4 ms·

No, it's definitely them doing it, and we are enabling it. These aren't mutually exclusive problems.

ehnto 7y ago
You're both being pretty vague, but I think it is useful to remember rhat ultimately "they" are indeed part of "us". The people who influence individual companies decisions to continue to produce waste have to go home to a neighbourhood, move within the community, and can be influenced by that community. The people enabling it are the consumers, but also the thousands of smaller companies buying and producing plastic packaging, who have a much bigger say than the small amount of consumers you can convince to give up their luxuries.
atoav 7y ago
A common source for microplastic is the abration of synthetic textiles and rubber. So unless you only wear unmixed nature fibre and walk in straw sandals you have to assume that you might also produce microplastic even if you never drive a car, take a bus or anything with wheels not made of steel or wood. This is why we need to deal with the issue as a society, instead of blaming it onto individuals. We did precisely that for decades now and it doesn’t seem to work.
- FreeFull 7y ago
  Pure cotton fabric is very common and cheap, although cotton has its own, different environmental issues too.
  - atoav 7y ago
    You are right, the bleaching process is quite bad environmentally. Linen or hemp is better in these terms.
    - peteradio 7y ago
      Bad how?
      - rangibaby 7y ago
        Cotton requires a lot of water and pesticides that hemp doesn’t
hanniabu 7y ago
This argument always comes up with "we can all do our part" and that's absolutely nonsense. Many times you have no idea what is put into the things you buy or there may not even be alternatives or at least not easily discoverable because the market. Many people have tried to do their part for years and the problem has only gotten worse because companies run rampant and aren't regulated or held accountable.
- vanderZwan 7y ago
  Exactly. It's an externalizing cost tactic where responsibility for something far up the production chain is shoved into the individually powerless consumer's shoes
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

You're both being pretty vague, but I think it is useful to remember rhat ultimately "they" are indeed part of "us". The people who influence individual companies decisions to continue to produce waste have to go home to a neighbourhood, move within the community, and can be influenced by that community. The people enabling it are the consumers, but also the thousands of smaller companies buying and producing plastic packaging, who have a much bigger say than the small amount of consumers you can convince to give up their luxuries.

atoav 7y ago

A common source for microplastic is the abration of synthetic textiles and rubber. So unless you only wear unmixed nature fibre and walk in straw sandals you have to assume that you might also produce microplastic even if you never drive a car, take a bus or anything with wheels not made of steel or wood. This is why we need to deal with the issue as a society, instead of blaming it onto individuals. We did precisely that for decades now and it doesn’t seem to work.

FreeFull 7y ago
Pure cotton fabric is very common and cheap, although cotton has its own, different environmental issues too.
- atoav 7y ago
  You are right, the bleaching process is quite bad environmentally. Linen or hemp is better in these terms.
  - peteradio 7y ago
    Bad how?
    - rangibaby 7y ago
      Cotton requires a lot of water and pesticides that hemp doesn’t

hanniabu 7y ago

This argument always comes up with "we can all do our part" and that's absolutely nonsense. Many times you have no idea what is put into the things you buy or there may not even be alternatives or at least not easily discoverable because the market. Many people have tried to do their part for years and the problem has only gotten worse because companies run rampant and aren't regulated or held accountable.

vanderZwan 7y ago
Exactly. It's an externalizing cost tactic where responsibility for something far up the production chain is shoved into the individually powerless consumer's shoes

deleted 7y ago

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