Pages: 1 [2] 3
|
|
|
Author
|
Topic: Sustainability (Read 4889 times)
|
|
Scalare
*Many bubbles*
Offline
Posts: 245
|
this thread was about why we produce less food on the planet, right? There is less farmland but there is more production per hectare, and there are also less people working on farms due to industrialisation of farm equipment (they can do the same production with less people). But in this specific case I think we're confused about the word urbanisation, which means a percentage increase (people moving from rural to cities), but also a land usage increase for urban areas.
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Scalare
*Many bubbles*
Offline
Posts: 245
|
Neither the graph nor the story on your page explains how plastic affects the fish stocks. You jump from 'fish stocks are declining' and 'plastic is increasing' to 'fish stocks are decreasing because of plastic' without actually explaining how fish die because of it, or how many fish die because of it.
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Zanthius
Enlightened
Offline
Posts: 941
|
Neither the graph nor the story on your page explains how plastic affects the fish stocks. You jump from 'fish stocks are declining' and 'plastic is increasing' to 'fish stocks are decreasing because of plastic' without actually explaining how fish die because of it, or how many fish die because of it.
Thank you for the feedback. You are absolutely right that I should write more there. I am not sure if plastic in the ocean is contributing to the decrease in global fish stocks or not (I am going to investigate this further). My intention for writing it was rather that people might find it distasteful to eat fish with plastic in it. Fish with plastic in it might not be an equally good source of food.
One of the major problems with the plastic is that the contaminants cause premature death in animals. They can be ingested, leading to a painful death, and other dangers include strangulation or slow starvation if wildlife becomes imprisoned in the plastic. There is also concern about animals using the islands as transportation. They can end up far from their usual habitat and find themselves in unfriendly waters. http://www.earthtimes.org/pollution/plastic-contamination-atlantic-ocean/377/
There are different types of ways that plastic is dangerous for humans. Direct toxicity from plastics comes from lead, cadmium, and mercury. These toxins have also been found in many fish in the ocean, which is very dangerous for humans. Diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) contained in some plastics, is a toxic carcinogen. Other toxins in plastics are directly linked to cancers, birth defects, immune system problems, and childhood developmental issues. To learn more on effects of plastics on humans visit the Ecology Center
Other types of toxic plastics are BPA or health-bisphenol-A, along with phthalates (mentioned above). Both of these are of great concern to human health. BPA is used in many things including plastic bottles and food packaging materials. Over time the polymer chains of BPA break down, and can enter the human body in many ways from drinking contaminated water to eating a fish that is exposed to the broken down toxins. Specifically, BPA is a known chemical that interferes with human hormonal function. https://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/health/case_studies/plastics.html
Netflix has actually made a documentary about this: https://www.netflix.com/no-en/title/80164032
|
|
« Last Edit: September 25, 2017, 11:16:14 pm by Zanthius »
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Scalare
*Many bubbles*
Offline
Posts: 245
|
That's better
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Zanthius
Enlightened
Offline
Posts: 941
|
Plastics in the ocean is apparently also a problem for whales:
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Scalare
*Many bubbles*
Offline
Posts: 245
|
About Greenpeace. What they always went on about is Nestlé using too much palm oil in their products. And as you might know planting palm oil trees for palm oil destroys rainforests. But what a lot of palm oil is actually used for is for the biological component of biodiesel, 46% of the palm oil in the EU is used for it. Luckily the EU has voted for a ban on using palm oil in biodiesel this year, they want to totally abolish using it in 2020. But keep in mind that then we need an alternative. Since diesel needs to be composed of 4% biodiesel .
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Pages: 1 [2] 3
|
|
|
|
|