don't worry, the economy is still safe. where there is a problem a solution awaits to be capitalized on. soon synthetic biologists will be selling plastic degrading enzymes across the planet; hopefully governments invest in them too
When I paddle on lakes, rivers and the coast, I always bring along a trash bag and fill it with plastic and some glass litter I find. It is just a drop in the bucket and a futile effort, but I can't help it, it pisses me off to see it within sight of my camps. Nearly everything that floats and isn't disposed of properly in landfills eventually ends up in the ocean.
SciShow has a little over 8 million subscribers and the planet has a little over 8 billion people. Broadly speaking, one out of every thousand people _on the planet_ are subbed to this stuff. Pretty cool.
I would correct the mistake and change the word 'are' to 'is' but I don't want to lose the heart! Just putting that here for anyone who is annoyed by that, like I am.
Baltimore has 4 trash wheels: Mr. Trash Wheel in the Jones Falls in the Inner Harbor, Professor Trash Wheel in Harris Creek in the Canton neighborhood, Captain Trash Wheel in Masonville Cove, and Gwynnda the Good Wheel of the West in the Gwynns Falls in southwest Baltimore.
Sure would be great if they hadn't lied to us for so many years about recycling plastic. All us west coasters find many stores no longer give plastic bags. This happened just before an insider report on grocery bag returns being tracked to landfills and incinerators instead of recycle facilities. We need to go after the plastic industry for fixing this matter.
They're lying about the entire premise of recycling plastic. Not just the bags. All of it. Most of all plastic we put into the recycling bin is simply buried or burned, and whatever does end up recycled can only become a type of plastic that CAN'T be. It's a vast greenwashing campaign for those profiting off of plastics, and by extention the oil industry as a whole. But even worse... it tricks those of us who actually care enough to act into never making a difference.
The fastest way to fix this is to give incentives to companies to switch to biodegradable plastics. The fastest growing plant that can produce biodegradable plastics and fiber, while also cleaning up contaminants and radiation happens to be hemp! Hemp not only could get rid of the plastic problem but it could also completely replace wood for most paper products, in far less space, stopping deforestation. Hemp can also be used to make fuel, multiple types of oil, gel capsules, fire proof bricks, and more. Hemp also absorbs insane amounts of co2
Yeah... The problem is mentally defective politicians who ban all single use plastics instead of banning all non biodegradable plastics. Forcing us to buy "reusable" shopping bags that use more water, and cause more pollution for production/shipping is insane. The damned things don't last long enough to warrant their environmental footprint, but we're somehow protecting the environment.
But isn't the definition of "biodegradable" debatable? I've heard that it just means it degrades (into microplastics) at a faster rate than others, and that industries use the term knowing that the public assumes "biodegradable" = "compostable," which it rarely does. "Compostable" is what we actually want.
I will never understand why so many people almost exclusively get water from bottles like these. If you want portable water get a reusable one. If you don't like the water from your tap get a filter. both options quickly become cheaper than bottled water
dont use plastic caps though, basically you need those Jerrycans with a metal & rubber cap for water which is of course heavier than plastic containers.
Lots of people don't have safe tap water and don't really have a better option. Part of fixing environmental problems is, quite often, making things safer for people.
@@macaronsncheese9835 the vast majority of people using bought water in bottles have perfectly good drinking water. If they don't like the taste a filter system is available.
That last line, "Change is closer than you think." Please keep providing hopeful messages, especially in videos like this. It's helped me stay positive and hopefully will help others as well.
This stuff makes me cry. I’ve always been a huge softy for nature but now I have three small kids and seeing how we’ve treated our earth and how so many just don’t care makes me so worried about my kid’s futures. The ending was nice but I just don’t see things changing quick enough and I wish there was something we individuals could do to make a bigger difference 🖤
The first step is not waste management - the first step is limiting/banning the production of harmful plastics. I'd argue that recycling programs have been exacerbating the situation because people think the problem of plastics has been solved, so no one feels the need to change their behaviours and purchasing habits. The truth is that effective plastic recycling is practically a myth and plastic waste management will not solve anything, just mitigate the mess, however poorly. To solve the problem of plastics, we need to stop using them in anything that is meant to be thrown away - food and drink and other product packaging is no place for any materials that are neither biodegrable or closed-loop recyclable. Without adoption of better materials, then ban the production of individual drink containers for a start - water/soda/milk/juice/etc will either be sold in larger volumes, like water cooler-sized jugs, sold by the Litre from taps that you bring your reusable containers to fill, like a soda fountain, or sold in cardboard boxes in dry powder form (excluding water, of course) that you mix from your tap at home.
