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There are plastic rocks forming. Those aren't rocks with plastic melted on top of them. They are literally plastic rocks formed via the same processes alongside
by bmitc 3y ago
There are plastic rocks forming. Those aren't rocks with plastic melted on top of them. They are literally plastic rocks formed via the same processes alongside normal rocks. We could ban plastics tomorrow, and it wouldn't be enough. We've screwed over the entire Earth.
- Gigachad 3y agoIt's basically the same situation as lead. It's been spread all over the place and doesn't break down. Thank god we at least managed to stop adding to the problem though.
- bmitc 3y agoThere are unfortunately still several sources of lead: solder, galvanized metal (something that gardeners and farmers use a lot!), cheap manufacturing, ammunition, airplane fuel, apparently still a lot of fishing equipment, and several other hobby and industrial sources.
- simiones 3y agoOne day we'll start having microorganisms that can break down plastics efficiently. It took a few million years for wood, so I'm not holding my breath until it happens, but it will almost certainly happen. So the worse that can happen to the Earth itself is it'll have a layer of plastic residue just like it had a layer of wood residue (coal) until we started digging it up. Of course, as George Carlin used to say, the planet is fine: it's us that are fucked. We'll see how bad the effects of plastics on the long term really are, but if anyone suffers, it'll be us, not the planet or life on it in the long term.
- bmitc 3y agoThe planet really isn't fine by any rubric that considers the health of ecosystems and the environment unless one considers Mars and Venus also fine.