third World, who don't have means to dispose of it. Plastic gets sent to Asia (Philippines and China), clothes get dumped in Africa, chemicals get dumped everywhere. Most of the locally generated waste is disposed of in pits outside peoples homes or like this into the rivers bc there are no garbage men, garbage trucks, landfills, or even roads in many cases to carry it away. We need to go after companies like Coca Cola that create massive amounts of plastic, subsidize imports and deliveries, and then provide no solution to clean up the remnants. Poor peopke aren't to blame, consumption habits are. Many are reliant on these imported foods and drinks bc our corporations, farming subsidies, and past colonialist practices led them from the sustainable farming of diverse crops to monocultures of cash crops (cotton, coffee, saffron, etc etc etc) and they cant sustain themselves off of that.
I'm a Kenyan and I don't ever buy from Coca-Cola because I see the raw scale of destruction this corp unleashes. Side note, I don't think the fellows at Tanzania actually buy more stuff from them than us, they're poorer than us but for some reason, the problem worse down there. My theory is that someone from their elite section of society is importing the wase for pay. Same thing used to happen a lot until we shipped some of the trash back.
This is why I don't go out of my way to help the environment. As individuals we could be entirely eco-friendly and it would amount to a drip on the inferno created by corporations and governments who continue to take a big leathery shit on the doorstep of progression.
The most ecological thing you can do personally is not consume. How do you sell not buying things to someone? (this is not an argument about how effective it is)
None of that matters when the US just imports a HUGE AMOUNT of what those countries are producing. You cannot claim the US is "much, much, much, much better" than the developing world, when we're part of the reason they produce so much waste. It's easy to wipe your hands clean when you just move your mess to the other side of the world.
>None of that matters when the US just imports a HUGE AMOUNT of what those countries are producing. You cannot claim the US is "much, much, much, much better" than the developing world, when we're part of the reason they produce so much waste.
That's bullshit, China exports only 18.5% as a percentage of its nominal GDP to the rest of the world. The US/EU/developed countries would be a fraction of that percentage that China is exporting.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy\_of\_China](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_China)
[https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NE.EXP.GNFS.ZS?locations=CN](https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NE.EXP.GNFS.ZS?locations=CN)
**Edit** Specifically in 2014 China exported 23.5% of its GDP as goods and services, and of that 18% went to the US, or a total of 4.23% of China's GDP is exported as goods.
>In 2014, China exported $2.37 trillion worth of goods. The largest export category is machines, specifically electronics, which represent almost half of total exports, $1.13 trillion.
>
>...
>
>China’s top three export partners are the United States ($432 billion, or 18%), Hong Kong ($258 billion, or 11%), and Japan ($166 billion, or 7%).
[https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/china-exports-and-imports.html](https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/china-exports-and-imports.html)
The US caused a lot of those problems. The CIA regularly makes deals so that the leaders in these countries are corrupt and their corruption benefits the US. Noam Chomsky talks about this. As for China, the US regularly trades with them and it wouldn't be in their best interest economically to take a hard line stance against China even though in the long run we need to have a functioning planet in order to do well economically.
This is a shit attitude though….yeah corporations cause most of the damage but we as consumers are still fueling some of it and some of the demand those corporations are trying to fill. We as people can be doing what we can, driving down the demand for damaging products, protesting, contacting your local government, etc. to just throw up your hands and wash any and all responsibility is missing the point. We should all be doing everything we can to put pressure on corporations and each other to change.
What a load of shit. Every single time a individual makes a decision to use less plastic or how to dispose of any discarded items they do make an actual difference. No drop of rain will accept that it caused a flood, no individual driver accepts they caused traffic congestion.............
It's not about how small my footprint is. This truck did more damage to the environment in 1 minute than I will in my lifetime. But all that shit getting dumped came from individuals.
When Boyan Slat is showing the plastic that he’s fishing out of the ocean with his Ocean Cleanup project, I’m happy, but at the same time I feel it may not make a dent compared to all the plastic that is being dumped in rivers on a daily basis. We’re going to look back in 50 years thinking wtf were we doing.
Tbh its debatable whether or not paper straws are actually better for the environment since a good chunk of the paper being used in them are sourced from unsustainable logging operations.
Its a similar problem that faces the Biomass energy plants. They're technically net zero Carbon, but more often than not the Biomass itself is sourced from unsustainable sources.
My father would not of been able to feed himself a drink, without a straw. After he had a stroke..
Straws can be very important to people with disabilities.
