Difference between revisions of "Plastic"
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| − | + | Plastics are used in nearly every arena of modern life. Unfortunately, this prevalence has led to them becoming a source of many environmental issues, as they do not biodegrade and will remain in the environment almost indefinitely. Some plastics also leak dangerous chemicals. | |
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| + | See also [http://www.ic.ucsc.edu/college8core/c8wiki/index.php/Category:Solid_Waste Solid Waste], [http://www.ic.ucsc.edu/college8core/c8wiki/index.php/Chemicals chemicals], [http://www.ic.ucsc.edu/college8core/c8wiki/index.php/Category:Consumption Consumption] and [http://ic.ucsc.edu/college8core/c8wiki/index.php/Category:Sustainability Sustainability] | ||
Revision as of 02:04, 10 November 2012
Plastics are used in nearly every arena of modern life. Unfortunately, this prevalence has led to them becoming a source of many environmental issues, as they do not biodegrade and will remain in the environment almost indefinitely. Some plastics also leak dangerous chemicals.
See also Solid Waste, chemicals, Consumption and Sustainability
News/Articles
Plane to fly halfway around the world on recycled plastic 10/12
Designing Sailbo(a)ts to Mop Up Oil Spills that could be adapted for plastic 9/12.
Starbucks' Food Waste Fuels Experimental Biorefinery 9/12.
Delhi India Plastic Bags Ban Begins Next Week 9/12.
Method's New Soap Bottle Is Made From Pacific Garbage Patch Trash
A Marine Drone Seeks to Scoop up Plastic 7.12
Polymers Are Forever: Alarming tales of a most prevalent and problematic substance by Alan Weisman (includes how chemicals accumulate in the ocean).
Hawaii may be 1st state to ban plastic bag and free paper ones) and uses the money to protect nature. 2/12 Many cites on board 6/12
A group of Yale students, poking around in the jungles of Ecuador, has unearthed a type of fungus that digests otherwise-unkillable plastics. 2/12 See also Mushrooms page and bio-remediation in Appropriate_Technology bio-mimicry
Excellent Overview (some disturbing images).
Dirty Dozen most often found in ocean.
Washing synthetic fibres puts plastic in ocean too.
Greenmuze has interesting stories about plastic, including students design to make chairs from ocean plastic and a music video.
Video
The Story of Bottled Water from the people who brought you The Story of Stuff.
Susan Freinkel “Eternal Plastic: A Toxic Love Story”(audio) LongNow.org talk 5/12 video)
Van Jones talk on EJ aspects alt link at TEDx Great Pacific Garbage Patch also more videos
Peter Gleick, a freshwater expert, is the author of Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water(video discussion of book) 11/11. (see book below)
Bag It documentary on plastic.
Penn and Teller's humorous take on the subject of bottled water.
Mike Biddle TEDtalk: Discarded plastic, too often, ends up buried or burned, not recycled (it's just too complicated). But Biddle has found a way to close the loop.
Van Jones on Environmental Justice aspects of plastic. (video) 5/11.
Fun mockumentary on the plastic bag. alt link
Are mushrooms the new plastic? (TEDtalk video)
Tapped, a new documentary about the bottled water industry from director Stephanie Soechtig and the producers of Who Killed the Electric Car?, is a pretty damning look at how consumers have been tricked into spending too much money on water packaged in plastic and quite often not as clean as what's available from the faucet.trailer
Where is Away? is a 4 min. film made by a local surfer. Also shown at SC Film Festival Plastic Island. Richard Sowa tied together over 120,000 plastic bottles and built himself a floating island, featuring a garden with a pond and a two-story house.
Tom Szaky visits Google's Mountain View, CA headquarters to discuss his book "Revolution in a Bottle: How TerraCycle is Redefining Green Business."Green@Google series. (video)
Great Pacific Garbage Patch/Gyre
Pacific Gyre filled with plastic. PBS news segment featuring UCSC folk.
Synthetic Sea Preview from Algalita Foundation on plastic gyre. Capt. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation first discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- an endless floating waste of plastic trash. New CNN video segment7/16 update audio. Google talk video.
Addicted to Plastic 2007 more
UCSC SciCom student Amy E. West published an article Santa Cruz nonprofit hopes to make fuel from ocean-based plastic (also video with links). Solar powered catamaran will make fuel (make your own pyrolysis device). You can help, contact Rita Chaffin
UCSC's Finkelstein on PBS NewsHour on plastic text and video 11/08
UCSC video of deep sea plastic.
Capt. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation first discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- an endless floating waste of plastic trash.
Artist Dianna Cohen shares some tough truths about plastic pollution in the ocean and in our lives. TEDtalk video.
Audio
Susan Freinkel “Eternal Plastic: A Toxic Love Story” LongNow.org talk 5/12 video)
In 2007, Oakland's Beth Terry decided to give up plastic after seeing a picture of a dead seabird, its stomach filled with plastic bottle caps. Her decision spawned a blog, a book and a movement to make people aware of how much plastic they consume. TEDtalk video see also art, music and video.
Boat Made of Plastic Bottles to Sail the Pacific. How do you raise awareness about plastic debris floating in the Pacific? You sail a boat.
Books
Peter Gleick, a freshwater expert, is the author of Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water(video discussion of book) 11/11.
Elizabeth Royte's new book Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It (includes Podcast interview) Her previous book Garbage Land(review) is a good read. Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of TrashIntroduction "Amphibious Assault"also "Satan's Resin" on plastics and e-waste (password protected).
UCSC/College 8's Prof Szasz wrote Shopping Our Way to Safety: How We Changed from Protecting the Environment to Protecting Ourselves, which includes a chapter on bottled water, a method of "inverted quarantine."
Elizabeth Grossman, Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry.
Art/Images
See here for art and music on plastic also here.
Eating our own garbage, an infographic from NRDC.
Sea Scavenger is a local DIY effort.
Bird mortality and LA River images
Good use for plastic bottles? (humor).
Excellent Overview (some disturbing and beautiful images).
The stomach contents of a juvenile green turtle accidentally captured off the coast of Argentina.
Local Groups/Resources
Sea Scavenger is a Bay Area group you can work with.
Save Our Shores anti-plastic campaign.
UCSC SciCom student Amy E. West published an article Santa Cruz nonprofit hopes to make fuel from ocean-based plastic (also video with links). Solar powered catamaran will make fuel (make your own pyrolysis device). You can help, contact Rita Chaffin
