Plastic Pollution: The Road Ahead That Must Be Taken

 

Billions of people use plastic daily, which includes how their food products are packaged. Billions of people live in developing countries where there are no infrastructures to collect and properly dispose of plastic trash and other harmful waste products. As a result, billions of people dump their plastic trash and other harmful trash into rivers, coastlines, and elsewhere. Or they openly burn their plastic trash, exposing themselves and the environment to cancer causing, lung and other organ damaging toxins.

Plastic pollution will only worsen unless proper waste management becomes universal. 

Universal proper waste management must be the priority. Everything else is secondary.

Recycling, jewelry made from ocean plastic, beach cleanups, river and ocean cleanup devices and projects, plastic straw bans and all else achieve little to nothing as long as the lack of proper waste management continues. All of the worldwide beach cleanups, river and ocean cleanup devices and projects, and all other plastic trash removal projects combined collects a smaller amount of plastic trash annually than the amount of plastic trash newly entering into rivers and oceans daily. This does not mean ending those projects. It does mean ensuring these projects do not divert attention away from the critical need to establish universal proper waste management. Removing small amounts of plastic trash from the environment while massive amounts of plastic trash pour into the environment will not save rivers, oceans, wildlife, and the environment at large. 

Recycling and disingenuous anti-littering campaigns have been used by corporations to shift the responsibility for plastic trash to consumers and away from themselves. Corporations must bear at least some of the financial burden and responsibility for where plastic trash ends. They must stop being let off the hook. 

Recycling is often not economically feasible and doable. Even if recycling was completely efficient and doable, which it is not for a variety of reasons, it does nothing to address the fact that most plastic trash is not recyclable and needs to go somewhere.  Recycling does not stop the huge amounts of plastic trash that enters rivers and oceans daily because billions of people have no other alternatives but to dump their plastic trash into the environment. 

The concept of zero waste as the answer, in which plastic gets continually used and recycled, is great on paper but not in reality. It does nothing to address the fact that millions of kilos of plastic waste pours into rivers and oceans daily and that nothing is being done to stop this. Maybe one day most plastic can and will be recycled, but waiting for this to happen while the world continues to drown in plastic is lunacy. The reality in front of us is that most plastic waste is not recyclable. Most plastic waste is not disposed of properly and ends up in rivers and oceans. Most plastic that can be recycled is not being recycled for a variety of reasons. We cannot properly recycle the plastic that can be recycled, and we are far away from the day in which most plastic is actually recyclable. We must deal with the hand of cards that we hold, and not with the hand of cards that we wish we held. 

The damage to the environment from plastic trash is now in the trillions of dollars, of which corporations have not been liable for a single penny. Many corporations have made fortunes from plastic, without bearing any responsibility for what becomes of that plastic once it is trash. 

Bioplastics may be the answer one day, but that day may never come, or it may be too distant of a day to even matter. Bioplastics as an alternative to plastic must be pursued aggressively, but it cannot be at the expense of establishing universal proper waste management. Waiting for bioplastics to save the day while rivers, oceans and more continue to be polluted by plastic trash is sheer insanity. The unfortunate trend is towards the greater production and use of plastics, not less. 

The use of plastic based materials in clothing and elsewhere, such as polyesters, acrylics, nylon and so forth, and the trillions of micro fibers they release through washing and routine wear, is only increasing as the human population increases and depends more on these synthetic, nonbiodegradable materials. Proper waste management is nonexistent in most of the world. Where it does exist has yet to meet the challenges of preventing plastic microfibers from clothing and elsewhere from entering into the environment.  Reducing dependency on synthetic oil based clothing and textiles, and keeping micro fibers out of the environment from clothes and other sources are important goals. Universal waste management must be established, along with better waste management systems that captures micro particles of plastic. 

Plastic trash already in the environment damaging coastlines, mangroves, forests, and more must be removed. Every day that plastic trash is not removed is another day in which these habitats are further degraded. Employing people in need of work to remove plastic trash already in the environment is a straightforward way to combat poverty and help the environment at the same time. This has yet to happen on any meaningful scale. But even this will achieve little if there is not proper waste management keeping new plastic waste out of the environment. 

Proper waste management worldwide may seem expensive, but it is not nearly as expensive as allowing plastic trash to keep contaminating the environment. 

If humanity is content with not employing people that need work, and with letting plastic trash destroy human health, mangroves, coastlines, coral reefs, forests, sea grasses, marine life, birds and other wildlife and more, then leave things as they are. Keep ignoring the fact that every single day means the entry of millions of kilos of new plastic trash into rivers and oceans. 

