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For the environmentally minded, it's almost always a tradeoff. Electric car? Less pollution, more lithium mining (for now) Avoid plastic? Glass jars are heavy
by bdcravens 2y ago
For the environmentally minded, it's almost always a tradeoff.
Electric car? Less pollution, more lithium mining (for now)
Avoid plastic? Glass jars are heavy (and added emissions to transport), and more likely to need replacing.
Avoid clothing with microplastics (like polyester)? Cotton is one of the most water-intensive crops, and production of bamboo cloth requires heavy chemicals usually, polluting the local environment
etc ...
- darth_avocado 2y agoOr buy fewer clothes, reduce unnecessary plastic (my bananas don’t need to be individually wrapped), use public transportation etc.
- jp57 2y agoWhere do they sell individually wrapped bananas? I’ve never seen them in the US.
- sawmurai 2y agoI have seen this in Japanese convenience stores… I was quite puzzled :)
- wappieslurkz 2y agoAnd go plant based, I'd like to add...
- yjftsjthsd-h 2y agoAs gets pointed out semi-regularly, it was "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, in that order." I suppose it makes sense to consider "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Use less impactful materials and processes, probably in that order"?
- fsflover 2y ago[flagged]
- ceejayoz 2y agoYes, really. This would be a great point if internal combustion cars didn't have tires, but they do.
- gpm 2y agoEven then it would be a terrible point considering the far greater problem is CO2 emissions.
- fsflover 2y agoWhy is that a far greater problem?
- ceejayoz 2y agoBecause PM2.5 pollution isn't the big driver of climate change. Tire dust is a pollutant and certainly has health impacts, but it's not gonna make the oceans rise.
- fsflover 2y agoI am not so sure that the climate change is worse than the plastic pollution. Do you have any links comparing these?
- throwway120385 2y agoAlso tire pollution is a solvable problem without mass collective action, whereas climate change is going to require not just any solution but every solution in order to have a meaningful impact. It's the kind of problem where there's no silver bullet, just a lot of hard work ahead of us.
- fsflover 2y ago> pollution is a solvable problem without mass collective action Interesting. How are we solving the microplastics problem and the plastic islands in the ocean without mass collective actions?
- sp3000 2y agoAs Thomas Sowell once wrote, "There are no solutions, only trade-offs."
- BurningFrog 2y agoAll of life is full of tradeoffs. That's just the basic human condition.
- legitster 2y agoTo add to the complexity - for certain things region and location matters. There are lots of good places with plenty of water to grow cotton. There are lots of bad places to put solar panels. Taxes and prices are the tools we are supposed to be using to deal with tradeoffs. Blanket bans or regulations generate lots of externalities. Where water is scarce it needs to be expensive. We need to tax carbon, not just subsidize batteries.
- ericd 2y ago> We need to tax carbon, not just subsidize batteries. Yeah, subsidies are incredibly clumsy/distorting compared to just taxing the problem directly. I hold out hope that we'll someday see a uniform carbon tax, but as my wife likes to say, American politicians like carrots a lot more than they like sticks.
- bdcravens 2y agoPlaces like Texas tend to equal out the taxes. For example, I have to pay an additional $200 fee on my registration to account for the fact that my EV doesn't contribute to gasoline taxes. I assume they'd do the same to any carbon taxes.
- amarant 2y agoAgreed! Depending on what temperatures you'd expect where you live, fur could be a great option for the environment. Well made fur cloaks can last generations (source: I'm still using my grandpa's fur coat). Compared to, say, a gore-tex jacket, it's great for the environment. But the life of a fur animal isn't always great. Personally I prioritize keeping seas free of plastics over the quality of some goats' or minks' life, but I get that for some, that choice will be different. I just wish everyone understood that that is the choice.A lot of people see fur and see red. Same goes with "vegan leather" which my car's seats are made of. It's nice and all, and easy to clean which is great, but I do feel torn about the extra (and easily avoidable) plastic.
- earthling8118 2y agoHow is glass more likely to need replacing than plastic that gets discarded?
- janpieterz 2y agoI assume they were talking about re-usable plastic containers vs glass. Glass breaks.
- amanaplanacanal 2y agoAre there any industrial processes where plastic containers get re-used? I know drink containers get returned where I live. But I doubt they get re-used.
- captainbland 2y agoIn Germany you can get some soft drinks in reused thick plastic bottles.
- Ekaros 2y agoFinland replaced those with the lighter ones that get crunched now... Then again it might have been sensible from microplastics perspective... Many of the recycled ones were pretty scuffed...
- bdcravens 2y agoThink about containers you use at home to store leftover food.
- imzadi 2y agoI think the best tradeoff is being more mindful of waste and overconsumption. we're buying cheaper, lower quality, goods more often, which increases waste and uses more resources in the long term.