PLa>823,456 As a result of the Weisman reading I started furiously composing my own Periodic Table of the Elements placing Plastic next to Uranium or Plutonium with a 400 billion year half life. Then I found that no one really knows when plastic decomposes. And the Periodic Table was too complex and not pretty enough. So. I gave up.
Two good things
Some fungal rhizii(sp?) are being propogated as consumers of plastic. I supppose this is hopeful but then what do the fungus become?
China has banned plastic bags. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/06/china-plastic-bag-ban-saves-1-million-tons-of-oil.php
China, despite its terrible reputation for being a wholesale polluter, is taking some proactive steps. I suppose that the economics of the cost of oil plays a role, but it is still good...
ReplyDeleteSan Francisco has banned plastic bags... Is Albuquerque next?
ReplyDeleteI think the Periodic Table is quite beautiful, but that is perhaps because it haunted my highschool years, until I just memorized the whole thing. I don't have it still memorized, sadly.
More on fungi and plastics/radiation and other trash: http://www.bioedonline.org/news/news.cfm?art=2575
http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070521/full/news070521-5.html