Executive Compensation, China, And The Devaluing Of Labor

 A wealthy man explained decades ago why it was necessary for him to have the products he manufactured made in China. It is capitalism, he explained, and his costs had to be kept down in order to be competitive. Capitalism by relying on communism. 

While the so called capitalists and entrepreneurs made fortunes relying on the cheap labor, low environmental and work safety standards that a police state provides, justifying it as necessary to be competitive, they never considered why labor, safety and environmental standards had to be lowered but not their compensation. They never considered what it meant to transfer a powerful nation's technology and manufacturing to a police state. They never considered the environmental cost. They never considered the harm caused by low safety standards. They never considered what it means to enrich a police state and help make it powerful.  They never considered the enormous financial cost that would later be paid by having to compete with a militarized police state flexing its military might and muscle.  

The executive class of the United States wants cheap labor for manufacturing, and cheap labor for services within the United States. The mere suggestion that their exorbitant salaries and compensations are out of control meets with fierce resistance. They act as if they are irreplaceable, while labor is dispensable. Some even believe the myths about their exaggerated importance. They believe they are entitled to lavish rewards by virtue of their place in life. 

The devaluing of labor, along with a predatory executive class that takes whatever it can get with no one in their way to say no, has led the United States to become a weakened nation with a diminishing middle class. China has risen, and it is not to the benefit of freedom. Nations of pampered kings and queens with peons at their service does not bode well for a prosperous, democratic future.

Animal Cruelty And Dog fighting, Windows To Nonprofit Corruption

 A cop worked a high crime area where there were many public housing projects. Dog fighting and animal cruelty were common. Dog fights were frequently held out in the open. 

The police response to dog fighting and other acts of animal cruelty was virtually nonexistent. It was common for some children and teenagers in the projects to fan out to surrounding neighborhoods and steal dogs from backyards and elsewhere and bring them back to the projects to fight. Some children and teenagers would throw losing dogs, if they had not been killed in dogfights, from the high level floors of the buildings. Other dogs that were wounded in fights but did not die were often left to die slow deaths from their wounds. Dogs were often left in vacant apartments and left to die by negligent children and teenagers that liked seeing the dogs fight, but were not interested in providing food and water for the dogs.

There were children and teenagers that fought, beat, burnt, cut, set on fire, threw out of windows cats and dogs without blinking an eye. 

The cop was determined to have these crimes of violence addressed. This was not only an animal welfare issue, but also a child welfare issue. There was no excuse for police to ignore these crimes, and respond only if they personally felt like responding, not because they were required to do so. It seemed that if the prevalence of animal cruelty and dog fighting, and the nonexistent smoke and mirrors reaction to it were exposed, animal organizations and animal advocates would change and rally to get public law enforcement to respond appropriately. All that was needed was raising awareness and advocacy. 

Pathetically, raising awareness often is nothing more than a new opportunity unscrupulous people exploit. Wolves can easily dress themselves in the coats of lambs. The advocacy needed never came. 

There are many reasons why police, not animal organizations, not token police forces, not humane investigators, should be the ones that respond to animal cruelty and dog fighting. This is talked about extensively in other videos and blogs, and will not be again right now.  

Why did a number of animal organizations and animal advocates aggressively present themselves as the answer to animal cruelty? Why did they want money for doing poorly and inappropriately at best what public law enforcement could and should have been doing for free? Because there is enormous money to be made off of the suffering of abused animals. Contributions and careers are made by pretending to care or to be doing something about animal cruelty and dog fighting. 

The cop spent thousands of dollars documenting the cruelty and dog fighting and to expose it without wanting or expecting any reimbursement, only to have it plagiarized by others that presented it as their own material to enrich themselves and further their careers. 

The director of one very well funded animal organization embarked on a major campaign to have it appear that the organization and its humane investigators were the answer to animal cruelty. The cop told the director that all his humane investigators were doing by their often toothless investigations that did not lessen animal cruelty was frequently give dog fighters and animal abusers a heads up moment to move their animals to a different location. Giving the appearance of doing something about dog fighting and animal cruelty, no matter how ineffective and harmful, became a source of new funding, money and career advancement.

People are emotional about animal cruelty when it comes to dogs and cats. Many animal organizations and animal advocates know that by playing on those emotions, money and careers will be made. 