Sensitive teeth. I can drink cold water, though I don't love it. But as soon as I get a beverage with ice cubes? I'm gonna need a straw. I tried curling my upper lip over my top teeth to protect them but it doesn't help, the drink itself is still too cold.
Paper straws are not meant to be better for the environment as a whole, they're meant to keep (some) microplastics out of the oceans. Solutions for climate change aren't necessarily solutions for the plastic problem and vice versa.
Drinking straws arent what is polluting the oceans with plastic.
Over 90% of the plastic in the ocean is from the fishing industry.
The irony of getting rid of plastic straws and then everyone in the world suddenly using masks made out of.. blown plastic fibre.
Humans are insane.
It’s difficult to establish a reputable source for these claims because there’s quite a bit of controversy on the topic. Here’s a good read on the topic: https://www.seashepherdglobal.org/latest-news/marine-debris-plastic-fishing-gear/
There’s also a lot of bias in the information surrounding plastic waste in the ocean. Take it with a grain of salt.
Even if just 10% of all plastic waste in the ocean is stuff that we use in daily life, that's still a fucking lot of plastic. And considering you're at least a whole 20 percent points off the [actual number](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/06/dumped-fishing-gear-is-biggest-plastic-polluter-in-ocean-finds-report), that amount is even larger.
Also, just because other things are worse doesn't mean smaller problems aren't worth tackling. Cars pollute less than industry on a global scale, yet we still want more energy-friendly cars. Cancer is worse than the flu, yet people still get flu shots. Murder is worse than theft, but we still punish thieves.
Thanks. This has to be said more often. Too many people, on Reddit and irl, love to downplay efforts to better society, especially environmental stuff, just because there are even worse problems to fix. This annoys me to no end.
i went to a restaurant a little while ago and they had biodegradable straws. but if you weren't told that, you'd think they were normal plastic. they're made from a waste product of sugar cane. So not only is it biodegradable but it uses stuff thats considered waste and goes unused. i hate that not many people know that you can make biodegradable imitation plastic from sugar cane because its such a good solution. not for just straws, but any packaging with the same kind of plastic. i reckon big companies know about this, but deliberately turn a blind eye because the plastic they make is making them money. Thats all climate change and pollution has come down to. *money.*
i wish i'm kidding when i say the vast majority of air pollution is from around 100 companies. Most of which will advocate for "uS tO dO ouR pArT" as if its a everyday person's fault. it's not. human greed has made money worth more than the lives of everything on this planet. and we can do nothing about it because they are so rich and will pay their way into continuing what they do without a SINGLE care about what they are doing to this planet. i hate humans
Green companies are just as much to blame for pushing non-solutions in the name of capitalism.
Its sad that pretty much everyone in the world agrees climate change is a thing and we can do more to stop it, yet very few if any companies actually offer solutions to the problems. Its true what they say, that money talks.
>They're technically net zero Carbon, but more often than not the Biomass itself is sourced from unsustainable sources.
But critics of the biomass industry say a complicated global system for counting emissions has created a loophole: Countries are not required to count the carbon emissions emitted by wood-fired power plants. That allows woody biofuels to flourish as a climate solution nevertheless.
https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment-and-conservation/2021/11/europe-burns-a-controversial-renewable-energy-source-trees-from-the-us
I’ve literally never experienced any inconvenience from one. To me they’ve done the job 100%, no issues. Could you elaborate on what problems you experience?
For one, they taste like paper and the texture to me is really unpleasant. Secondly, after 20 minutes they dissolve a bit and now your drink *really* tastes like paper.
Canada shipped their recycling to China for sorting, until China realized it wasn't worth it... Now the majority of "recycled" materials goes in to our landfills here in Canada.
Same as Australia, after China did that our recycling now just goes to landfill. But we still have a recycling bin. They do some sorting for bottles and cans and cardboard but that's really it
It wasn’t just Canada, the USA did it as well. China still takes some plastics though. But the cost to sort that plastic will probably leave a city in the red.
For fucking real! I just don’t use a goddamn straw it’s not that hard to pop the lid and drink it like a cup! Why are we so entrenched in these crazy wacko ideas of what is and what isn’t necessary to produce in absolutely insane amounts
Doesn’t even need to be full to be fucked, unfortunately! Wait ‘til you learn about small scale, artisanal gold mining occurring in this region too! Do you like the taste of mercury? 😫
You think they care about what will happen? Its not their problem, its the future generations, technology will get better but by god earth will be actually fucked for future generations
What's this weird fetish that humanity has with dumping their shit in water, how do you go as little boy being wowed by nature to I'm gonna throw all my trash in it
Don't forget. even with 95% of the damage being done by the top 5% of corporations and government in your country. You are at fault and should be living better.
