Just doing my part 🤡

MacN'Cheezus@lemmy.today to Lemmy Shitpost@lemmy.world – 932 points –
132

You are viewing a single comment

i really do not understand where this idea that plastic has something to do with the climate came from, how do people imagine that to work?

No, the point of not using plastic is to not have plastics blowing around on the street for 50 years before it's degraded into microplastics that instead enter our bodies.

Plastic is made from oil that is pumped up from the earth. This oil contains carbon that eventually gets released into the atmosphere.

The climate change is caused by carbon that is pumped up from the earth and released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

Do you have enough imagination to see any kind of connection?

Yeah, I see that. Actually, it's only about the carbon that is pumped up from the earth. Nothing else matters (with respect to climate change). It's doesn't even matter how many trees are cut down, as long as they re-grow.

Takes a while for the trees to regrow. So if you burn them, you will still hurt the climate.

1 more...

They said " environment", not climate.

Oil is processed into polymers and has plasticizers added to it to become a drinking straw, a process that emits mucho carbon.

But the image states the environment right, not specifically the climate.

Someone always says this. Predictable now.

Honestly, I'm just sick of picking it up on my local beach. That and plastic bags. I'm sick of picking up plastic bags.

Some materials have higher carbon emissions than others, in terms of refinement, processing, and transportation. The third point is location dependant, but creating and shaping different materials will have different contributions to global warming.

Edit: There are also concerns with the product's end of lifespan. How long it takes to biodegrades, how easily recyclable it is, and how much the available disposal methods will effect the environment. Plastic is not great on several of these accounts. Recycling plastic water bottles isn't very efficient either, compared to glass bottles for instance.

3 more...