The cop learned that when it comes to actual efficacy, no one cares. Accountability in the nonprofit world rarely includes scrutiny of the actual programs, work and interventions of nonprofits and their efficacy. Organizations that claim to evaluate nonprofit organizations' worthiness often ignore efficacy, the single most important thing. Nonprofits get away with worthless, even harmful programs and interventions, and there is rarely anyone that will scrutinize or challenge what they do.

Corruption does not always take an overt form. Providing ineffective, worthless, even harmful interventions and services is its own form of corruption. What nonprofits actually do and whether it is worthwhile and effective must always be taken into consideration. Especially when it comes to voiceless and silent populations. Actions that are ineffective and harmful are as bad or worse than doing nothing.  

When it comes to animal cruelty and dog fighting, the police response remains poor, with few exceptions. A number of animal organizations and animal advocates are all over animal cruelty and dog fighting, presenting themselves as the voice for the abused. They exploit cruelty and also enable police to continue to do little to nothing about it. Money pours into their pockets no matter how ineffective and harmful are they. The population they claim to represent,  has no voice to argue otherwise. 

Dog fighters continue to this day to have greater chances of getting struck by lightning than ever getting arrested for dog fighting. Animal abusers are rarely arrested despite animal cruelty being a common occurring, widespread crime.

There are people and organizations that exploit suffering, pain and misery for their own gain, while presenting themselves as saviors. There are many issues, problems, pains and ills that can easily be exploited, not just animal cruelty and suffering. This includes, but is not limited to poverty, child welfare and child exploitation, especially in developing countries, conservation, wildlife protection, environmentalism, plastic pollution, and much, much more.

Nonprofits should exist to lessen pain, suffering, misery and to resolve and lessen problems and ills. Instead, many nonprofits are parasites that feed off of pain, misery and suffering in order to profit and gain. This is especially true when it comes to voiceless and vulnerable populations that are unable to reveal the truth about what exploitative organizations and people actually do.

 

The Most Valuable Assets, Unprotected And Worthless

 The most valuable assets on the planet are worth nothing in terms of money, so they are little regarded. Coral reefs, mangroves, tropical rain forests and much more are in great decline. So are a large variety of fish, insects, birds, mammals, frogs, and more. 

Millions of people are glued to the daily movements of stock markets and other financial assets. Millions of people research, study, follow and make careers out of financial markets. The smallest changes in stocks are carefully studied and scrutinized. The wealth of entire societies is constructed around these financial assets. 

But when it comes to the asset that matters most, not degrading the environment, people turn a blind eye. 

The stupidity of putting no value on the assets that matter most is sheer folly. Individuals become enriched while humanity as a whole is increasingly impoverished.

Environmental Degradation And The Rich

 The Gulf of Mexico in some parts is little more than a contaminated sewer. The overall health of the Gulf is declining. Even though it is incredibly rich in biodiversity, a source of trillions of dollars in tourism, fishing and real estate, it will continue to be trashed. The day will come that the parts of the Gulf that are still healthy and desirable places to visit and live near will become like the places in Mississippi and Louisiana where real estate is dirt cheap and no one is allowed to enter the contaminated waters. 

People are careful to keep their properties perfectly manicured, with no regard to the harm to the Gulf from the fertilizer runoffs, pesticides and other chemicals required to maintain perfectly useless lawns. It becomes clear that individuals care about what is theirs, and could care less about that which they do not own. No one owns the Gulf, so trashing it is just fine. 

Many rich live in a delusional world of entitlement. They have the money, so nothing must be denied to them. All of the environmental problems the world faces matter only as long as it does not restrain their extravagance and need to serve themselves. There is not a world big enough to support what many of the rich take; their luxury, their excess, and still expect that the collapse of biodiversity, climate change, plastic contamination, deforestation, environmental degradation and more can be averted. This is not a call for violence in any form whatsoever. It is a call for change in values and priorities.

There is news that a newly recognized species of whale, numbering less than 100 living in the Gulf of Mexico, is critically endangered and near extinction. One underweight whale that had washed ashore had plastic in its gut. This is not a safe world for wildlife. It is not safe world for billions of people. The rich, the ones with the power and money to make it a better place, often instead cannot see beyond their own needs, their own entitlement, their own elitist agendas. They are the entitled ones that everyone serves, and that often see the servitude as proof of their superiority. Everything is more than fine in their universe, so why change anything? 

The worship of money, extravagance and luxury is not a sustainable path.