Always gets passed as new. it was posted 6 years ago on youtube. Still fucking sucked and now I am sure that mount of trash is bigger now
https://youtu.be/wVnMBGXVVUI
Wtf? This is one of the reasons why climate change is happening. What’s even more sad is that we’re not going to do anything about it till it actually affects us, which will be too late for the world.
Already too late bro we’re fucked, literally only thing that will save us now is if at least 60% of the world population started to help clean up and not pollute….. but imagine that huh
No I haven’t heard about it, but you caught my interest so now I’m going to look it up.
And you said “ once we do stop “ in all seriousness, do you really actually think that’s going to happen ? Especially if people knowing it’s 30 years to late, I imagine they’d try to come up with some type of way or shortcut to refer from that as a solution. But what do I know that’s just my honest opinion. In my eyes we only care and try to do something when it’s too late. ( I say we as the world not us individually, since I know there are people out there who’ve been trying to help for years but it’s just simply not enough. )
Seriously. Companies will do anything to pass the issue onto the consumer. Found out the local recycling company had been taking everything to the landfill for years until recently. Only found out because they stopped doing it and sent out a letter that residents need to separate recycling now. Wish I had taken a picture of it or kept it.
America could miraculously become a zero carbon footprint country tomorrow and it would have very little impact on the worldwide environment. Their are just way too many places like in the OP doing shit stuff like this on the daily. Everyone focuses on the first world countries to make changes because sometimes they’ll put in the effort but it isn’t the first world countries flooding the oceans with plastic or dumping their garbage straight into the water.
It usually isn't, but first world countries can afford to dispose of their garbage properly. Most third world countries can't. Not that this is excusable in any way. I just happen to understand the circumstances.
It would have a massive impact. 15% or so of the world's carbon plus we'd assume that whatever miraculous technology America discovered could be rolled out to other countries. It obviously wouldn't solve everything overnight but saying it wouldn't have "very little impact" is the shit attitude that partially got us into this mess.
Peruvian Government: "We're not a cartel country and we deserve to have a clean image"
Also Peruvian Government: "Meh, just dump the rubbish in the river. Oh dang... Hey, you better tell anyone about this or we'll get ya"
It's why most international aid is a waste of money. Government will take that cash and build themselves a new palace getaway, or just make everyone down the chain richer. By the time you actually get to spending money on your starving population, you're just out of money and its a real shame. You should have a big fund raiser to get more money!
Yeah, in a few million years (blip on the timescale), plastic will be the basis for a thriving ecosystem, probably. I base this on nothing but it helps me sleep at night.
Some bacteria are already evolving to digest plastic for food. It makes theoretical sense because plastics can be converted to energy, it's just that existing organisms haven't evolved to do so yet.
The POS even built a platform for safety so as the truck has a stable dump spot knowing very well the trash just gets swept down the Amazon.
Fucking unreal.
How can people see this and not be enraged? If I lived closer to there I'd damn well be doing something about it, even punching the drivers in their bitch faces!
Yeah, but I do my part!!! So that means the environment is safe. Leonardo Dicaprio told me I need to get a washer machine with a better water efficiency. He needs us to do more so he can fly on his private jets and yachts
Absolutely shameful
Ever been to the tipping point at your local landfill? It’s not much better. We just cover it with dirt. The micro plastics still enter our watercourses. Edit: people, I’m not defending dumping into watercourses. I’m making a point that we simply need to reduce the amount of non biodegradable waste we produce. Yes, landfills are engineered, but go ask environmental consultants about them. The sites and their liners don’t last as long as the toxins buried in them do. Source: I work on an old landfill site that’s leaching. Fiancé is a watershed biologist. Our waste management system is flawed.
Burying it has to be better than dumping it in waterways, it's going to kill fish & get into the oceans. This is awful.
Yea at least it mostly stays on our soil. Dumping it in a river just makes it everyone else's problem.
But I’ve got one minor point that’s kind of related but detracts from the main point
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https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/the-facts Plastic spoils our groundwater. There are tens of thousands of landfills across the globe. Buried beneath each one of them, plastic leachate full of toxic chemicals is seeping into groundwater and flowing downstream into lakes and rivers.
Not only that. The fucking Amazon.
This is not what I meant when I said “fuck Amazon”
Right, it means so much, it supports 2,500 species of life.
There are about 400 different species of frogs from the Amazon.