Its true recycling works on paper but not in reality at moment in capitalism as long as there is no profits in it will not be done. The companies pay a nice small obolus to the program like Green Arrow and thats it.
@@kleinerprinz99 Exactly. The cost of using harmful materials must have a large enough tax on production to make better materials to be the cheaper option. The only way this can come about is by rattling the cages of our public servants with peaceful phone calls, letters, protests, etc. Plastics and packaging manufacturers must foot the bill for the cleanup of what they produce. If this makes the price of a bottle of water too outrageous to buy, then those companies will go out of business when people just drink their clean tap water from home, and demand for plastics manufacture will decline, and plastics production will reduce. In emergencies, the big water jugs and water barrels could be distributed; the same ones that are available for when people go camping/RVing. No matter what, however it comes about, the production of harmful plastics and resins needs to scale-back significantly before we can even start to see any kind of effect waste management can have at cleaning-up the environment and our bloodstreams. Companies are not going to have to change until the laws change, and the laws are not going to change without citizens making enough noise to demand change, and all of this requires all of us to put time and work into voicing our discontent, unfortunately.
Plastic is cheap and durable hence the immense success rate it has. Good luck increasing prices even more to somehow counter plastic being used in the first place in disposable objects. Where I live they banned plastic bags that you put vegetables and fruits in a few years back - however the outcry was immense so they had to revert the ban and now we're back to using plastic bags because people were not happy with the alternative. You get the wrong idea when you read what people say on social media platforms because what they say doesn't apply to the majority of people out there. At the end of the day companies want to make a lot of money not less. Figure out a cheap alternative to plastics and we won't have any problems.
While Ocean Cleanup's ships cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch are mainly getting the very large items, it is showing that the plastics where they are coming from and that means what 99.999% of the population is doing is not causing the trash there, and it's almost entirely related to the fishing and shipping industries. The plastics that go into rivers mainly stay by the coastline/shore rather than being swept to sea.
According to the Ocean Cleanup website, its approximately 75%. So to stop the majority of microplastics, and save the fish, we need to stop fishing essentially. Not just stop using plastic bottles.
@@lindareed8265 Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, single use plastic is the scourge of the universe. But this was in response to the video placing all the responsibility on consumers, not industry. I also personally believe that tackling the biggest cause is the best way to start fixing a problem.
@@fat_vegan_slimOcean cleanup is amazing. Just incredible work they do both in the patch but also at the stream and river level. Boyan Slat is the hero Elon used to pretend to be before he turned.
It’s crazy we haven’t solved this problem yet but hey, the rich gotta make that money now, screw the next generations. Why think of other people when you can just think of yourself.
Everyone is this way. For example if you are well off or at the very least doing ok in life and can spare 15% of your income to a homeless person or let's say a friend or someone you barely know that is struggling.... do you give them your 15% of disposable income? I doubt it " I don't either" but my point is everyone is all about themselves. Greedy wealthy 1% wants to keep their money and make more, the rest of us want to do the same... it's human nature... Hope this makes sense and no it's not a dig at you personally I'm just trying to point out we all are guilty.
@@angelitabecerra Yeah, there are organic plastic adjacent products for a while, but that gives money to other people so the plastic people rather guilt trip us and make us pay plastic taxes.
the fault isnt on us basic consumers, its on mega corporations like coca cola, pepsi, and more. we need laws and regulations that force them back to using glass instead of toxic plastic.
It was crazy how fast I filled up three plastic bags full of trash on a beach at Lake Michigan this morning. Lots of chipped HDPE in the sand. We need a better sifting machine for the beaches.
We switched from bottles to a Brita pitcher and reusable containers and it's so much easier. And the cost of the pitcher and filters pays for itself over time. And no more lugging those giant 30 packs of water into the house!
@2:15 This might be because there is a lot of plastic on the bottom of the ocean that goes unreported. For instance, there have been submersibles that have detected plastic water bottles in the Mariana Trench (one of the deepest parts of the ocean floor).
