Age Of Plastic Research Paper

The author proves the falsehood of the long known assumption that plastic is a threat to our planet. By citing the research done by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the author convinces his readers that not only are plastic bags not harmful as people think, but also beneficial. This surprises his audience and shows them how exaggerated the cries of environmentalists, which gets the readers wondering what else have they falsely believed in and what other information are paper-bags advocates hiding from them, and that pulls them into the argument and intrigues them further. Additionally, Summers lists the harmful consequences of using reusable bags by presenting research results and observations. This alarms the audience and raises concern in their

Plastic isn’t known to be a substance made for consumption, but you may be eating it every day. In “Our Oceans Are Turning into Plastic…Are You?” the author Susan Casey is informing us how bad plastic is polluting our oceans. Susan Casey is the author of a New York Times best seller, “The Devils Teeth”, helped publish Into Thin Air and The Perfect Storm, and is the editor and chief of Oprah Winfrey’s Magazine “O”. She argues that these pollutants are doing damage in multiple facets, such as affecting food chains, disrupts organism reproduction, and directly cause the things we consume to be harmful to us. The author found many creative ways to appeal to all three persuasive appeals which are Logos, Pathos, and Ethos. Although the article was great at the end she added things that weren’t needed and seemed to just be there as filler.

I recently viewed a video on “The economic injustice of plastic” by Van Jones. The film started off by talking about the fact that the petrochemical corporations use oil and concentrate it into plastic; which in turn kills individuals. Van Jones discusses the demise of people who are underprivileged because they can only manage to pay for the products that are hazardous to them. Additionally, poverty-stricken people also assume the burden to dispose of plastic bottles and containers.

I mean for crying out loud my computer is made WITH plastic! Also after reading it I have started to feel a little bit of guilt. Not that it has me overly messed up it’s just got me asking questions. Such as, “How in the world can this issue be reversed?” Or “Am I compounding the issue with my own consumer notions?” Of course I personally find it disturbing that I would even be remotely linked to this issue. But I am. Most all of America is linked to it with the rest of the world following in suit. But I tend to try and put a positive spin on it myself so that maybe just maybe there is a solution. A clean up method that could work, or a better way of using our current materials so as to try and make our economy bounce back and stop or slow this whole water pollution issue. This chapter is now also making me consider whether or not the shrimp I ate at a restaurant awhile ago may have been affected as well. If it did then what effect has it had on me physically? Also, another thought that comes to mind is if it has had any major affects on the U.S. population as a whole? Or if it has anything to do with why our politicians don’t seem to do anything remotely right or close to what they say they are going to do. Then there is the fact that FOUR MILLION tons of plastic just up and poof, disappear, every year. That in itself could be a major factor in the U.S. economic crisis as well as a number of other ecological issues as

Every year millions of tons of plastic are dumped around the world. Every year hundreds of thousands of people lose their homes due to fires or natural disasters. 1.6 billion people in the world are homeless and have nowhere to call home but by using my idea of using/melting plastic (high-density polyethylene) and comparing it to standard building materials that make houses , it will enable hundreds of thousands of people to have a place that they call home and it will create jobs as well.

“When was the last time you spent an entire day without using a piece of disposable plastic?” This quote is used by Kitt Doucette in her article, An Ocean of Plastic (412). It shows that using plastic water bottles are becoming a part of people’s lifestyle, regardless people don’t think about the consequences of using them. Water is a necessary part to human life and without water we cannot survive. Humans need at least eight glasses of water to make up for the fact that we lose an average of ten glasses per day throughout normal functions such as sweating and breathing. We must drink the right amount of water in order to stay healthy. There are millions of people worldwide who use plastic water bottles, and there have been massive sustainability

for companies to stop producing plastic, we must first get rid of the demand for it. We

Where does all the plastic go. Every bit of plastic that has been created is still here. This is because plastic is one-hundred percent non-biodegradable! Even the most degraded plastic down to polymers cannot be digested by bacteria (Laist, 1997). If global issues like starvation and climate change are not enough to stress on, the weight of an issue literally churning in the Pacific Ocean is startling. For decades the majority of the world’s population has not been properly educated on the nature of plastic and the potential harm it can do to our environment and our physical health. Due to factors of man and the natural effects of nature, a major problem has developed that is now harming our food.