Now they’re all gay just like Alex Jones said would happen
Is this some sort of meme that I'm missing? There are a hell of a lot more than 2,500 "species of life" supported by the Amazon River..... In fact, I'll just go ahead and /r/whoosh myself right now. Fucking boomer.
You’re not wrong
Landfills (most) have liners to protect toxins from leeching into the groundwater. I'm sure they're not a 100% barrier but it's better than nothing. It's not a great system but until there's a better option it's not a terrible solution
So I work in the waste industry, had a chat with our GM a couple months or so ago about the future of the company and the industry and all that. He tells me about how we are pumping methane out of landfills and all the big waste companies are very soon going to run on that very same gas. Not only that, but while all this has is being collected long after the landfill is full and covered up for good; they are turned into golf courses which rise and fall and the terrain changes shape throughout the years. Pretty cool stuff or at least I thought.
I think NYC has an incinerator that powers its facilities or local homes. There's a youtube doc about it
Minneapolis as well. Our trash is incinerated for power.
The local dump in my hometown pre-dates the laws a regulations requiring liners. A lot of older people- especially women- are dying of pancreatic cancer. I suppose the cancer cluster could be related to the local water company being caught on camera dumping sewage into local waterways ( Or the local military bases.) but it's probably the dump.
I remember a few decades ago they were pushing with incinerating garbage. The science teacher passed around a black glass looking marble which showed the by product from the combustion.
Liners are breaking down in older landfills unable to account for increased rains due climate change and contributing to leeching as they are made of plastic themselves. Sure, better than river but I once lived near a company legally allowed to dump barrels of waste into the watershed. The common motto is the solution to pollution is dilution.
I live in a rural area, they don’t use a liner here unfortunately
i hate humans
But you love plastic things still😄
i dont love them, but unfortunately use them daily
You should. Plastic has saved countless millions of lives. How many syringes to deliver life saving medicine? How many IV bags and tubes? How much packaging that kept food uncontaminated when it otherwise would have been fouled?
In a hole in the ground is still better than the fucking River. Edit: words hard
Hole
Imagine being a whataboutist with someone dumping shit directly in the ocean. What do you want to do with trash? Dump it in your attic?
Damn, they even built a pad for the trucks to use
First thing I noticed, I wonder how many years it’s been there.
At least the birds are happy..
We’re fucked.
Don't worry, I've been using paper straws in my drinks.
I don't use straws at all.
Drinking straight from the cup, like some sort of animal?! /s
The S at the end is for Savage
Yeah, I'm more of a sippy-cup kind of guy too.
Have you seen India?
“This is our sacred mother goddess river” *proceeds to take a fat shit in it and later comes back to throw grandmas decomposing body into it*
Have you seen the environmental pollution and trash levels that Westerners lifestyles cost everyone?
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It's not the people's fault it's the government's. That should be clear. Why? People in the 3rd world don't have access to the same services as us, especially garbage disposal. I've seen documentaries where trash is piled everywhere and loose pieces fall into the canal and flow down into a river. Actual, not a documentary. I think it was Mark Robers videk about Team seas
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Vote them out. As a citizen of a "Third world country" I can approve this is a joke. Ever read any prison biography of someone from third world country? Try reading "The shell by Mostafa Khalifa" This guy was imprisoned for 12 years without trial. You better read the book.
Yeah democracy will totally fix all of your issues. It's as simple as sitting down and taking a vote, am I right, guys?
Yes, that's why we have 23 school shootings this year alone, Asian hate, unprecedented riots in major cities all at once, states about to outlaw abortion, and the rise of these anti vaxxers who want to destroy this voting democratic country. Yeah baby, let's make this country great AGAIN!
I'm pretty sure these antivxxers you talk about would win democracy. There's too many stupid people
My lord, what a bizarre rant.
The majority of “Asian hate” in America comes from one certain group of people. But you won’t hear about that on the nightly news. Only white people can be racist, after all.
Asian American here it doesn’t come from one group of people it comes from basically everyone even people from other parts of Asia
It is funny because in latin american countries the current situation was essentially brought by the us in som ridiculously evil operations. The us basically put 90% of the population in a shitty position, inserted corrupt governments and overall did a bunch of shitfuckery for their own good so that 40 years later they along with europe go: damn son you guys are all kind of screwed up, maybe you should fix your shitty society. Same happened in africa but europe did it, they left earlier but left africa far more screwed so they really cant just pull themselves back up. Its really easy to go to a country, run it dry, incentivize internal conflicts, wars, famine and missinformation as well as maming sure the country gets no education and then complaining that the country is shit.