@@SAMURIADI Over millions of years plankton build up to fossilize and decompose under pressure to form what we refer to as oil and natural gas. Plants, such as peat moss compact over 300 million years to form what we refer to as coal. It takes 10 feet of peat moss to heat and compress to yield a 1 foot coal seem over this 300 million years since the Carboniferous era. Thus, yes, plankton forms one type as "plants" form other forms of fossil fuels.
In economics demand isn't how much people want something, it is how much money is made available to buy something. As an example, if interest rates drop, people can borrow more money for mortgages. The number of people needing homes hasn't changed but demand has risen (which tends to just result in higher house prices if no more get built). Companies only make something if they think they can sell it. In the case of plastic, early plastic items were made very durable because manufacturers wanted to demonstrate the qualities of the new materials. Over time they realised that making disposable items was more profitable because people would have to keep replacing them, that is they increased the demand, the money spent on plastic, items by making them worse. They also increased advertising and increased the range of different uses to make it hard to avoid using plastic and put recycling labels on everything to convince people it's fine. And the money keped coming in.
Even if the US recycled 100% of everything that can be recycled there would still be a huge problem. There are places with open trash mountains! Some places basically use rivers as a trash dump! Plus if manufacturers would use more easily recycled containers we the consumer wouldn't use it. Decades ago glass bottles were used, returned, washed and reused... Oh but using one time use plastics were cheaper and therefore more profit!
According to OurWorldInData, 80% of plastics that wind up in the Ocean comes from Asia, with North America making up less than 5%. Additionally 20% to 30% of ocean plastics come from the fishing industry If you live in a wealthy country and you want to reduce the amount of plastic in the ocean, stop eating fish
Exactly ! Using the phrase "Most of them come from countries with a lot of coastlines like the US" is such a misleading statement ! yes the pollution comes from countries with a lot of coastlines, just like US has a lot of coastlines, but it doesn't come from the US. Asia is not doing it's part (yes, because there are bigger problems) and it NEEDS to be said CLEARLY. That misleading phrase has, for the first time in MANY years, made me click the thumbs down button on a SciShow video.
Weird how much emphasis we're putting on cleaning up the plastics rather than stating the obvious, which is we should stop producing them. At the very least, single-use plastics should just be banned. Bottled water should be for emergencies only, especially when you consider how absurdly expensive it is and how abusive bottle water companies are to local communities that depend on that water.
LifeStraw makes great portable filters in many forms from straw to bottle to cooler. They give a lifestraw to a child in need for every product purchased, too! Going to be using one in my travels to where the drinking water isn’t reliable.
Boiling water can help reduce the amount of microplastics in it. Studies show that boiling tap water for a few minutes, especially hard water, can remove up to 90% of microplastics. This works because the minerals in the water form solids that trap the microplastic particles, which can then be filtered out using a simple filter, like a coffee filter. However, this method is more effective with harder water that has higher calcium content, while in softer water, the reduction may be closer to 25%.
Individual people doing things like cleaning beaches and cutting out plastic bottles means NOTHING if the corporations creating the toxic mess carry ZERO responsibility. Make them fix it first, then we can clean up.
Bottled water is not the main source of plastic pollution, as the plastic used for bottles, typically PET, is high-quality and can be effectively recycled. The real problem lies with single-use plastics and materials that are not as easily recycled or that end up discarded improperly, leading to pollution in oceans and the environment.
*A study published in 'Scientific Reports' indicates that 75% to 86% of the plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is attributable to offshore fishing and aquaculture activities.*
Zero Water Brand filter. I’ve had one for years and it removes chlorine AND dissolved solids. I see the pitchers for sale second hand for $10 regularly in my area.
