"Exactly how much plastic humanity has produced thus far, we’ll never know. But scientists have taken a swing at an estimate: more than 18 trillion pounds, twice the weight of all the animals living on Earth. Of that, 14 trillion pounds have become waste. Just 9 percent of that waste has been recycled[1], and 12 percent has been incinerated[1]. The rest has been landfilled or released into the environment, where each bag and bottle and wrapper shatters into millions of microplastics. … There’s so much plastic pollution out there that if you were to gather it all up and turn it into cling wrap, you’d have more than enough to cover the globe."
From "A Poison Like No Other: How Microplastics Corrupted our Planet and Our Bodies," by Matt Simon
The real joke is all the high school science textbooks describing plastic as a "chemically inert" material right up to the turn of the millennium and beyond. How wrong that turned out to be; and that was when we already knew the death it could cause just from physically ensnaring wildlife, something the textbooks in Australia didn't mention but was taught explicitly and repeatedly to us in a Germany primary school from the time we turned up as tiny people - that, and all the negative consequences of all the other things like cans, once thrown away, both into bins and littering. And what factory farming does to animals and the environment. And that the biggest problem causing extinctions is outright habitat destruction.
Funny how there was no mention of any of those things when I moved to an ex-British colony, not even in my Environmental Science degree, where gobsmackingly, in the Waste Treatment & Recycling unit, they told us that "the best thing we can do with the waste is to put it in sanitary landfill, and build new industrial estates on it when we close it." Come again? I learnt a lot about Environmental Science through that degree, as a discipline; and started double-majoring in Biology, where there was acknowledgement of and focus on the natural world, and the tutors laughingly called me a refugee from up the hill (where the Env.Sc. faculty was).
The system is so so broken and I've spent ever since trying to make a difference. I learnt from working with natural resource conservation agencies that you can't change the system from within, so I spent most of my life teaching high school kids which had a far more positive impact than staying in NRM could have done. And now I'm in direct conservation, like many of you guys, in a Medicine sans Frontiers type thing except that at least in that discipline, nobody questions that you are still a doctor just because you are volunteering and doing it for free. Those in the NRM system who are at the top will frequently try to discredit people like us working at the coalface, and tell their bright green BAU lies.
Jul 12, 2023·edited Jul 12, 2023Liked by Max Wilbert
i felt the emotion in the last paragraph.
this weird habit of picking up trash became a thing between me and my 5yo daughter,
i'm baffled that for her is quite natural and even fun...
for me? i'm more with you...it's like a dark ritual, certainly not fun...just look at my face here where i did not know my wife was taking a pic https://tinyurl.com/3d2zny9n
Giving in is not giving up. What it does is open up new doors marked "how to collapse well". There is tons of work to do through those doors, all that could most definitely change the world on our way down...
Thanks Karen. You're absolutely right. Most people look at "collapse" too simplistically. There a lot of room in there for maneuvering to create the best (or least bad) possible outcomes.
It is a 'right' thing to do... and a 'rite' of acknowledgment of the gift of life on earth.
As to changing the world: I am increasingly skeptical of this motivation, given that so much, perhaps all, of the damage we see is the result of prior efforts to 'change' and 'improve' .... I read your words as a call to heed what earth has to teach us... and to change ourselves accordingly.
I think all of us with a love and knowledge of our dependence on nature feel as you do. Most of the people who know I write about the climate crisis don't bother to read me, they view it as futile. But I know if I don't try, I become part of the problem. They're mystified I don't become depressed. I don't become depressed because being engaged is always better than looking away. Doing what is meaningful is as close to happiness as we can get in this world, unless we can make a better one.
I keep an eye on Thacker Pass and commend you for your courage and persistence. Our mutual friend Mary Thompson is in Buffalo right now, such a good person and passionate supporter. Try to stay safe, Max.
So milk, cream and juice is in refillable bottles. In the store I buy products in glass or boxes. The only plastic I can't get around is yogurt, sour cream and cottage cheese. Pretty much never eat out.
"Exactly how much plastic humanity has produced thus far, we’ll never know. But scientists have taken a swing at an estimate: more than 18 trillion pounds, twice the weight of all the animals living on Earth. Of that, 14 trillion pounds have become waste. Just 9 percent of that waste has been recycled[1], and 12 percent has been incinerated[1]. The rest has been landfilled or released into the environment, where each bag and bottle and wrapper shatters into millions of microplastics. … There’s so much plastic pollution out there that if you were to gather it all up and turn it into cling wrap, you’d have more than enough to cover the globe."
