Plastic bag and other human trash found at the bottom of Earth's deepest ocean trench

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/05/14/plastic-bag-and-other-human-tr.html

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Well, so long, everybody. We had a good run, but ultimately proved we can’t have the nice things.

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So you’re giving up…

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And let’s be clear…the idiots who deny climate change and don’t care what happens to the oceans, and couldn’t give two shits about polar bears dying off…they vote. And you KNOW who they vote for every single time. They vote for the candidate who says “We must protect the unborn children” but don’t want to fund national healthcare or fund schools once that kid is born. They vote for the candidate who says “We have to get rid of welfare programs so people stop mooching!!!” and then double the funding of the biggest welfare program we have…the Military. They vote at every level for the same candidates.

You want this to change? Vote.

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No, I’m recognizing reality. I still do what I can to lessen my negative impact - got rid of my car, regularly participate in local beach and harbor cleanups, donate to allied causes, etc., etc - but when the leaders of this country tell its citizens that global warming is a hoax, there’s a limit as to what I can reasonably expect from the rest of the planet. Any ameliorating effects of my actions are far outweighed by others not really giving a shit.

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was reading this 2 days ago:

Also in terms of energy, Modi sings the song of the “Green” stream of the West, though the facts make him a lie: if everything goes according to plan, India will double its consumption of coal to generate electricity by 2037. And even if India had less CO 2 emissions per capita than any other person in the Western world, but in its entirety, with 1.35 billion people, India would give the earth a chunk that it would not be able to absorb

its quite depressing:

google-translation from: Indien: Der schöne Schein einer Supermacht | Telepolis

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Is that supposed to be a supporting and discourse creating question ?

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Our local grocery just stopped accepting plastic bags for recycling. Does anybody know a way of recycling plastic bags?

They can be made into bricks for building or filament for a 3D printer. I’m sure you could find someone online who will accept them for those purposes. :slightly_smiling_face:

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I reuse any plastic bags I get for kitty litter patrol; our state banned most plastic bags (along with styrofoam) several years ago. Paper bags don’t hold together long under the weight of, erm, used, damp litter. I know, a feature not a bug, but I need it to contain the ‘product’ long enough to make it into the bin.

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marcus_mcmullan

abutilon

8m

They can be made into bricks for building or filament for a 3D printer. I’m sure you could find someone online who will accept them for those purposes.

Coders, maybe this is an app waiting to happen: help neighbors band together to recycle plastic bags in bulk. Find someone local willing to accept them for recycling, & someone willing to collect/receive them for delivery, then make an app to allow neighbors to schedule home pickup. (For example, I drive my truck so rarely that I’d be willing to store clean tightly-packed bags in the truckbed until we had enough to recycle; or maybe one could make a deal for dropoff & temp storage at a local recycling center.) If people didn’t clean & pack their bags correctly, or tried to sneak in non-recyclables, they’d be kicked off the system temporarily. It would be like a CSA in reverse: Community Supported Recycling…

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Did anyone ever doubt that shit rolls downhill?

Okay, it’ll roll downhill until it’s in the same ambient density environment as itself, but much of the rest of our figurative shit is going to find the lowest place it can go.

Deepest point on the Earth you say? Yeah, I wonder about the high molecular weight chemicals that are down there. At some point the trench is going to fill up and not even have any H2O in it. It’ll be like one of those layered cocktails that you really don’t want to drink.

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…No mermaids? Sorry, I just recently finished reading Into the Drowning Deep and it really had me wanting to search there.

Nope I’m calling out defeatism.

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You could be on to something there. Maybe maker groups could get involved with collecting these bags as they could be used in the production of new meterials that makers themselves could use in their own projects. I’ve seen recycled plastic used to create wireless speakers and smartphone cases, i’m sure there are a great many more uses for it from the maker community… Just a thought. :slightly_smiling_face:

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[nah, actually…]

I can’t believe nobody has asked or answered the big question: what kind of candy wrapper was it?

I think your perception is off, then.

So, you’ve logged in after nearly a year just to give me shit? There’s a whole interesting world out there. Go enjoy it. Maybe you, too, can do a little something to clean it up a bit before everything falls apart.

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