Honestly for people wondering why so many people drink out of plastic water bottles well there's two easy answers. Accessibility many people can buy these cheap cases of water for a very cheap and I'm not talking about the alkaline water I'm just talking about normal purified and spring water. The second is more concerning and that's not having clean water, most of our water is treated in it sent to our houses. Now the problem is many people at least where I live at houses have older pipes. And they're not held up to code which means many people have old lead or copper pipes and the drinking water is known through often decaying rusted pipes and it's not safe drink even if it looks clear. Many people will just buy bottled water to drink rather than drinking fresh before water and that's not the only time we heard stories like this and see that many cities actually do have small contaminations in their drinking water systems. I think another solution to help with this is to collect the trash before you can put in the recycling bins. Maybe have it so when you did a case of water you can immediately put an empty bottle back within that case and send that out with a special type of trash for plastics in particular that are collected in a different way. Almost like how one would give back a water jug for a water cooler but on a more massive scale. I think one of the biggest problems is the way we transfer our trash, waste and byproducts. Making systems that help stop that in between so it's collected as soon as possible and then reuse for something beneficial would be a great advancement in fighting this type of effect. I think a lot of that can be applied to even how the gases that we make from byproducts of different technology and resources we have with me beneficial too. But I do know people have been working on things that can naturally break down plastics and I think we should look at maybe having an area around the borders of certain cities or well known areas where it is polluted with trash that they would have to make it pass a certain point that would eventually dissolve that byproduct such as plastic and metals and be collected. So before it even hits the ocean or the beaches as a whole process that has to go through that will reduce those byproducts affecting the environment so harshly. Originally I was thinking of maybe putting something in the ocean that can naturally dissolve the plastic then we could collect it from the top. But it would have to be something that wouldn't be harmful to the environment in the other creatures living in the oceans and that could easily break down once it does its job. We have enough ships going across the ocean having some that are meant to collect this material that would be the result of breaking down the plastic and having a fruit to the surface would be the official It would be a huge effort but well I don't think anybody would have a problem getting paid to go on their ship something they would already do as a secondary purpose. People should really brainstormly I think we're getting to a point now where we are all noticing the effects of it we need to stop it at its source before it leaves the environment that we've made and affects the other ones even farther.
If we created an enzyme at the right pH and the right temperature like the PETase or MHETase enzyme, we might finish microplastics for good. Alternatively, we can use Xenobots, or... fungi.
Unfortunately only a very small percentage of plastic that is sent to a recycling center is actually recycled. Thats why it's Reduce, Reuse then Recycle. The best practice is to buy as little products in plastic as possible.
It's cause it really is bad. Especially when we don't have big companies and the government taking action about responsible ways to deal with the waste.
I’ve wanted to start a nonprofit to store plastic waste. Until we find a solution, a recycling option or something similar, we store it. As the plastic builds up in easy to access storage, sorted by types, it will become a potential resource. It’s a way to make a mint for any creative, science approved ideas.
The first step isn't to stop consumers using plastic, it's to stop fishing. The Ocean Cleanup's own website has an article on the studies that show the 75% of the plastic found in the ocean is from fishing. Do wish you had addressed that
I use very few plastic water bottles, probably less than 15 in a year.. I have a reusable bottle at work and one in my home. The ones I do buy, when they're empty, I refill with water and keep in the fridge to have cold water available.
@@veronicamcghie5238 Hey, at least it's something! Sometimes I go out and forget to bring my bottle and have to buy one, or if I go to a club you can't bring your bottle. In restaurants they don't give you water (tap or bottle) where i'm from.. 🤷🏻♀️ It just happens..
@@tesladrew2608 the best by date on the plastic bottles are not the water expiration date, it's when the plastic begins to deteriorate. I learned it somewhere..
This is part of why I prefer that single-use containers be made of glass or metal. Those are far less harmful to the environment (they're just "rocks"). Still not ideal, but better than plastic for sure.
Don't forget that the vast majority of the trash in the world comes from business rather than residential. If we want to make changes, it's gotta be at a different level (although we can still do things as individuals).
How to reduce plastic consumption? Tax it and use the revenue to subsidize recycling and the elimination of microplastics from wastewater. I know a lot of people on the left would see that as regressive, but what are the alternatives? Outright banning plastics for things? I fail to see how that is a superior option in this context. "Oh yes! Let's ban a cheap material and force people to replace it with a more expensive one! Surely that's better than a regressive tax on plastic." I'm sorry but this line of thinking makes no sense.
There should be a regulation that sets a timeline for replacing plastic and combine that with increaced funding to the fight climate change including reasearch on how to clean up the mess we made.
Taxing could be in a great combination with these things no sole thing will make it better by itself. Taxation has this major flaw that its glaringy obvious. It doesnt stop us from still making it. So no one solution should be responsible.
@@Knifity Stopping people from making plastics, the end goal of which would be presumably be to eliminate their use, is not my intention since I believe that such a goal is both impractical and not really necessary either. For the former (the impracticality of such a goal), plastics replaced a huge amount of materials, some of which (like steel and glass) were inorganic yes, but a lot of them were organic and had to be grown. We do not have the land to replace plastics with materials that are grown. And any directive to “just consume less stuff!” would get the leader who proposes such a directive booted out of office, one way or another. Long story short, we’re stuck with at least some plastics and must therefore make the best of that situation.
