Reduction, refill, and reuse… then rely on paper, metal, glass

April Siese of Daily Kos wrote that we need to rethink our relationship to plastic. A Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act was introduced last year and will probably be introduced again, though getting far in the Republican controlled House is doubtful. Some of the reasons why we need to rethink plastics: Most chemicals in plastics have not been tested for safety. We don’t know their effects on us or the environment. Humans now produce about 400 million tonnes of plastic waste annually. That waste poses a danger to us and to fragile ecosystems. Experts at Beyond Plastics believe plastic now poses the same type of threat coal once did. A reason is the difficulty in recycling plastics.

“Plastic recycling remains a major failure. It clocks in at under 10%,” Beyond Plastics President Judith Enck said. She detailed the many things that go into plastic production that makes it near-impossible to recycle certain plastics at all. Enck called for “reduction, refill, and reuse… then rely on paper, metal, glass. Get the toxics out, particularly out of the paper, and make sure those materials are made with recycled content and make sure they are recyclable,” Enck continued. “Reduction is the way to go.”

Dartagnan of the Kos community wrote about the implications of an article written by Benj Edwards for Ars Technica that warns against posting photos of yourself – all those selfies! – because AI technology now is able to use just a few photos of a person to construct images of that person in other settings. These settings could show the person doing embarrassing or illegal things. Those things could be breaking into a house, using illegal drugs, be shown as a porn star, or be shown in a bar after pledging sobriety. Given our frequent sexualizing of women the AIs producing these fake image will likely sexualize the result. These “deepfakes” may be hard to prove as a fabrication. Even if that happens the original photo can do considerable damage to a person’s reputation that may not be lessened when the fake becomes known. The most likely targets of such images will, of course, be public figures whose images are all over the internet anyway. But many who aren’t famous have people – former lover, business competitor – who want to do them harm. So be careful what you post. Alas, many people don’t care about privacy or see posting to social media to be safe, certainly commonplace. Kos of Kos wrote about the reaction tankies had to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy visiting the US Congress. Tankies are the ones who decry imperialism (which is good) yet are convinced only America is imperialistic (which is bad). They are blind to Russia doing an excellent job of being imperialistic. I don’t care much anymore what these tankies say. I mention this because of the way the conversation veers. One tankie believes America’s support of Ukraine benefits everyone but the American people. Kos says they’re wrong. A big reason why we support Ukraine is because supporting freedom and democracy is the right thing to do. But if one wants to be calculating and heartless, consider these points put out by the Center for European Policy Analysis: * Russia’s army, one of our two big geopolitical rivals, is being degraded with comparatively little cost and no US loss of life. * Demonstrating the crappiness of Russian military hardware means more buyers of American military equipment and prompting places like India to cozy up to us. Not that we like the American Military Industrial Complex to get more business. * There are the sales of military equipment to replenish stocks expended in the war. * Russia’s difficulties are likely prompting China to wonder if their army is just as hollow. That would slow down an active war in Taiwan. Such a war would be costly to use in terms of lost trade. * American liquid natural gas providers have a great new market (though hopefully temporary) as an interim energy source while Europe speeds up its push to green energy. As an end of year review Mark Sumner of Kos wrote about his unforgettable moments of the war. This included: Russia’s failure to take the Kyiv airport early in the war. Zelenskyy’s declaration: I don’t need a ride, I need ammunition, which defined his commitment to the war. Finding Russians brought dress uniforms because they thought the capture of Kyiv would be quick – which was a deciding image that brought the West onto Ukraine’s side. The liberation of Kharkiv and Kherson. And the sinking of the Moskva, the pride of the Black Sea fleet. Kos did his own end of year review of the war. His list included: Twitter and Telegram help Ukraine win the information war. Kherson, the only regional capital taken by Russia, happened because it was betrayed. In contrast, Russia thought they could convince Ukrainian soldiers to switch sides and had very few takers. The explosion at the Kerch Bridge severely impacted supplies coming through Crimea.