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As I read this I was reminded of how trees in prehistoric times piled up because no bacteria had evolved to eat them yet: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/sc
by paulstovell 8y ago
As I read this I was reminded of how trees in prehistoric times piled up because no bacteria had evolved to eat them yet:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2016/01/07/the-fantastically-strange-origin-of-most-coal-on-earth/ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2016/01...
We don’t feel so bad about using paper or wood because it now biodegrades, but if those organisms hadn’t evolved, we’d be worried about wood and paper the same way we worry about plastic.
This article suggests there are some bacteria that has already evolved to eat kinds of plastic:
http://theconversation.com/how-plastic-eating-bacteria-actually-work-a-chemist-explains-95233 http://theconversation.com/how-plastic-eating-bacteria-actua...
Maybe in a few decades with more research, we’ll have solutions for plastic that don’t involve sending it across the world?
- sushid 8y agoTo me, that's the equivalent of not doing anything about global warming because future technology may be able to trivially solve the issue. Sure, that may be a possibility, but what happens to humanity if that's not the case?
- ndnxhs 8y agoIf plastic was biodegradable that would be pretty much the same thing as burning it. We need to keep it underground in the form of oil