@@alexanderstone9463 Plastics arent the end goal of material science, more materials will be discovered that are more eco friendly than plastic. As for the the land, there is plenty of land to be replaced from the cattle and other grazing animals which are also part of the global emissions. To say the least there is plenty of opportunities to improve our state of the world and relying on oil companies isnt one of them.
We know people won’t stop buying plastic bottles for drinks cause of convenience. The change needs to be made on the manufacturing side/tax side. Add a VAT to single use plastic bottled drinks, it’ll dissuade manufacturers from using plastic bottles and the ones that end up on the shelves are more expensive leading to consumers choosing non plastic container alternatives.
We need drink and soda manufacturers like coke and pepsi to stop using plastic bottles and /plastic-lined soda cans/ to actually do something. We had glass bottles before, with glass exchanging as direct recycling. I remember being so disappointed when Snapple moved from glass to plastic, it tastes a lot more stale too.
People are inherently terrible. So the only real way to make humanity more responsible is to take away plastic as an option and to hold People legally accountable for their polution. Its literally the only way forward.
World militaries should be using their naval vessels to clean up ocean plastic. They have the ships, it's just a matter of organization and making enough nets. 2000 ocean clean up projects would be a breeze with the money they already receive.
Plastic based from hemp or other plants would have been biodegradable but there was no corporation that could profit from this system so thank you DuPont and other corporations
Is anybody looking into how micro-plastics affect development of developing babies of any species? I have a feeling that it might be a cause of various developmental issues we're seeing over the last several decades.
some sort of mass composters filled with fungi and bacteria that eat plastic is probably the best bet, but creating facilities for this and potentially engineering new strains that can handle all of our different types of plastics would cost trillions and people aren't usually keen on paying for it
just ban the production of single-use plastics, its not a big deal. dont make it illigal just ban new production, it does not limit our freedom in any meaningful way and improves our health and the environment
Easier said than done with the lobbying of the big oil and the fact some people are dependant on it, its like trying to make someone stop smoking. The fact is that the whole world would have to agree on banning it which is a hard thing to do and people like the easy route, keeping the plastics in. I would love to see a world where we only use the existing plastic for something greater than it is now.
So we're still looking for 'ambulance at the bottom of the cliff' solutions to plastic pollution. This is about all I got from the 'hopeful' part of this vid.
Crazy question: Where do humans put their garbage when there is no more land to be filled? Or is this just one of the problems we save so the generations that come after us will have something to think about as well?
@@AndrewKelley I don't think you understand. What I'm asking is: well-meaning companies are cleaning up the ocean, but what happens to the plastic they remove? That's what I thought this video was about. Instead it's just the same old story about how it pollutes everywhere. Yes, I know that.
7:52 no, it all starts with production actually. most of the plastic is used to make useless stuff, objects that are intentionally not durable or well designed; to drive consumption and thus the flow of cash to the pockets of the perpetrators.
They've purposely tainted tap water. Along with all other things taxes will never do, replacing plumbing so we have safe drinking water is one, stopping fracing and waist that ruin ground water is another. Keep paying the bullies
I would love to see the source that says most of the plastic is coming from the US. My research has shown that most of it comes from other countries and most of it is fishing plastic.
Just stop buying bottled water? Fix your public plumbing, use filters, and if you live in an area that just has fine tap water...like the whole of australia, just fkn use it
Are heavier requiring more fuel to transport leading to higher prices on goods. And also are very breakable. Everyone always forgets there's a reason people started using plastic in the first place.
The problem is grocery stores. They don’t care about the environment. It’s more profitable to sell water bottles than to sell water filters and reusable bottles.
Sorry, but plastic is awesome. I agree on using less of the water and packaging plastic, but everything already has plastic in it. We need hardcore concentration on plastic waste management, maybe building from the ground up.
