4 ms·

You can reduce (or increase!) your exposure to it through individual action though.

0xcde4c3db 3y ago
I'm sure there's some set of lifestyle choices that would lead to a measurable reduction, but whether that reduction matters practically is a different question.
- kristopolous 3y ago
  ok, but have people's individual habits on tobacco consumption reduced the non-smokers exposure to it? These things can make a difference in large enough numbers. It's not irrelevant at scale.
  - dwaite 3y ago
    If the scale winds up being that eliminating my microwave usage and throwing out plastic containers from my house entirely reduces my plastic consumption 1 %, then I wasted a whole bunch of time and money, and distracted myself from trying to find ways that _would_ reduce plastic consumption (say, filtration on municipal water - but who knows). Single source municipal recycling is typically a process of sorting and selling certain kinds of waste to other people, with little processing happening locally. This process is way more wasteful than people would like to think, with changing and opaque rules about what is acceptable and what will wind up just being thrown away. I'd give that as an example of a policy that promotes a certain amount of effort to make people FEEL like they are making a difference, vs actually making a significant difference.
    - kristopolous 3y ago
      Every journey begins with a first step. You don't have to do anything and there's no shame in that. Just don't disrespect the people who do.
eviks 3y ago
and that reduction may have 0 effect :(
- kristopolous 3y ago
  it's definitionally non-zero. control what you have control over.
  - Hackbraten 3y ago
    This so much. It’s a little like democratic elections. A single vote has negligible impact, but all those single votes combined? They have the power to make or break the future of a country. An individual decision not to use plastic is not unlike that.
    - dwaite 3y ago
      This implies that my use or not affects other people and not solely myself. Awaiting numbers as to how much plastics in the water which comes out of my tap is from washed microwaved plastics.
  - eviks 3y ago
    Then change your definition to something useful. I care about impact on human health, so if you reduce (via personal choice) exposure by 1 out of 10, but 5 is enough to seriously impact you and anything above 5 but below 100 has no additional impact, then you've achieved 0
    - ImPostingOnHN 3y ago
      > anything above 5 but below 100 has no additional impact not sure where you got this part from, but your entire argument depends on it being true, and it isn't reminds me of the people who said facemasks and vaccines do nothing (meaning literally 0% effect) because they weren't 100% perfect virus force fields
      - 3y ago
aradox66 3y ago
I think OPs argument is that tackling microplastic exposure through personal choices like microwave use, etc, may be unlikely to make a significant dent in overall microplastic consumption, if it's in all the food, all the water, the soil, the air, the bedsheets, the flooring, etc etc.
- tempest_ 3y ago
  Basically all food comes in plastic now a days. There are still people surprised to find out that the aluminum or steel can they get food out of is coated internally. This article is talking about heating plastic in a microwave which is something a lot of people do but I suspect fewer people have unloaded skids from the back of a tractor trailer in the summer. That stuff that is at room temp on the grocery store shelve has gone through a tone of heat cool cycles before it makes it to you.
  - kristopolous 3y ago
    sure, plastic coating is not what those consumers wanted but some goals take time to reach. Let's not dismiss people who are making sincere efforts. For instance, I've been using reusable shopping bags for 25 years and buy most of my food through farmers market, never touching plastic bags or packaging in the whole lifecycle. That's probably at least 10,000 fewer plastic bags. Sure there's some wasteful people that probably use that in a month, I see how people shop. This isn't a virtue contest - it's a lifestyle commitment just like deciding not to smoke for health reasons. At scale these things have impact. Also I'm not anti-plastic - I just don't like making a bunch of trash and appreciate higher quality materials.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- b112 3y ago
  Bedsheets indeed! After all, isn't polyester essentially a variant of plastic?
  - 3y ago
patmorgan23 3y ago
What size/impact does personal choice have. Plastics are so prevelant is the impact 1% or 50%. If the former your choices don't really matter that much, the latter they might.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

I'm sure there's some set of lifestyle choices that would lead to a measurable reduction, but whether that reduction matters practically is a different question.

kristopolous 3y ago
ok, but have people's individual habits on tobacco consumption reduced the non-smokers exposure to it? These things can make a difference in large enough numbers. It's not irrelevant at scale.
- dwaite 3y ago
  If the scale winds up being that eliminating my microwave usage and throwing out plastic containers from my house entirely reduces my plastic consumption 1 %, then I wasted a whole bunch of time and money, and distracted myself from trying to find ways that _would_ reduce plastic consumption (say, filtration on municipal water - but who knows). Single source municipal recycling is typically a process of sorting and selling certain kinds of waste to other people, with little processing happening locally. This process is way more wasteful than people would like to think, with changing and opaque rules about what is acceptable and what will wind up just being thrown away. I'd give that as an example of a policy that promotes a certain amount of effort to make people FEEL like they are making a difference, vs actually making a significant difference.
  - kristopolous 3y ago
    Every journey begins with a first step. You don't have to do anything and there's no shame in that. Just don't disrespect the people who do.

eviks 3y ago

and that reduction may have 0 effect :(

kristopolous 3y ago
it's definitionally non-zero. control what you have control over.
- Hackbraten 3y ago
  This so much. It’s a little like democratic elections. A single vote has negligible impact, but all those single votes combined? They have the power to make or break the future of a country. An individual decision not to use plastic is not unlike that.
  - dwaite 3y ago
    This implies that my use or not affects other people and not solely myself. Awaiting numbers as to how much plastics in the water which comes out of my tap is from washed microwaved plastics.
- eviks 3y ago
  Then change your definition to something useful. I care about impact on human health, so if you reduce (via personal choice) exposure by 1 out of 10, but 5 is enough to seriously impact you and anything above 5 but below 100 has no additional impact, then you've achieved 0
  - ImPostingOnHN 3y ago
    > anything above 5 but below 100 has no additional impact not sure where you got this part from, but your entire argument depends on it being true, and it isn't reminds me of the people who said facemasks and vaccines do nothing (meaning literally 0% effect) because they weren't 100% perfect virus force fields
    - 3y ago

aradox66 3y ago

I think OPs argument is that tackling microplastic exposure through personal choices like microwave use, etc, may be unlikely to make a significant dent in overall microplastic consumption, if it's in all the food, all the water, the soil, the air, the bedsheets, the flooring, etc etc.

tempest_ 3y ago
Basically all food comes in plastic now a days. There are still people surprised to find out that the aluminum or steel can they get food out of is coated internally. This article is talking about heating plastic in a microwave which is something a lot of people do but I suspect fewer people have unloaded skids from the back of a tractor trailer in the summer. That stuff that is at room temp on the grocery store shelve has gone through a tone of heat cool cycles before it makes it to you.
- kristopolous 3y ago
  sure, plastic coating is not what those consumers wanted but some goals take time to reach. Let's not dismiss people who are making sincere efforts. For instance, I've been using reusable shopping bags for 25 years and buy most of my food through farmers market, never touching plastic bags or packaging in the whole lifecycle. That's probably at least 10,000 fewer plastic bags. Sure there's some wasteful people that probably use that in a month, I see how people shop. This isn't a virtue contest - it's a lifestyle commitment just like deciding not to smoke for health reasons. At scale these things have impact. Also I'm not anti-plastic - I just don't like making a bunch of trash and appreciate higher quality materials.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
b112 3y ago
Bedsheets indeed! After all, isn't polyester essentially a variant of plastic?
- 3y ago

patmorgan23 3y ago

What size/impact does personal choice have. Plastics are so prevelant is the impact 1% or 50%. If the former your choices don't really matter that much, the latter they might.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]