The Environment Thread

[byennie]

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.2c02765#


The long and the short of the study linked above is pretty grim: in effect, there may not be any rainwater on earth that is free of micro plastics (and therefore safe to drink).

If you’re looking for the insidious ways the world becomes inhospitable to human life, its in collectively refusing to reign in companies that profit off of these materials and hoping they will “self-regulate”.

As someone who recently, unexpectedly started a tire company, the plastic issue is horrific and really hard to unwind. Something like 20-30% is coming from tire wear. Odds that we’re going to get rid of rubber tires or stop driving any time soon? Also, EV tires wear faster because the vehicles are heavy. Ugh.

[Kernewek]

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.2c02765#


The long and the short of the study linked above is pretty grim: in effect, there may not be any rainwater on earth that is free of micro plastics (and therefore safe to drink).

If you’re looking for the insidious ways the world becomes inhospitable to human life, its in collectively refusing to reign in companies that profit off of these materials and hoping they will “self-regulate”.

As someone who recently, unexpectedly started a tire company, the plastic issue is horrific and really hard to unwind. Something like 20-30% is coming from tire wear. Odds that we’re going to get rid of rubber tires or stop driving any time soon? Also, EV tires wear faster because the vehicles are heavy. Ugh.

Yeah, tires are a hard one to crack. But look at stuff like the San Goban lawsuit:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/07/25/science/scientists-lawmakers-say-nh-company-spewed-more-forever-chemicals-than-acknowledged/?p1=StaffPage

And the internal documents from all the way back in 2006 saying "we ought to downplay the potential health risks of PFOA."
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22121288-2006-internal-emails-we-ought-to-downplay-the-potential-health-risk-for-pfoa

... even though they 'officially' stopped using them in 1995. Because they knew they were toxic:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22112061-full-7-14-2022-letter-to-ag?responsive=1&title=1


I understand people don't like giving central government too much power for all sorts of reasons, but a big chunk of the staunchest conservationists I know are right wingers - this is exactly why we need an EPA with enough power and time to go after companies like this. Because otherwise, they're not going to adjust until we're all screwed.