![ค้างคืนโรงเก็บกระสวยอวกาศร้างกลางทะเลทราย [Around The World Ep. 3]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/E5bWZQhABJE/mqdefault.jpg)
remember to say a BIG thank you to the petrochemical industry
for all the things they *aren't* doing to clean up the mess they made.
thank you. exactly.
don't worry, the economy is still safe. where there is a problem a solution awaits to be capitalized on. soon synthetic biologists will be selling plastic degrading enzymes across the planet; hopefully governments invest in them too
When I paddle on lakes, rivers and the coast, I always bring along a trash bag and fill it with plastic and some glass litter I find. It is just a drop in the bucket and a futile effort, but I can't help it, it pisses me off to see it within sight of my camps. Nearly everything that floats and isn't disposed of properly in landfills eventually ends up in the ocean.
Landfills is not proper disposal. Proper disposal is high temperature burning.
SciShow has a little over 8 million subscribers and the planet has a little over 8 billion people. Broadly speaking, one out of every thousand people _on the planet_ are subbed to this stuff.
Pretty cool.
I'm subscribed to sci show on like 5 or 6 different accounts lol
@@SoupCubed And I'm subscribed to SciShow on a million different accounts?
I alone account for 1/8th of SciShow's subscriber count. Bow before me.
Now if all of them would go out and clean something up
@@General12th *bows*
I would correct the mistake and change the word 'are' to 'is' but I don't want to lose the heart! Just putting that here for anyone who is annoyed by that, like I am.
Baltimore has 4 trash wheels: Mr. Trash Wheel in the Jones Falls in the Inner Harbor, Professor Trash Wheel in Harris Creek in the Canton neighborhood, Captain Trash Wheel in Masonville Cove, and Gwynnda the Good Wheel of the West in the Gwynns Falls in southwest Baltimore.
Sure would be great if they hadn't lied to us for so many years about recycling plastic. All us west coasters find many stores no longer give plastic bags. This happened just before an insider report on grocery bag returns being tracked to landfills and incinerators instead of recycle facilities. We need to go after the plastic industry for fixing this matter.
They solved it in the best way possible, on the demand end. The best way to recycle a plastic bag is to not use one to begin with.
The United States of America is just a shell corporation for the richest monsters on the planet
They're lying about the entire premise of recycling plastic. Not just the bags.
All of it.
Most of all plastic we put into the recycling bin is simply buried or burned, and whatever does end up recycled can only become a type of plastic that CAN'T be. It's a vast greenwashing campaign for those profiting off of plastics, and by extention the oil industry as a whole.
But even worse... it tricks those of us who actually care enough to act into never making a difference.
And now people just pack their own bags and walk out of the stores without paying and without consequences.
The fastest way to fix this is to give incentives to companies to switch to biodegradable plastics. The fastest growing plant that can produce biodegradable plastics and fiber, while also cleaning up contaminants and radiation happens to be hemp! Hemp not only could get rid of the plastic problem but it could also completely replace wood for most paper products, in far less space, stopping deforestation. Hemp can also be used to make fuel, multiple types of oil, gel capsules, fire proof bricks, and more. Hemp also absorbs insane amounts of co2
Yeah... The problem is mentally defective politicians who ban all single use plastics instead of banning all non biodegradable plastics. Forcing us to buy "reusable" shopping bags that use more water, and cause more pollution for production/shipping is insane. The damned things don't last long enough to warrant their environmental footprint, but we're somehow protecting the environment.
And historically, hemp was a major cash crop for both the colonies and the early U.S.
@@derekstein6193 yup, it was outlawed because one person had too much money and wanted to make more via logging.
But isn't the definition of "biodegradable" debatable? I've heard that it just means it degrades (into microplastics) at a faster rate than others, and that industries use the term knowing that the public assumes "biodegradable" = "compostable," which it rarely does. "Compostable" is what we actually want.
@Sarah-hm2pe in this case if its processed correctly its compostable in 2-4 months, kinda like small sticks
I will never understand why so many people almost exclusively get water from bottles like these. If you want portable water get a reusable one. If you don't like the water from your tap get a filter. both options quickly become cheaper than bottled water
But that Fiji water is so good
dont use plastic caps though, basically you need those Jerrycans with a metal & rubber cap for water which is of course heavier than plastic containers.
Lots of people don't have safe tap water and don't really have a better option. Part of fixing environmental problems is, quite often, making things safer for people.
@@macaronsncheese9835 the vast majority of people using bought water in bottles have perfectly good drinking water. If they don't like the taste a filter system is available.
the answer is incredibly simple. it tastes better, and yes that includes filtered tap water
That last line, "Change is closer than you think." Please keep providing hopeful messages, especially in videos like this. It's helped me stay positive and hopefully will help others as well.