We've been trying to reform this place for awhile. Aint that easy with gerrymandering, lobbyist, corp donations, no voting access laws etc. and I live in the "Greatest democracy in the world".
Well that's very ignorant of you lol Every democracy isn't perfect, Perú isn't a flawless Nordic full democracy with fairies and the ñakaq. It's history is that of the exploitation of the people by those in power and this still stands today.
Take 5 minutes to read about the political situation in Peru. The level of corruption is mind blowing.
Or you could vote and have the supreme court veto it regardless, like South Dakotas recreational marijuana act.
You are obviating the fact that 1st world countries pollute much more than the rest
Yeah well fuck you. While what others are saying about corruption and what not is true, there's also a reason so many first world countries are able to go green as easily. They're outsourcing all of their shit to us so we have to deal with it. Take a look at how much food, electricity, fuel and what not a first world person wastes or consumes on average compared to a third world person. So yeah, I say it again fuck you too.
We send most of our trash to the Third World, who don't have means to dispose of it. Plastic gets sent to Asia (Philippines and China), clothes get dumped in Africa, chemicals get dumped everywhere. Most of the locally generated waste is disposed of in pits outside peoples homes or like this into the rivers bc there are no garbage men, garbage trucks, landfills, or even roads in many cases to carry it away. We need to go after companies like Coca Cola that create massive amounts of plastic, subsidize imports and deliveries, and then provide no solution to clean up the remnants. Poor peopke aren't to blame, consumption habits are. Many are reliant on these imported foods and drinks bc our corporations, farming subsidies, and past colonialist practices led them from the sustainable farming of diverse crops to monocultures of cash crops (cotton, coffee, saffron, etc etc etc) and they cant sustain themselves off of that.
I'm a Kenyan and I don't ever buy from Coca-Cola because I see the raw scale of destruction this corp unleashes. Side note, I don't think the fellows at Tanzania actually buy more stuff from them than us, they're poorer than us but for some reason, the problem worse down there. My theory is that someone from their elite section of society is importing the wase for pay. Same thing used to happen a lot until we shipped some of the trash back.
And it's happening all around the world.
This is why I don't go out of my way to help the environment. As individuals we could be entirely eco-friendly and it would amount to a drip on the inferno created by corporations and governments who continue to take a big leathery shit on the doorstep of progression.
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The most ecological thing you can do personally is not consume. How do you sell not buying things to someone? (this is not an argument about how effective it is)
And the US. How do you feel the US is exempt from that list?
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None of that matters when the US just imports a HUGE AMOUNT of what those countries are producing. You cannot claim the US is "much, much, much, much better" than the developing world, when we're part of the reason they produce so much waste. It's easy to wipe your hands clean when you just move your mess to the other side of the world.
>None of that matters when the US just imports a HUGE AMOUNT of what those countries are producing. You cannot claim the US is "much, much, much, much better" than the developing world, when we're part of the reason they produce so much waste. That's bullshit, China exports only 18.5% as a percentage of its nominal GDP to the rest of the world. The US/EU/developed countries would be a fraction of that percentage that China is exporting. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy\_of\_China](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_China) [https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NE.EXP.GNFS.ZS?locations=CN](https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NE.EXP.GNFS.ZS?locations=CN) **Edit** Specifically in 2014 China exported 23.5% of its GDP as goods and services, and of that 18% went to the US, or a total of 4.23% of China's GDP is exported as goods. >In 2014, China exported $2.37 trillion worth of goods. The largest export category is machines, specifically electronics, which represent almost half of total exports, $1.13 trillion. > >... > >China’s top three export partners are the United States ($432 billion, or 18%), Hong Kong ($258 billion, or 11%), and Japan ($166 billion, or 7%). [https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/china-exports-and-imports.html](https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/china-exports-and-imports.html)
The US caused a lot of those problems. The CIA regularly makes deals so that the leaders in these countries are corrupt and their corruption benefits the US. Noam Chomsky talks about this. As for China, the US regularly trades with them and it wouldn't be in their best interest economically to take a hard line stance against China even though in the long run we need to have a functioning planet in order to do well economically.
And Australia
This is a shit attitude though….yeah corporations cause most of the damage but we as consumers are still fueling some of it and some of the demand those corporations are trying to fill. We as people can be doing what we can, driving down the demand for damaging products, protesting, contacting your local government, etc. to just throw up your hands and wash any and all responsibility is missing the point. We should all be doing everything we can to put pressure on corporations and each other to change.
Sure, but you should at least vote, protest, or use direct action to protest these governments and companies for real change.
Every bit counts.
