The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
In the New Yorker...
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on July 04, 2023, 01:21:09 pm ---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.
--- End quote ---
Or maybe more generally she'd have something negative to say about all the corn that gets grown in the U.S.
Why are cloth diapers as bad as disposable? They're reusable. They don't get thrown in the trash. What are we supposed to use for babies? ???
Jeff Wrangler:
I'm looking forward to reading the fiction issue. That probably seems strange--maybe it is--since I almost never read the fiction, but I always enjoy the little pieces from individual authors that are usually included.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on July 06, 2023, 01:00:29 pm ---Why are cloth diapers as bad as disposable? They're reusable. They don't get thrown in the trash. What are we supposed to use for babies? ???
--- End quote ---
Well, I oversimplified. When it comes right down to it, cloth are still probably a bit better, but you have to be careful how you wash them. Here's the New York Times on the subject:
--- Quote ---There?s no question that disposable diapers create more landfill waste: a baby is likely to go through between 5,000 and 6,000 disposable diapers before becoming potty trained. A 2014 Environmental Protection Agency report found that disposable diapers account for 7 percent of nondurable household waste in landfills. Except in very limited cases, disposable diapers (regardless of what they claim) won?t compost or biodegrade in a landfill.
But disposable diaper advocates have countered that the energy and water costs of laundering cloth diapers, as well as the environmental impact of cotton production, make them less environmentally friendly than they appear, particularly in terms of the carbon emissions traceable to their care. The best life-cycle analysis we?ve found is a 2008 report (PDF) from the Environment Agency in the UK that compared the manufacturing, disposal, and energy costs of both diaper types. ?The environmental impacts of using shaped reusable nappies [cloth diapers] can be higher or lower than using disposables, depending on how they are laundered,? the report concludes. The agency?s analysis found that based on average laundry habits and appliance efficiency, when washing with 60 ?C (140 ?F) water and mostly line-drying, the overall carbon emissions created by cloth diapering were roughly the same as those of using disposables. But using cloth diapers for a second child or getting them secondhand, exclusively line-drying them, and washing them in fuller loads could reduce that amount by up to 40 percent.
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https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/cloth-vs-disposable-diapers/
Jeff Wrangler:
Thanks. I never gave a thought to the "peripherals"--manufacturing, and so forth, for example. I was just thinking of all those stinky diapers piling up in landfills.
I suppose it might also help the situation if you laundered diapers the way Alma would have. (Cue Alma with the washboard.) ;D
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on June 29, 2023, 09:24:30 pm ---I cannot wait to read the article on the penis enlargement industry. :laugh:
--- End quote ---
That was OK, even somewhat horrifying, though I think perhaps the best part was mention of people who apparently are really named Run Wang, Dick Glass, and Semen Brodsky.
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