This stuff makes me cry. I’ve always been a huge softy for nature but now I have three small kids and seeing how we’ve treated our earth and how so many just don’t care makes me so worried about my kid’s futures. The ending was nice but I just don’t see things changing quick enough and I wish there was something we individuals could do to make a bigger difference 🖤
The first step is not waste management - the first step is limiting/banning the production of harmful plastics. I'd argue that recycling programs have been exacerbating the situation because people think the problem of plastics has been solved, so no one feels the need to change their behaviours and purchasing habits. The truth is that effective plastic recycling is practically a myth and plastic waste management will not solve anything, just mitigate the mess, however poorly. To solve the problem of plastics, we need to stop using them in anything that is meant to be thrown away - food and drink and other product packaging is no place for any materials that are neither biodegrable or closed-loop recyclable. Without adoption of better materials, then ban the production of individual drink containers for a start - water/soda/milk/juice/etc will either be sold in larger volumes, like water cooler-sized jugs, sold by the Litre from taps that you bring your reusable containers to fill, like a soda fountain, or sold in cardboard boxes in dry powder form (excluding water, of course) that you mix from your tap at home.
Its true recycling works on paper but not in reality at moment in capitalism as long as there is no profits in it will not be done. The companies pay a nice small obolus to the program like Green Arrow and thats it.
@@kleinerprinz99 Exactly. The cost of using harmful materials must have a large enough tax on production to make better materials to be the cheaper option. The only way this can come about is by rattling the cages of our public servants with peaceful phone calls, letters, protests, etc. Plastics and packaging manufacturers must foot the bill for the cleanup of what they produce. If this makes the price of a bottle of water too outrageous to buy, then those companies will go out of business when people just drink their clean tap water from home, and demand for plastics manufacture will decline, and plastics production will reduce. In emergencies, the big water jugs and water barrels could be distributed; the same ones that are available for when people go camping/RVing. No matter what, however it comes about, the production of harmful plastics and resins needs to scale-back significantly before we can even start to see any kind of effect waste management can have at cleaning-up the environment and our bloodstreams. Companies are not going to have to change until the laws change, and the laws are not going to change without citizens making enough noise to demand change, and all of this requires all of us to put time and work into voicing our discontent, unfortunately.
Plastic is cheap and durable hence the immense success rate it has. Good luck increasing prices even more to somehow counter plastic being used in the first place in disposable objects. Where I live they banned plastic bags that you put vegetables and fruits in a few years back - however the outcry was immense so they had to revert the ban and now we're back to using plastic bags because people were not happy with the alternative. You get the wrong idea when you read what people say on social media platforms because what they say doesn't apply to the majority of people out there. At the end of the day companies want to make a lot of money not less. Figure out a cheap alternative to plastics and we won't have any problems.
That's about the dumbest thing I've heard
@@deniswilliam7051 Thank you, much appreciated. I tried really hard.
While Ocean Cleanup's ships cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch are mainly getting the very large items, it is showing that the plastics where they are coming from and that means what 99.999% of the population is doing is not causing the trash there, and it's almost entirely related to the fishing and shipping industries. The plastics that go into rivers mainly stay by the coastline/shore rather than being swept to sea.
According to the Ocean Cleanup website, its approximately 75%. So to stop the majority of microplastics, and save the fish, we need to stop fishing essentially. Not just stop using plastic bottles.
@@fat_vegan_slim It means that we need to stop using plastic in general, including in fishing.
@@lindareed8265 Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, single use plastic is the scourge of the universe. But this was in response to the video placing all the responsibility on consumers, not industry. I also personally believe that tackling the biggest cause is the best way to start fixing a problem.
@@fat_vegan_slimOcean cleanup is amazing. Just incredible work they do both in the patch but also at the stream and river level. Boyan Slat is the hero Elon used to pretend to be before he turned.
And that's one of the reasons I don't eat seafood @@fat_vegan_slim
There needs to be an approval permit for food packaging. My spaghetti has a completely useless plastic window. Same with tissue boxes.
It’s crazy we haven’t solved this problem yet but hey, the rich gotta make that money now, screw the next generations. Why think of other people when you can just think of yourself.