From "A Poison Like No Other: How Microplastics Corrupted our Planet and Our Bodies," by Matt Simon
The real joke is all the high school science textbooks describing plastic as a "chemically inert" material right up to the turn of the millennium and beyond. How wrong that turned out to be; and that was when we already knew the death it could cause just from physically ensnaring wildlife, something the textbooks in Australia didn't mention but was taught explicitly and repeatedly to us in a Germany primary school from the time we turned up as tiny people - that, and all the negative consequences of all the other things like cans, once thrown away, both into bins and littering. And what factory farming does to animals and the environment. And that the biggest problem causing extinctions is outright habitat destruction.
Funny how there was no mention of any of those things when I moved to an ex-British colony, not even in my Environmental Science degree, where gobsmackingly, in the Waste Treatment & Recycling unit, they told us that "the best thing we can do with the waste is to put it in sanitary landfill, and build new industrial estates on it when we close it." Come again? I learnt a lot about Environmental Science through that degree, as a discipline; and started double-majoring in Biology, where there was acknowledgement of and focus on the natural world, and the tutors laughingly called me a refugee from up the hill (where the Env.Sc. faculty was).
The system is so so broken and I've spent ever since trying to make a difference. I learnt from working with natural resource conservation agencies that you can't change the system from within, so I spent most of my life teaching high school kids which had a far more positive impact than staying in NRM could have done. And now I'm in direct conservation, like many of you guys, in a Medicine sans Frontiers type thing except that at least in that discipline, nobody questions that you are still a doctor just because you are volunteering and doing it for free. Those in the NRM system who are at the top will frequently try to discredit people like us working at the coalface, and tell their bright green BAU lies.
So ♥ ♥ ♥ to everyone at the coalface.
Thank you for the comment, Sue. We've certainly got some work to do 🙏🏼
i felt the emotion in the last paragraph.
this weird habit of picking up trash became a thing between me and my 5yo daughter,
i'm baffled that for her is quite natural and even fun...
for me? i'm more with you...it's like a dark ritual, certainly not fun...just look at my face here where i did not know my wife was taking a pic https://tinyurl.com/3d2zny9n
It certainly feels Sisyphean at times. It's beautiful that you're teaching your daughter that way.
We do what we do not because we think it will fix/solve/change/save anything, but because it's the right thing to do.
Thanks Karen. I'm of two minds. I agree, when the alternative is giving up, and I also want to succeed in changing the world.
Giving in is not giving up. What it does is open up new doors marked "how to collapse well". There is tons of work to do through those doors, all that could most definitely change the world on our way down...
Thanks Karen. You're absolutely right. Most people look at "collapse" too simplistically. There a lot of room in there for maneuvering to create the best (or least bad) possible outcomes.
It is a 'right' thing to do... and a 'rite' of acknowledgment of the gift of life on earth.
As to changing the world: I am increasingly skeptical of this motivation, given that so much, perhaps all, of the damage we see is the result of prior efforts to 'change' and 'improve' .... I read your words as a call to heed what earth has to teach us... and to change ourselves accordingly.
That humility is important. Thank you, Peter.
I think all of us with a love and knowledge of our dependence on nature feel as you do. Most of the people who know I write about the climate crisis don't bother to read me, they view it as futile. But I know if I don't try, I become part of the problem. They're mystified I don't become depressed. I don't become depressed because being engaged is always better than looking away. Doing what is meaningful is as close to happiness as we can get in this world, unless we can make a better one.
The antidote to despair is action. Thanks Geoffrey.
I keep an eye on Thacker Pass and commend you for your courage and persistence. Our mutual friend Mary Thompson is in Buffalo right now, such a good person and passionate supporter. Try to stay safe, Max.
Thank you, Geoffrey. 🙏🏼
Just brilliant. Thank you.
That's a very nice thing to say. Thank you, Carolyn!
This was so beautiful, Max. I like this writing style. (Of course I always enjoy your writing, whatever the style.) :)
I had a lot of fun writing this one.
Thank you, Rebecca!
I try not to buy any plastic.
How do you manage it, Carl? Until we manage to shut down all the plastic production facilities, I'd like to buy less plastic too.
I am lucky to have home delivery milk truck https://cowtruck.com/site/
So milk, cream and juice is in refillable bottles. In the store I buy products in glass or boxes. The only plastic I can't get around is yogurt, sour cream and cottage cheese. Pretty much never eat out.
Love this heartfelt piece Max.
Thanks Brian. All my best to you and your family.
Beautifully written. You're writing for all of us who love nature as you do and whose hearts are breaking like yours is.♥
Thanks Sue ❤️