A few days ago, we focused on the fraudulent scheme of plastic recycling. It does not work, it never has worked, and it never will.

The oil industry, which produces millions of tons of plastics every year and makes HUGE profits from it, has known all along that recycling doesn't do any good — yet they continue promoting the idea.

So should we just quit? That's the question asked by a new article at Salon.

"Plastic experts say recycling is a scam. Should we even do it anymore?"
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Erica Cirino, communications manager at the Plastic Pollution Coalition, says, "Plastic recycling rates vary widely from region to region around the world. In the U.S., plastic recycling rates are currently below 6 percent."

Yet even those numbers are deceptive, Cirino warned, as they incorrectly imply that at least the plastic which does get 'recycled' is handled in ways that help the environment.

"Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter where or how you set out your plastic for recycling collection, whether at the end of your driveway, at your local recycling center, or in a municipal recycling bin: Most plastic items collected as recycling are not actually recycled," Cirino explained. "Surprisingly, plastic is not designed to be recycled — despite industries and governments telling the public that we should recycle plastic."

Instead the plastics that people think get 'recycled' are often instead shipped from the Global North to the Global South, with waste haulers often dumping and openly burning plastic without regard to environmental laws, Cirino explained. People who live near the sites where these things happen face a lifetime of health risks, to say nothing of living in a degraded environment.

Indeed, a compelling question arises from the fact that the crusade to recycle plastic is more corporate propaganda than true Earth-saving measure: Should we recycle plastic at all?

"No," Cirino told Salon. "Even if plastic recycling rates were higher, recycling alone could never come close to solving the serious and wide-ranging health, justice, socio-economic, and environmental crises caused by industries’ continued plastic production and plastic pollution, which go hand in hand." Cirino argued that, given how plastic production has grown exponentially and its pollution problems have likewise worsened, emphasizing recycling over meaningful solutions is at best irresponsible.

"It’s clear recycling is not enough to solve the plastic pollution crisis," Cirino concluded. "The fossil fuel industry, governments, and corporations really need to turn off the plastic tap. Ultimately, our world must decide what it values: money or life."
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FULL ARTICLE -- https://www.salon.com/2024/02/23/plastic-experts-say-recycling-is-a-scam-should-we-even-do-it-anymore/

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Pollution

I certainly wasn’t expecting this on my walk today! I am in the middle of nowhere, mid-way through my outing and some 3-4 km from the nearest house or car park! Spooky!

(You get a bonus ‘Spot the Dog’ to play with in the second image!)

#quantocks #SpotTheDog #DogsOfMastodon #photography #nature #environment #halloween

Bob Bot

Taking some inspiration from Silent running and a little bit of 2001, Bob Bot 01 is tending to the ship plants.

#blender #blender3d #MastoArt #DigitalArt #SciFi #robot #spaceship #environment #70s

A little exploration into the concept/environment world with a focus on how materials react to different lighting.
No changes to the materials between the renders.

This is for my portfolio so I'd love the hear critique.

#3dArt #b3d #blender3d #environment #blender #MastoArt

With all of the horrible things happening in the world, it’s nice to find the wins. Especially in the area of our environment. A group called Coral Guardian is restoring coral reefs, and it’s quite magnificent.

These photos represent 7 years of work on the Indonesia’s Hatamin Island. In this they have increased the fish population by 5x with 53k corals restored.

More wins like this, please.

https://www.coralguardian.org/en/

#Climate #Environment #CoralReef #Restoration #Ocean #Sea #Fish #Ecosystem

Two very unrelated environment sketches from a whiiiile back.

#MastoArt #DigitalArt #Environment #Landscape #Sketch #ConceptArt

Been having a great time on #mastodon so far! Really happy with the warm reception. At this rate, I'll have more followers after a week or so than I've ever had on Twitter; that's nuts!

Right now I'm coaxing my #artist buddies to come join me here. As soon as they do, I'll be sure to show off their #art and try to help cultivate a strong community for this kind of stuff.

Anyway, I showed some #environment #design and a bunch of #witch themed stuff, now here they both are, put together! Top floor of a witch's cabin.

@Curator
#illustration #environmentdesign #artistsofmastodon #artistsonmastodon

Let's add "trees" here... What are the equivalent? Can Emojis be hashtagged to help perceived health in Mastodon, like in nature? #🌳 I never had Twitter so I don't know what the limits are, but I imagine more positive than negative visuals/images can only help humans within tech environments, which is why I think the art hubs here are flourishing @Curator @feditips #mastodon #environment #health #science #tech #mentalhealth #green #mastohelp #art

To help some of the newcomers make connections: name 5-7 things that interest you but aren't in your profile, as tags so they are searchable. Then boost this post or repeat its instructions so others know to do the same.

#knitting
#nonbinary
#poll
#activism
#environment / #nature
#ActuallyAutistic
#crafts a bit? :)

Don't forget to boost good posts with hashtags so that searchable posts make it out to more instances!

So this is a painting of the cool nature structures inside Planet Mira, which in this case is Primordria region.

#art #DigitalArt #krita #environment #study #fantasy #jrpg #xenoblade

Karrot is a free open source platform for sharing real life resources (for example excess food, to prevent it going to waste).

You can follow the project at:

➡️ @karrot

The main instance is at https://karrot.world

You can find the source code at https://github.com/yunity

(The emphasis is on food, but the platform can be used to share anything.)

#Karrot #Activism #CoOp #CoOperative #FoodSharing #FoodAndDrink #FoodWaste #Food #FOSS #FLOSS #Libre #FreeSoftware #OpenSource #NGOs #Environment

Climate change: UK aim of 68% emissions cut a 'colossal challenge'

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-55179008 #environment #climatecrisis #pollution #ecology #UK

#green #environment #sign #funny #lol
Here's your sign: