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You're right... There are some powerful heuristics in environmentalism-- disposable is generally worse, plastics are bad, recycling is better for the environmen

You're right... There are some powerful heuristics in environmentalism-- disposable is generally worse, plastics are bad, recycling is better for the environment... But these will break in some special cases. We should avoid treating them as dogmas and be open minded when examining the entire lifecycle of products. For example, styrofoam is so much less energy intensive than firing ceramics. Given the hot water used in rewashing, you can get some unexpected consequences where disposables are the better option. https://sustainability.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/Comparativelifecyclecosts.pdf https://sustainability.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/Comparat... (That analysis is sensitive to how energy efficient your dishwasher is, and how durable the ceramic is.) So imagine if even after we stop using petroleum, Texas finds a giant pool of easy oil next to abundant landfill space... Could be Texans should probably just use plastics and toss them in that situation. New Yorkers might have a different calculus, because the cost of trash hauling and processing is more significant there. It all depends.

manicdee 8y ago
Disposables are only the better option when you move some part of the entire planet outside the system you are measuring.
- brownbat 8y ago
  Is your worry that we'll convert every inch to landfill? Rest assured, at the rate we create landfills, the tectonic plates will push our landfills below the surface of the Earth and create new untouched landmasses before we run out of space. There are unintuitive results in this domain. Highly recommend you check out some of the lit, like Hocking mentioned above.
  - manicdee 8y ago
    Have a talk to any marine biologist about how effective landfill is as a means of disposal. Single use plastics are a hair behind AGW when it comes to existential threats to humanity as a whole. We’ll poison the oceans long before landfill becomes an issue.

manicdee 8y ago

Disposables are only the better option when you move some part of the entire planet outside the system you are measuring.

brownbat 8y ago
Is your worry that we'll convert every inch to landfill? Rest assured, at the rate we create landfills, the tectonic plates will push our landfills below the surface of the Earth and create new untouched landmasses before we run out of space. There are unintuitive results in this domain. Highly recommend you check out some of the lit, like Hocking mentioned above.
- manicdee 8y ago
  Have a talk to any marine biologist about how effective landfill is as a means of disposal. Single use plastics are a hair behind AGW when it comes to existential threats to humanity as a whole. We’ll poison the oceans long before landfill becomes an issue.