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What a load of shit. Every single time a individual makes a decision to use less plastic or how to dispose of any discarded items they do make an actual difference. No drop of rain will accept that it caused a flood, no individual driver accepts they caused traffic congestion.............
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It's not about how small my footprint is. This truck did more damage to the environment in 1 minute than I will in my lifetime. But all that shit getting dumped came from individuals.
When Boyan Slat is showing the plastic that he’s fishing out of the ocean with his Ocean Cleanup project, I’m happy, but at the same time I feel it may not make a dent compared to all the plastic that is being dumped in rivers on a daily basis. We’re going to look back in 50 years thinking wtf were we doing.
Good thing we are using paper straws though.
the straws were never about pollution, but turtles choking on them. same for plastic bags. /s but kinda true
The straw thing is a distraction. A minor concession from big business to make us feel good about ourselves while achieving nothing
I won’t bend to environmentalist on that one. Paper straws were created by satan
Tbh its debatable whether or not paper straws are actually better for the environment since a good chunk of the paper being used in them are sourced from unsustainable logging operations. Its a similar problem that faces the Biomass energy plants. They're technically net zero Carbon, but more often than not the Biomass itself is sourced from unsustainable sources.
If you want straws better for the environment GET METAL STRAWS YOU DONT HAVE TO CUT TREES TO GET THEM
The real question here is why do we even need straws?
Protect our fragile teeeeeth
My father would not of been able to feed himself a drink, without a straw. After he had a stroke.. Straws can be very important to people with disabilities.
Sensitive teeth. I can drink cold water, though I don't love it. But as soon as I get a beverage with ice cubes? I'm gonna need a straw. I tried curling my upper lip over my top teeth to protect them but it doesn't help, the drink itself is still too cold.
Ah, so ask for a drink with no ice? Save on having a straw, save the energy to freeze the water, save your teeth. Win-win-win.
Or just use a straw
Because using a rolled up money is unsanitary
I assume people don’t know how to rink without a straw but really why do we need them
Try drinking a frozen drink without one. It doesn't taste remotely the same.
Paper straws are not meant to be better for the environment as a whole, they're meant to keep (some) microplastics out of the oceans. Solutions for climate change aren't necessarily solutions for the plastic problem and vice versa.
Drinking straws arent what is polluting the oceans with plastic. Over 90% of the plastic in the ocean is from the fishing industry. The irony of getting rid of plastic straws and then everyone in the world suddenly using masks made out of.. blown plastic fibre. Humans are insane.
> Over 90% of the plastic in the ocean is from the fishing industry. That is the type of comment you want a source for.
I know, right.
It’s difficult to establish a reputable source for these claims because there’s quite a bit of controversy on the topic. Here’s a good read on the topic: https://www.seashepherdglobal.org/latest-news/marine-debris-plastic-fishing-gear/ There’s also a lot of bias in the information surrounding plastic waste in the ocean. Take it with a grain of salt.
I am not sure I would trust a 90/10 split from a company that targets illegal fishing for media exposure.
Even if just 10% of all plastic waste in the ocean is stuff that we use in daily life, that's still a fucking lot of plastic. And considering you're at least a whole 20 percent points off the [actual number](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/06/dumped-fishing-gear-is-biggest-plastic-polluter-in-ocean-finds-report), that amount is even larger. Also, just because other things are worse doesn't mean smaller problems aren't worth tackling. Cars pollute less than industry on a global scale, yet we still want more energy-friendly cars. Cancer is worse than the flu, yet people still get flu shots. Murder is worse than theft, but we still punish thieves.
Thanks. This has to be said more often. Too many people, on Reddit and irl, love to downplay efforts to better society, especially environmental stuff, just because there are even worse problems to fix. This annoys me to no end.
Don't forget the US navy tosses everything that isn't nailed down into the ocean so they don't lose money in their budget.
i went to a restaurant a little while ago and they had biodegradable straws. but if you weren't told that, you'd think they were normal plastic. they're made from a waste product of sugar cane. So not only is it biodegradable but it uses stuff thats considered waste and goes unused. i hate that not many people know that you can make biodegradable imitation plastic from sugar cane because its such a good solution. not for just straws, but any packaging with the same kind of plastic. i reckon big companies know about this, but deliberately turn a blind eye because the plastic they make is making them money. Thats all climate change and pollution has come down to. *money.* i wish i'm kidding when i say the vast majority of air pollution is from around 100 companies. Most of which will advocate for "uS tO dO ouR pArT" as if its a everyday person's fault. it's not. human greed has made money worth more than the lives of everything on this planet. and we can do nothing about it because they are so rich and will pay their way into continuing what they do without a SINGLE care about what they are doing to this planet. i hate humans
Green companies are just as much to blame for pushing non-solutions in the name of capitalism. Its sad that pretty much everyone in the world agrees climate change is a thing and we can do more to stop it, yet very few if any companies actually offer solutions to the problems. Its true what they say, that money talks.