Bioplastics Will Not End The Plastic Pollution Nightmare

 Bioplastics have a role to play in lessening plastic pollution, but they will not end the plastic pollution nightmare. They must not be used as yet another excuse to continue doing nothing about the millions of kilos of plastic trash pouring into rivers and oceans daily. Many companies take no responsibility about where their plastic materials end up. Companies that use bioplastics for some or all of their packaging needs will not lessen the plastic pollution nightmare as long as plastic trash keeps pouring into rivers and oceans by millions of kilos daily. 

Bioplastics are nowhere near being able to replace plastic. Until the day comes when they can replace plastics, which may be never, the daily flood of plastic trash into rivers, oceans, mangroves, forests, and elsewhere, continues unabated and unaddressed. 

In order for bioplastics made from canola oil and other land based plant materials to replace plastics made from oil, millions of acres of land will be needed. This presents huge challenges on an earth where a sizable portion of the growing human population already does not have enough food. Finding enough acres to produce the plants needed for bioplastics to make a real dent against plastic is no easy task. The potential ecological harm from growing plants for bioplastics must be taken into consideration if bioplastics move beyond a small scale. This includes the need for pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides, fossil fuels for farm equipment, and so on. How some bioplastics impact marine life, how they degrade in cold marine environments and in other environments, how some bioplastics release methane gas when they degrade, the degree to which they can adequately replace plastic, and much more must be addressed.   

There is no easy way out of the plastic pollution nightmare. Bioplastics must not join the long list of diversions and interventions that do nothing to stop millions of kilos of plastic trash from entering rivers and oceans daily. As long as billions of people in many developing countries use millions of kilos of plastic daily, with no way to properly dispose of their plastic waste, the plastic trash nightmare will only get worse. 

Proper waste management must become universal. People almost everywhere are dependent upon plastic, with the majority living in places where there is little or no collection of plastic waste, and no proper way to dispose of plastic waste. As a result, plastic trash gets dumped into rivers, oceans, into mangroves, forests and more. Many people openly burn plastic trash, exposing themselves and the environment to toxic smoke and to harmful carcinogens.

Universal proper waste management is not even on the radar. As long as it is not, and as long as it is nowhere close to being achieved, everything else is of little consequence. Millions of kilos of plastic waste will continue pouring into rivers and oceans daily. 

There needs to be the mass employment of people, especially in developing countries, to remove plastic waste already contaminating coastlines, mangroves, forests, cities and more. There needs to be the widespread employment of people and widespread use of machinery and technology to ensure plastic trash is properly collected and disposed. Everything else is secondary at most, including recycling itself. Keeping plastic waste out of the environment must be the priority. 

All the plastic straw bans, beach cleanups, selling of jewelry and other items from plastic trash, bioplastics, ocean and river cleanup devices, and so forth, are of little consequence as long as plastic pollution continues to pour into rivers and oceans by millions of kilos daily. Bioplastics are years or even decades away from being more than a niche player, and may never be more than a niche player that minimally disrupts the massive plastics industry. Ocean and rivers and most life on earth cannot wait.

Developed countries are not immune from what occurs in developing countries. Removing plastic waste already in the environment by employing people, and ensuring plastic trash and other harmful trash are properly collected and disposed of everywhere, must be the priority.

Freedom Includes The Right To Peacefully Protest Against Religion Or Government

 No matter the country, no matter the place, no matter the government, people everywhere must be free to protest peacefully. Freedom includes the right to peacefully protest and criticize government. Freedom also includes the right to reject, challenge, criticize and change religion. If  governments or leaders and followers of religion react violently to peaceful criticism and protest, than the religion or the government are not legitimate and deserving of support.

Putin Jails Navalny

 Imprisoning a nonviolent dissenter and jailing thousands of his peaceful demonstrating supporters will not erase corruption.  

Putin's Judo Instructor: Fall Guy Or Enriched Crony?

Putin's judo instructor announced that he is the one that owns the extravagant estate, not Putin. If this is true, it does not mean that Putin is any less corrupt. It means that Putin enriches not only himself, but also his cronies. If it is not true, and the judo instructor is serving his master by being the fall guy for Putin, then it means that Putin is unwilling to stand up for his own actions, and needs others to take the fall for him. Either way, it is not good. 

Putin can redeem himself. He can stop the police actions against unarmed protestors. He can release the thousands arrested on trumped up charges. He can turn his news networks, including RT, into real news channels, and stop them from disseminating propaganda and disinformation. He can reverse nuclear weapons proliferation. He can ensure there are fair and open elections. This, and so much more.