The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
In the New Yorker...
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on July 02, 2023, 09:17:47 pm ---That one didn?t especially grab me yet but the plastics one is informative and horrifying. A duty article that reads pretty engagingly.
--- End quote ---
I might actually skip that one. I already know that plastics are a menace. I don't think I need to read about it again.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on July 02, 2023, 09:20:38 pm ---I might actually skip that one. I already know that plastics are a menace. I don't think I need to read about it again.
--- End quote ---
I already knew it, too. I've stopped drinking sparkling mineral water bottled in plastic (now I drink La Croix in cans). I also now use a laundry detergent that comes like sheets of paper in an envelope. I take out a sheet, rip it into a few pieces and put it in the machine's detergent container. Seems to work fine.
But of course those efforts don't count for much in a world where babies are born with plastic particles in their poop.
I already knew most of the basic information but she's good at describing the enormity of the problem.
I interviewed a woman last fall who picks up plastic garbage from the ground, carries around her own metal silverware and straw for use in fast-food and fast-casual restaurants, buys only natural-fiber (second-hand) clothing. She said she called the manufacturer of her favorite chips and asked if they could stop packaging them in plastic. The company said it needs to be plastic for shipment purposes. (I guess this would be one argument in favor of Pringles, which come in a cardboard tube.)
serious crayons:
I thought the S&M in this issue was particularly dumb. It's all silly jokes about a hypothetical TV show. The jokes aren't funny, don't really make sense and are so out-there they don't serve as satire of real-life TV.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on July 03, 2023, 03:01:10 pm ---I already knew it, too. I've stopped drinking sparkling mineral water bottled in plastic (now I drink La Croix in cans). I also now use a laundry detergent that comes like sheets of paper in an envelope. I take out a sheet, rip it into a few pieces and put it in the machine's detergent container. Seems to work fine.
--- End quote ---
I've never heard of that. Is there a brand name?
I should take a look the next time I need laundry detergent. I still use powder, which at least comes in a cardboard box.
Elizabeth Kolbert is an engaging writer. It's just that her articles have become too depressing for me. I don't expect to read much of her articles anymore.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on July 03, 2023, 09:03:08 pm ---I've never heard of that. Is there a brand name?
--- End quote ---
They're called Earth Breeze Laundry Detergent Eco Sheets. I haven't noticed them in stores but I bought them online.
--- Quote ---I should take a look the next time I need laundry detergent. I still use powder, which at least comes in a cardboard box.
--- End quote ---
Well, that's not so bad then.
One thing I wish EK had touched on is the stuff that looks just like clear plastic but is made out of cornstarch. They had cups made out of that in the cafe of the Arboretum where I worked for a while. They're so much like the plastic kind you'd get in a convenience store I was throwing them into the recycling bin, but apparently they belonged in the compost bin! Knowing Elizabeth Kolbert, though, she'd find some evidence the cups aren't as eco-friendly as they might seem -- the processing method or transporting the cornstarch uses too much energy or something. The way cloth diapers are supposedly as bad as disposable.
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