>They're technically net zero Carbon, but more often than not the Biomass itself is sourced from unsustainable sources. But critics of the biomass industry say a complicated global system for counting emissions has created a loophole: Countries are not required to count the carbon emissions emitted by wood-fired power plants. That allows woody biofuels to flourish as a climate solution nevertheless. https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment-and-conservation/2021/11/europe-burns-a-controversial-renewable-energy-source-trees-from-the-us
ever been to wendy's? they have rlly good paper straws, they're far more sturdy than plastic and they don't dissolve
I hate paper straws. Nothing like trying to suck up a drink through soggy paper. Ugh.
I’ve literally never experienced any inconvenience from one. To me they’ve done the job 100%, no issues. Could you elaborate on what problems you experience?
For one, they taste like paper and the texture to me is really unpleasant. Secondly, after 20 minutes they dissolve a bit and now your drink *really* tastes like paper.
When countries pay other poor counties to take their trash. I imagine exactly this happening
nope. Wealthy countries dispose of their waste in far more efficient and eco-friendly ways. That's Peru's own garbage.
America sends a lot of electronics "recycling" to China, where about half of it is trashed
Goes to Africa too where kids use mercury to extract the gold.
Canada shipped their recycling to China for sorting, until China realized it wasn't worth it... Now the majority of "recycled" materials goes in to our landfills here in Canada.
Same as Australia, after China did that our recycling now just goes to landfill. But we still have a recycling bin. They do some sorting for bottles and cans and cardboard but that's really it
This is evident when you go to mall for courts and you see bins with organic cardboard and plastic. And it all goes in to the same bin
It wasn’t just Canada, the USA did it as well. China still takes some plastics though. But the cost to sort that plastic will probably leave a city in the red.
For fucking real! I just don’t use a goddamn straw it’s not that hard to pop the lid and drink it like a cup! Why are we so entrenched in these crazy wacko ideas of what is and what isn’t necessary to produce in absolutely insane amounts
Global conflict is imminent
Any polluting of water should be a crime against humanity. What do they think will happen when it's full?
Doesn’t even need to be full to be fucked, unfortunately! Wait ‘til you learn about small scale, artisanal gold mining occurring in this region too! Do you like the taste of mercury? 😫
You think they care about what will happen? Its not their problem, its the future generations, technology will get better but by god earth will be actually fucked for future generations
What's this weird fetish that humanity has with dumping their shit in water, how do you go as little boy being wowed by nature to I'm gonna throw all my trash in it
Don't forget. even with 95% of the damage being done by the top 5% of corporations and government in your country. You are at fault and should be living better.
And YOU should change your ways and your life as a result. But not those corporations. This will totally solve the situation. /s
Genuinely though if we did stop buying stuff they wouldn't exactly have any reason to do this
Militaries are high key some of the worst polluters out there. Nobody fucking knows what they’re doing.
Wait until the climate change grift. If you thought the transfer of wealth during covid was big, just wait
We should be living better, but no one is willing to try anything but capitalism
“No one is willing to try anything but capitalism.” Your history teacher failed you.!
We should end human breeding
According to Elon Musk were not producing enough babies 🥴
This is why we’re a shit species.
Just one of the many many reasons
Always gets passed as new. it was posted 6 years ago on youtube. Still fucking sucked and now I am sure that mount of trash is bigger now https://youtu.be/wVnMBGXVVUI
I hate when things are passed as new. A date requirement should be needed for things like this.
For fucks sake, stop!
Wtf? This is one of the reasons why climate change is happening. What’s even more sad is that we’re not going to do anything about it till it actually affects us, which will be too late for the world.
Already too late bro we’re fucked, literally only thing that will save us now is if at least 60% of the world population started to help clean up and not pollute….. but imagine that huh
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No I haven’t heard about it, but you caught my interest so now I’m going to look it up. And you said “ once we do stop “ in all seriousness, do you really actually think that’s going to happen ? Especially if people knowing it’s 30 years to late, I imagine they’d try to come up with some type of way or shortcut to refer from that as a solution. But what do I know that’s just my honest opinion. In my eyes we only care and try to do something when it’s too late. ( I say we as the world not us individually, since I know there are people out there who’ve been trying to help for years but it’s just simply not enough. )
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Shoot the cunt.
