• optissima@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    48
    ·
    1 day ago

    This implies that microplastics were inevitable because of the industrial revolution instead of because of the oil industry destroying regulation for 100 years.

    • Emerald (she/her)@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      6 hours ago

      Plastic is made from petroleum. Petroleum is natural and good for you. I use a 1/4 tsp of petroleum in my water for flavor and I turned out fine.

    • Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      1 day ago

      According to Karl Marx (in Das Kapital ) the deregulation of industry for sake of profit is inevitable.

      It’s cheaper to capture government than it is to follow regulations (which, in turn, are meant to serve the public, sometimes protect the public from industry)

      Some nations are trying to make the capture process slow or difficult, but none have stopped it, and it only accelerates.

      • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        edit-2
        24 hours ago

        But supporting their central point, Marx did propose a solution that would make have made microplastics evitable.

        • Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          23 hours ago

          Only on the presumption that we didn’t detect it and aim for solutions sooner (e.g. invent circular recycling of plastics, replace major causes of microplastics with degradeable alternatives, say, vulcanized rubber with rubber and mushrooms).

          Also the society’s response in this late hour would probably be more effective than a disinformation campaign and a shrug.

          • optissima@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            7 hours ago

            I think it’s safe to assume that if we had stronger regulations, some of which were first implemented 1980, we’d be looking at significantly less than now.

            • Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              6 hours ago

              Agreed, but 1980 was the beginning of the Reagan-Bush era and massive environmental deregulation, which only got worse through Clinton and George W. Bush.

              The great conservative movement killed conservation.