According to a CNN report, halting the amount of plastic flowing into oceans would, “require and incredible change in the daily behavior of 7 billion people” (Walsh et al.). The need for this extreme measure did not happen overnight. This problem has grown over the course of many years, and only continues to worsen as the Hedonistic Treadmill speeds up. This problem is so large, that it constitutes as a market failure. Due to the impact of excessive plastic in the oceans, animals are dying, and individuals are consuming large amounts of plastic each year. Thus, the speed of the Hedonistic Treadmill is causing the market to fail due to its negative externalities on wildlife, the environment and humans. However, the degree of the problem indicates that this failure, and its solutions, have not been thoroughly

Plastics are one of the most used materials on a volume basis in U.S. industrial and commercial use. Plastics are commonly into today’s lifestyle and make a major contribution to virtually all product areas. Although the plastics industry in the United States is now in its second century, the most important developments have occurred since 1910. The roots of these modern developments go back not only to the research of cellulose nitrate by John Wesley Hyatt in the 1860s, but also to the plastic-like compositions used by man through the centuries. Humans probably don’t realize how often we use plastics or use something that has plastic particles. From the bristles on our toothbrushes, to bulletproof vest, to fibers that help in the making

I found this chapter to be the most interesting so far, it fueled my concerns regarding the excessive use of plastic. Some of the statistics Feinkel shares are frightening, such as chemist Raymond Giguere’s, comparison of a year’s production of polyethylene equaling the mass of all the men, women and children in the United States. (62) This is alarming as we cannot continue to produce these materials on such a mass scale without considering the implications it has on our planet. Some forms of polyethylene take hundreds of years to degrade, this means the mess we make now will be left for generations to come to clean up. I have actually made a stand in my house, as the Mum of two young boys I no longer buy them those cheap, plastic toys that

Plastic can be made in to just about anything we use everyday. Just look around you, just about almost anything you use is made out of plastic. Despite its effortless attainability, plastic has transformed the world and the way, we as consumers, use it on a daily basis. There is questions arising to whether or not we should be using plastics the way we are. What will be the long-term effect of plastic usage and its disposal? Many experts and researchers have tried to come to a solid conclusion to the topic. However, its complexity and the way its use is evolving, leaves many holes open to discussion. Eventually, will we have to completely stop using plastic?

The news on some once-promising plastic alternatives is not so encouraging. A review published last month in Environmental Science and Technology by a group of scientists — one at the polymer science division of the Indian Institute of Technology — finds that “degradable The news on once-promising plastic alternatives is not so

Just in the United States alone, more than thirty million tons of plastic is discarded a year and only approximately eight percent of it is recycled (Plastic Pollution Coalition). This may seem inaccurate until you stop and think about everyday items we use that are made of plastic. From the stops at your favorite coffee shops, to dropping by the vending machine to grab a drink, and even sitting at your desk during work or school – you are constantly surrounded by plastic. The smallest things like straws at your favorite restaurant, your children’s or pet’s favorite toys, and the bags you bring home after you weekly grocery trip are most commonly made of some variety of plastic. Each and every one of these things eventually ends up being thrown away and if they are not

Five hundred billion used globally and one hundred billion of them end up in U.S. landfills, taking about one thousand years to decompose, but only 5.2 percent were recycled (Borrud, 2007, p.75).-These are the figures plastic bags have produced every year. Human beings invented plastic bags for the convenience of carriers and packers. However, just as other great inventions, say, nuclear energy and biotechnology, plastic bags are causing serious issues like global warming, environment pollution and energy consumption. They are gradually becoming sword towards ourselves. In responding to this problem, the city of San Francisco has become the trail blazer to prohibit non-biodegradable plastic bags in its large supermarkets and pharmacies.