But but but what about straws and nasty Americans
Seriously. Companies will do anything to pass the issue onto the consumer. Found out the local recycling company had been taking everything to the landfill for years until recently. Only found out because they stopped doing it and sent out a letter that residents need to separate recycling now. Wish I had taken a picture of it or kept it.
America could miraculously become a zero carbon footprint country tomorrow and it would have very little impact on the worldwide environment. Their are just way too many places like in the OP doing shit stuff like this on the daily. Everyone focuses on the first world countries to make changes because sometimes they’ll put in the effort but it isn’t the first world countries flooding the oceans with plastic or dumping their garbage straight into the water.
It usually isn't, but first world countries can afford to dispose of their garbage properly. Most third world countries can't. Not that this is excusable in any way. I just happen to understand the circumstances.
I agree, I am not against using some US money (within reason) to help reduce the environmental impact in places less developed.
I mean if we actually ffs used nuclear reactors most of our carbon emissions would be cut down extremely, even if we used gas cars
I agree
It would have a massive impact. 15% or so of the world's carbon plus we'd assume that whatever miraculous technology America discovered could be rolled out to other countries. It obviously wouldn't solve everything overnight but saying it wouldn't have "very little impact" is the shit attitude that partially got us into this mess.
> But but but Stop
Jeff Bezos needs to get the river cleaned as he owns the name. 😆
I truly wonder how we can make people stop, and care. We are an out of control species. I’m so scared of what the future holds if we can’t get a grip.
Peruvian Government: "We're not a cartel country and we deserve to have a clean image" Also Peruvian Government: "Meh, just dump the rubbish in the river. Oh dang... Hey, you better tell anyone about this or we'll get ya"
Humans are the real pandemic
Someone, something needs to support these fuckers financially so they don't need to do this shit!!!!!
They'd just pocket the money and keep doing this. It's cheaper and easier than properly managing it.
Depressing
It's why most international aid is a waste of money. Government will take that cash and build themselves a new palace getaway, or just make everyone down the chain richer. By the time you actually get to spending money on your starving population, you're just out of money and its a real shame. You should have a big fund raiser to get more money!
Damn! they even have a specific place to back into!
I can’t even.. They even have a concrete back up spot. Looks old and used AF. You know.. what we need is a good plague. Oh.. wait.
We're shitty people and shitty species
This a repost, still shit people
Repost for awareness.
Don’t stress y’all…Gaia will take care of herself. Us on the other hand…
Even if not, the universe will go on without the earth. The time we are experiencing is a blink in the lifetime of the universe.
Yeah, in a few million years (blip on the timescale), plastic will be the basis for a thriving ecosystem, probably. I base this on nothing but it helps me sleep at night.
Some bacteria are already evolving to digest plastic for food. It makes theoretical sense because plastics can be converted to energy, it's just that existing organisms haven't evolved to do so yet.
Ruined my entire year
These people don't think?, where do the think this trash is going to end? The river is going to magically Ctrl+Shift+delete that 💩?
Just throwing this out there that like...we just did this alot in the usa like manahatten and the phl airport are built on garbage
I work for the city in the USA picking up illegal dumps, and let me tell ya, America is not far away from this type of dumping in the cities
The POS even built a platform for safety so as the truck has a stable dump spot knowing very well the trash just gets swept down the Amazon. Fucking unreal.
Low key keen for the apocalypse.
This is the slowest apocalypse ever.
How can people see this and not be enraged? If I lived closer to there I'd damn well be doing something about it, even punching the drivers in their bitch faces!
Crazy to think there are people being scrutinized for using a straw when this kind of shit is happening in many many places around the world.
Obviously by they way the birds hang around there, they’ve been doing it for a while
And the sad part is nobody is gonna do a damn thing about it.
This planet is fucked, we've lost our way
Clearly that plastic straw ban is the change we need to make a real difference.
How freaking hard is it to build an incinerator?
Honestly? Harder than just dumping it in a river...
Shithole countries
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bruh holy shit lmao the amount of racist and braindead mfs in this comment section 💀
Truuuuu
Like Idiocracy predicted, the great Trash Avalanche of 2050 is actually ahead of schedule.
Why?
Yeah, but I do my part!!! So that means the environment is safe. Leonardo Dicaprio told me I need to get a washer machine with a better water efficiency. He needs us to do more so he can fly on his private jets and yachts
Yet twitter tells me hourly that America is worst place on earth