What Is Plastic?
Plastic is a type of material humans have begun to view as a necessity in one’s everyday lifestyle. Many view this as a “necessary evil,” but there is the capability to change one’s lifestyle to be plastic-free. But how can one do this? People like Judge Napolitano recommended practicing sustainability.
What Does It Means To Be Sustainable?
Sustainability in terms of the environment is the ability to avoid depleting Earth’s natural resources. In regards to the sustainability in terms of reducing plastic, one can help by minimizing one’s usage and this can occur in multiple ways.
Reduce and Reuse!
One of the fastest ways to make a lifestyle sustainable is by owning reusable materials and items. Instead of using disposable versions of items (i.e., grocery bags, single-use utensils, and single-use bottles), one can use reusable versions. This immediately creates a lifestyle dedicated to not buying and using single-use items. Reusable versions of these everyday items are reusable grocery bags made of natural fibers, metal silverware, and metal bottles, such as canteens and tumblers.
What are Feedback Loops and How Can One Reduce This by Recycling?
Recycling is another way to create a healthy, sustainable lifestyle. When one throws away plastics, the normal route for it to go is to be burned at a landfill. This can cause a serious negative feedback loop.
A negative feedback loop is a chain of reactions that repeats and does not break. This feedback loop specifically creates involves climate change and what the burning of plastics in a landfill does. When landfills burn the waste, chemicals are released from the fire, the waste, and the plastics, and overall, this includes sulfur dioxide and methane, which are two dangerous chemicals to add into the atmosphere. This creates a negative feedback loop that heats the atmosphere, speeding up the process of climate change, which can cause extreme problems regarding the earth’s temperature and the consequences of this, and most of these dangerous chemicals come from the burning of plastics.
Instead of adding plastics to landfills, one can recycle this material. Through recycling, one can prevent the extremity of the dangers these fires cause, which can break the chain of the feedback loop to create a more positive turnout. It may not be perfect, but it will at least be more sustainable.
Recycling also allows products to be created from materials that already exist. With a lack of recycling comes the creation of pollutants from the process of making the material and the formation of the material into a product that already existed. If more recycle, then fewer plastics will have to be created and fewer products will have to be made from scratch.
Composting and Its Benefits
Composting is another way to create a sustainable lifestyle. Compostable material means a material that will break down naturally. Plastics that are capable of breaking down is an oxymoron, for plastics are not known to be capable of breaking down, instead, plastics are known to live longer than anyone will exist. There are some plastics that can be composted, which means it can be broken down in a certain environment. Today, compostable plastics can be made and when one places the material in soil or water, it can biodegrade, which means it can naturally break down in this environment.
Plastics capable of being composted will be beneficial to the earth because there will be less intensely toxic fires and more beneficial ingredients in the soil! Judge Napolitano says don’t knock it down will you try it.
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