4 ms·

This era will be marked by a layer of plastic in the geological record.

jasonless 7y ago
I read in this one report where the life expectancy from 1890-1960 increased from 40 years (of age) to 65. The highest increase ever in human history. During this time the US was going through an industrial revolution I believe? I'm not sure. With tons of factories and smoke stacks polluting the air. Yet quality of life was fine? I guess if we pair that with plastic falling from the sky there is nothing to worry about? Also the article mentioned the plastic particles were super small. Not sure if that would really hurt anyone. Likely marginal? What do everyone else think?
- pboutros 7y ago
  Ebola is really small too! More seriously, to your point about historical growth + pollution -- (1) this stuff is cumulative and (2) the world is polluting more now than it ever has. Here's an article on how small pieces of plastic is unhealthy: https://www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/mag-features/2016/10/03/427839.htm https://www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/mag-features/2016...
- ivl 7y ago
  The increase in lifespan is more due to childhood mortality falling sharply in those years. I've always found average lifespan to be problematic. Most of the deaths weren't from 65 being the age where old age started to kill. It was on account of how many more infants and children started reaching 5 on account of vaccines.
  - joombaga 7y ago
    To flip this completely on its head, I'd be interested to see how childhood mortality rates have been affected by major events in plastics.
  - chrisco255 7y ago
    Agreed child mortality was a big factor, but so too, was vaccinations and better hygiene (via running water, electricity, food handling, etc). Found a statistic that states 46% of all deaths in 1910 were due to infectious diseases and now that number has dropped by an order of magnitude: https://demography.cpc.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/ID-Mortality-1900-v-2010-e1402580332746.png https://demography.cpc.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/ID... The ironic thing is, that single-use plastics play a huge role in maintaining sterile environments in hospitals and we'd be much worse off without them.
badcede 7y ago
The planet will be here for a long, long, long time after we’re gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, ’cause that’s what it does. It’s a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be renewed. And if it’s true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new paradigm: the earth plus plastic. The earth doesn’t share our prejudice toward plastic. Plastic came out of the earth. The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn’t know how to make it. Needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old egocentric philosophical question, “Why are we here?” Plastic… asshole. -- George Carlin https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/251836-we-re-so-self-important-everybody-s-going-to-save-something-now-save https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/251836-we-re-so-self-import...
- jammygit 7y ago
  The reason it can recover is the biodiversity, according to an ecology book I read once. As we reduce our biodiversity, the recovery is slightly less certain in an extreme case. Our attempts at biodomes show (at least as of 15 years ago when I read about it) that we don’t actually understand what the minimum mix of species needed for sustainability is
  - foxyv 7y ago
    That's kinda the joke. The whole point of humanity is to create plastic, be baked to death in our own waste, and leave behind a wasteland populated by single celled organisms, some insects, and plastic. Carlin's jokes are way too close to the truth and freaking DARK.

I read in this one report where the life expectancy from 1890-1960 increased from 40 years (of age) to 65. The highest increase ever in human history. During this time the US was going through an industrial revolution I believe? I'm not sure. With tons of factories and smoke stacks polluting the air. Yet quality of life was fine? I guess if we pair that with plastic falling from the sky there is nothing to worry about? Also the article mentioned the plastic particles were super small. Not sure if that would really hurt anyone. Likely marginal? What do everyone else think?

pboutros 7y ago
Ebola is really small too! More seriously, to your point about historical growth + pollution -- (1) this stuff is cumulative and (2) the world is polluting more now than it ever has. Here's an article on how small pieces of plastic is unhealthy: https://www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/mag-features/2016/10/03/427839.htm https://www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/mag-features/2016...
ivl 7y ago
The increase in lifespan is more due to childhood mortality falling sharply in those years. I've always found average lifespan to be problematic. Most of the deaths weren't from 65 being the age where old age started to kill. It was on account of how many more infants and children started reaching 5 on account of vaccines.
- joombaga 7y ago
  To flip this completely on its head, I'd be interested to see how childhood mortality rates have been affected by major events in plastics.
- chrisco255 7y ago
  Agreed child mortality was a big factor, but so too, was vaccinations and better hygiene (via running water, electricity, food handling, etc). Found a statistic that states 46% of all deaths in 1910 were due to infectious diseases and now that number has dropped by an order of magnitude: https://demography.cpc.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/ID-Mortality-1900-v-2010-e1402580332746.png https://demography.cpc.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/ID... The ironic thing is, that single-use plastics play a huge role in maintaining sterile environments in hospitals and we'd be much worse off without them.

badcede 7y ago

The planet will be here for a long, long, long time after we’re gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, ’cause that’s what it does. It’s a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be renewed. And if it’s true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new paradigm: the earth plus plastic. The earth doesn’t share our prejudice toward plastic. Plastic came out of the earth. The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn’t know how to make it. Needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old egocentric philosophical question, “Why are we here?” Plastic… asshole. -- George Carlin https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/251836-we-re-so-self-important-everybody-s-going-to-save-something-now-save https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/251836-we-re-so-self-import...

jammygit 7y ago
The reason it can recover is the biodiversity, according to an ecology book I read once. As we reduce our biodiversity, the recovery is slightly less certain in an extreme case. Our attempts at biodomes show (at least as of 15 years ago when I read about it) that we don’t actually understand what the minimum mix of species needed for sustainability is
- foxyv 7y ago
  That's kinda the joke. The whole point of humanity is to create plastic, be baked to death in our own waste, and leave behind a wasteland populated by single celled organisms, some insects, and plastic. Carlin's jokes are way too close to the truth and freaking DARK.