5 ms·

If you’re surrounded by dangers, you literally have to ignore some of them while you fight off the others. There is no way to fight every problem at once.

freedomben 3y ago
I get the impression that you have children, and GP does not. You absolutely have to pick your battles, and you can't pick every single one. Trying to do so is not only guaranteed to result in failure, but it will riddle you with stress and anxiety that takes a real physical toll on your body (I speak from experience here). A little while ago I took the kids hiking and they ignored my instruction to hydrate before we left, so 20 minutes into the hike we had a dehydration near emergency. There are a couple of (plastic) bottles of water in the trunk, but they sat for a long time in a hot car in July. Do I risk death or emergency room visit from dehydration? Or do I risk damage from microplastics? The latter seems obviously better to me. Agonizing over the potential damage won't do any of us any good. The only thing we can do is prepare better for next time. For example I now carry a Life Straw with us on all hikes, but we live in a desert and most of the places we go there aren't any sources of water. We should definitely do the big things like not microwaving plastic, but trying to live a life where everything everywhere is toxic and it's our responsiblity to prevent it is not only doomed for failure but also a recipe for stress and axiety. I think it's important that we advocate for changes at the macro level.
- user3939382 3y ago
  I do have kids actually, and I protect them from everything I can because that's my duty as a parent. "Pick your battles" doesn't really apply when it's a bunch of small things that are easy to avoid. It's more a matter of habits than anything else. Glyphosate/organic food is one that's unfortunately a matter of money. A one-off rare exception like the one you describe isn't really an issue. Like with all things in medicine, the dose makes the poison. Rare exposure to things in small amounts is usually not a problem, even for things we know to be toxic. The problem is habits. For example, drinking bottled water all the time, which is very common.

freedomben 3y ago

I get the impression that you have children, and GP does not. You absolutely have to pick your battles, and you can't pick every single one. Trying to do so is not only guaranteed to result in failure, but it will riddle you with stress and anxiety that takes a real physical toll on your body (I speak from experience here). A little while ago I took the kids hiking and they ignored my instruction to hydrate before we left, so 20 minutes into the hike we had a dehydration near emergency. There are a couple of (plastic) bottles of water in the trunk, but they sat for a long time in a hot car in July. Do I risk death or emergency room visit from dehydration? Or do I risk damage from microplastics? The latter seems obviously better to me. Agonizing over the potential damage won't do any of us any good. The only thing we can do is prepare better for next time. For example I now carry a Life Straw with us on all hikes, but we live in a desert and most of the places we go there aren't any sources of water. We should definitely do the big things like not microwaving plastic, but trying to live a life where everything everywhere is toxic and it's our responsiblity to prevent it is not only doomed for failure but also a recipe for stress and axiety. I think it's important that we advocate for changes at the macro level.

user3939382 3y ago
I do have kids actually, and I protect them from everything I can because that's my duty as a parent. "Pick your battles" doesn't really apply when it's a bunch of small things that are easy to avoid. It's more a matter of habits than anything else. Glyphosate/organic food is one that's unfortunately a matter of money. A one-off rare exception like the one you describe isn't really an issue. Like with all things in medicine, the dose makes the poison. Rare exposure to things in small amounts is usually not a problem, even for things we know to be toxic. The problem is habits. For example, drinking bottled water all the time, which is very common.