Vida Enigmática

"Who speaks for Earth?"

Who speaks for Earth?

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What does this materials scientist think about all this plastic?

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Today I’d like to talk about plastic and terrorism. Yes plastic and terrorism.

First of all, the proper term for ‘plastic‘ is ‘polymer‘. It’s not supposed to be called plastic, the correct term is polymer. Ther word polymer describes the material; the word plastic describes a physical property (and not all polymers are plastic, so its technically wrong).

Don’t get me wrong, plastic itself is not a ‘bad’ material. It’s just blatantly overused. One of the reasons why it is used is because of it’s properties. It’s electrically insulating for one thing, which is good for wiring. Otherwise, what would we use?

It’s also very cheap. And that’s another reason that it is blatantly overused. Well you know what I think? I think we need some form of “plastic control”. What makes me say that?

Well much ilke Chris Rock said “if a bullet cost five thousand dollars, there’d be no more innocent bystanders”. Well if a plastic bottle top cost five thousand dollars, there’d be no more innocent victims of plastic pollution!

I do not think companies should even be allowed to make everything they choose out of polymers. So right now there is no plastic control at all. Anyone can make anything of plastic that they want. And I think it’s about time their should be restrictions on its use. In all industries.

Take coffee capsules and disposable plastic cups for instance. I do not think that they should even be produced at all.

Do you know what they are using at the wellbeing clinic in Caringbah? Disposable plastic cups. And I’m damn sure that they are used in offices all around the country. Well that has got to stop!

And now to talking about terrorism:
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I was worried back in ’92.

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Yes I first learned about “global warming” in 1991 or 1992.

I think I must have had a smart teacher for the subject called general studies, because she knew about this new topic and warned all of us. She probably heard all about it at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) aka the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit. I could tell she was concerned. I can still remember seeing the worry in her eyes way back then.

Also, like a lot of nerdy sciency kids, I already knew about the atmosphere of other planets (like Venus for example). And so I’ve known for a long time that there isn’t really anything (apart from biodiversity feedback loops) stopping this planet from becoming more like either Mars or Venus.

So I began making lifestyle choices back then, when I was 14 or 15 years old. I chose not to drive. I continued to ride my bicycle. I rode it everywhere. In fact I didn’t learn to drive a car until I was 28 years old. Not until I had to. Not until I needed to deliver a lot of bicycles for my business. But eventually, it all caught up with me again. It slowly dawned upon me that I was falling into the trap of becoming just like everyone else again.

We are supposed to be working for a better future. That is why we all work so hard. But if the future is going to be worse, what’s the point?

So now, after almost a decade of driving around, I’m slowly but surely weening myself off of it again.

Later, when I gratuated, I refused to work for oil companies. I was offered a very highly paid job investigating the steel microstructure of crude oil tankers. I just couldn’t do it. So I went straight back to university and did another 5 years there.

Climate scientists are saying now that we are in a “climate emergency”. Look, the coal industry in Australia is saying there is enough coal reserves to last another 365 years. Well okay. But if other planets are anything to go by, this world’s entire fucking oceans could potentially boil right off and disappear into deep space! Melting icecaps will be the least of our worries. Now, while that scenario is never mentioned by climate scientists, that’s what planetary scientists mean when they talk about “a climate system that is out of control”. Are people starting to get it now?

Now I still don’t think people even today fully realise the implications of climate change, 25 years later.

Quote for the day

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“We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely.” —Edward O. Wilson.