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Plastic: Economic Miracle And Chief Among The Causes of Environmental Pollution
from:There are many causes of environmental pollution. Most infamously, there are the sealed drums of toxic waste material produced as a byproduct of nuclear reactions. There are the smog and toxins that float through the air, caused by burning industrial smokestacks and the overuse of petroleum-burning vehicles and other machines. There's slash-and-burn deforestation with the additional airborne toxins it creates and the massive environmental changes caused by the death of innumerable species that called the forests their home. Yet among all of these causes of environmental pollution, one development looms larger than any other. That development is the economic miracle of the twentieth century: the revolution in plastics.
Strangely enough, plastics were developed as a solution to some of the other major causes of environmental pollution in the nineteenth century. Animal and plant-based materials like ivory, rainforest wood, tortoiseshell, and rubber were recognized as scarce and worthy of protection even in the nineteenth century, an epoch known above all else as the time in which people believed in the "myth of perpetual progress": the belief that mankind's destiny was to dominate the creatures of the earth and exploit them in order to build an ever-greater, cleaner, and safer future. The fact that coal-burning smokestacks and river-ruining industrial development was the means by which this shining utopia was to be reached never seemed to register with people--or if it did, it was viewed as at best a transitional phase, something that would in time cease altogether to apply. Yes, today our lungs are being poisoned with coal, and we are planting the seeds of many causes of environmental pollution. But tomorrow, we'll have something better on our hands.
The first step in that revolution was plastics. No longer was it necessary to harvest elephant ivory or rubber tree plants in order to get materials that could be used in industrial machines and consumer goods. Now synthetic polymers could be manipulated chemically in order to create a material that was at the same time durable, flexible, and reusable: a material, in other words, like plastic. Following from the development of cellulose and Bakelite in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, respectively, plastic began to slowly conquer the world markets and to become the sine qua non of industrial technology. By the 1970s, the production of plastic had outmatched the production of steel worldwide. Surely the causes of environmental pollution were trumped forever.
But plastic was too durable and not reusable enough. The non-biodegradable nature of plastic made it an excellent material for high-stress machines, but a terrible material for preventing the causes of environmental pollution--of which it quickly became one. Today, plastic debris fills 25% of landfills, and it'll continue to fill 25% of landfills for the foreseeable future. In trying to solve the causes of environmental pollution, we've created our own worst nightmare--and the dependency of industry on plastic means that no end is in sight.
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Green Roofs in Big Cities Bring Relief From Above - New York Times (blog)
 New York Times (blog) | Green Roofs in Big Cities Bring Relief From Above New York Times (blog) Chester Higgins Jr./The New York TimesA co-op in Manhattan with a roof garden. All are green in one sense. In different ways, each helps to solve serious environmental problems. One issue is air pollution, which needs no introduction. |
Hertz First to Offer Volkswagen Jetta TDI® Clean Diesel - MarketWatch (press release)
Hertz First to Offer Volkswagen Jetta TDI® Clean Diesel MarketWatch (press release) PARK RIDGE, NJ, May 23, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Hertz (NYSE:HTZ) , the world's largest general use airport car rental brand, announces the introduction of the 2012 Volkswagen Jetta TDI clean diesel car into its Green Traveler Collection, ... |
ACE Expands Coverage for Public Entities Through New Admitted Premises ... - MarketWatch (press release)
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An introduction to a rebellious and a sinking nation, Ghana - GhanaWeb
An introduction to a rebellious and a sinking nation, Ghana GhanaWeb Deforestation and pollution of rivers and water bodies is another neglected serious problem facing the country since the first republic. Measures put in place, laws and infrastructures established to manage the country's environment protection, ... |
Children voice environmental concerns in letters to minister - Times of Malta
Children voice environmental concerns in letters to minister Times of Malta The children read letters they wrote, in which they raised their concerns about a range of environmental issues, including marine pollution, waste management, protection of wild animals and countryside management. The winning letter, selected by a ... |