Yay! More plastic! Just what the environment needs!
What’s better for the environment:
- mass-produced, large-batch consumer products that are created long before the demand for them is known and are designed to be thrown out rather than repaired?
- small-batch items designed and created specifically for someone who wants them and can be repaired if they break?
There’s all sorts of other factors that would need to be looked at (manufacturing inefficiency, potential for recycling, etc) but I suspect the second is at least no worse than the first.
Ok, if it’s cyberpunk.
Plastic is always going to have a stigma. However, do you lament “Great, more plastic!” every time you see more legos?
What’s better for the environment, large factory farms shipping their products across the country in petroleum-powered transport, or small local farms distributing locally?
The counterintuitive answer seems to be large factory farms. [I do not have a citation for this at this time; it is something I remember, because it surprised me. Economies of scale, I guess, like shipping $0.05 tchotckes from China on mega-container ships is still profitable.]
So, I would like to see a study on mass-produced large-batch consumer products vs small-batch items.
NOTE: I do see that yours is not a knee-jerk response, and acknowledges that they may be the same; although I suspect it may actually (and sadly) be reversed.
These are different types of questions, though.
With food, you’re only talking about the impact of the production and distribution process… the food itself doesn’t impact the environment much after it’s produced. With plastic, what happens after the production and distribution process is a big part of the environmental impact. Scaling up production means scaling up what happens afterwards.
The 80’s called, they want they’re cyber-punk back.
Also, I imagine MAC cosmetics would have loved to use this in their Punk Couture promotion - but they missed it because they’re actually stuck in the 80’s. http://www.beautyandthebeatblog.com/beauty-launch-mac-punk-couture-collection/#.Uxn7hF6W_DI
Legos, toothbrushes, straws, headphones, shoes (now with lithium batteries), pens, hats, drink cup lids, coffee mugs, eyeglasses, zippers… you get the idea. There’s no end to plastic.
To paraphrase Steve Martin…
You… can print 3D things… including cyberpunk spikes! You can print 3D things… including cyberpunk spikes! You say… “Cory… how can I print 3D things… including cyberpunk spikes?” First… get a 3D printer. Now… you say, “Cory… How do I make those cyberpunk spikes?”
Emphasis that one little part he says really fast in the middle.
Given how ubiquitous plastic is, you could pretty much have that response to any post on Boingboing. (Band releases new album… Russia occupies Crimea… etc.) It’s pretty strange to have that response to a post involving a negligible use of plastic…
Advanced technology that can be used to give people better lives can also be used to create non-recyclable geegaws that will be useless landfill after a few days…
Jeepers, you’ve right, I don’t have a reason to complain… Carry on.
You’re still doing it wrong. I could say “Cars, bikes, toasters, fenceposts, bedsprings, nails” or “Sidewalks, steps, foundations, roads, walls” in regards to steel and concrete. Neither are naturally occurring materials and cost lots in energy to turn out, especially the latter.
We have definitely gone about plastics the wrong way, but plastics are the future, especially in regards to recycling and environmental consciousness. Take Germany’s initiative that states to any car manufacturer in their country; If you build cars here, you have to be able to take them back and completely tear down the car. BMW went from 220+ types of plastics in their car to a mere five.
I understand your concerns, particularly in regards to the history of pollution and other issues, but I think plastic is still the way to go on certain things…
Totally OT, but mad props on your Ur-Quan av.
Star Control II was such an epic game.
That mountain of plastic consumer garbage is worth complaining about. But an insignificant number of home-crafted items made out of small amounts of plastic that people are likely to keep because they made it themselves and care about them (and which may end up recycled)? Not as much.
Then you will like to know that A) It is now, like, *to-*tally free!
And B) There is a good possibility of a new version that’s in the works. Hard to say how I feel about that, honestly. But if it’s not any good I can just ignore it…
I re-played it a few years ago, IIRC.
Wont hold my breath waiting for the new one… any idea how much chance it has?
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