Everyone is this way. For example if you are well off or at the very least doing ok in life and can spare 15% of your income to a homeless person or let's say a friend or someone you barely know that is struggling.... do you give them your 15% of disposable income? I doubt it " I don't either" but my point is everyone is all about themselves. Greedy wealthy 1% wants to keep their money and make more, the rest of us want to do the same... it's human nature...
Hope this makes sense and no it's not a dig at you personally I'm just trying to point out we all are guilty.
I mean, we have, it just would cost money that the rich and politicians (specifically their financial backers), don't want to invest
@@angelitabecerra Yeah, there are organic plastic adjacent products for a while, but that gives money to other people so the plastic people rather guilt trip us and make us pay plastic taxes.
Now you're getting it.
You never use bottled water?
the fault isnt on us basic consumers, its on mega corporations like coca cola, pepsi, and more. we need laws and regulations that force them back to using glass instead of toxic plastic.
It was crazy how fast I filled up three plastic bags full of trash on a beach at Lake Michigan this morning. Lots of chipped HDPE in the sand. We need a better sifting machine for the beaches.
we love mr trash wheel!! we recently had people swim in the harbor for the first time in years. it was a huge event here in baltimore.
We switched from bottles to a Brita pitcher and reusable containers and it's so much easier. And the cost of the pitcher and filters pays for itself over time. And no more lugging those giant 30 packs of water into the house!
Thank you!!!
You should've gone for the faucet solution. It attaches directly under the faucet and gives you potable 🚰 water 💦.
@@GurunathHirve you are probably right but my neighbor was getting rid of the pitcher and gave it to me for free so that's why I went this route.
@@abbysweat9202 Yeah, now use it till end of its lifespan and choose other options later on.
You only add more microplastics to your water! Congrats! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
@2:15 This might be because there is a lot of plastic on the bottom of the ocean that goes unreported. For instance, there have been submersibles that have detected plastic water bottles in the Mariana Trench (one of the deepest parts of the ocean floor).
Just like bags, we need to convert from bottles to cups or thermals.
That was depressing but better than being ignorant.
Dinosaurs are all over the ocean! (This is a joke ik that fossil fuels are from plankton not dinosaurs)
plants- fossil fuels are from entire forest being covered very quickly and stay under
or entire swamps being covered in a landslide or volcanic ash
@@SAMURIADI Over millions of years plankton build up to fossilize and decompose under pressure to form what we refer to as oil and natural gas. Plants, such as peat moss compact over 300 million years to form what we refer to as coal. It takes 10 feet of peat moss to heat and compress to yield a 1 foot coal seem over this 300 million years since the Carboniferous era. Thus, yes, plankton forms one type as "plants" form other forms of fossil fuels.
Where's the class action lawsuit against plastic producers?
I use a glass 22 ounce bottle that has a silicone sock. I also use Zero Water filters in my Zero Water pitcher.
I say make the bottled water and soda companies pay for the cost of the plastic cleanup.
Guess what they will place that price on us and people will still buy it
@@Knifitymaybe less people will buy water and soda that comes in plastic bkttles
This will make their products more expensive, and that's a GOOD thing. It means we'll buy less and we'll find alternatives
Surprised there was no mention of tires. Thanks
Tires!!!! The amount of plastic particles and pollutants from roads is insane!!!!
This topic breaks my heart. I'm just stunned by it.
SciShow and The Ocean Cleanup in one episode - superb!
I always wonder why it is believed that demand is the driving force for this volume of plastic items to be manufactured
In economics demand isn't how much people want something, it is how much money is made available to buy something. As an example, if interest rates drop, people can borrow more money for mortgages. The number of people needing homes hasn't changed but demand has risen (which tends to just result in higher house prices if no more get built). Companies only make something if they think they can sell it. In the case of plastic, early plastic items were made very durable because manufacturers wanted to demonstrate the qualities of the new materials. Over time they realised that making disposable items was more profitable because people would have to keep replacing them, that is they increased the demand, the money spent on plastic, items by making them worse. They also increased advertising and increased the range of different uses to make it hard to avoid using plastic and put recycling labels on everything to convince people it's fine. And the money keped coming in.
Even if the US recycled 100% of everything that can be recycled there would still be a huge problem. There are places with open trash mountains! Some places basically use rivers as a trash dump! Plus if manufacturers would use more easily recycled containers we the consumer wouldn't use it. Decades ago glass bottles were used, returned, washed and reused... Oh but using one time use plastics were cheaper and therefore more profit!
Oh, I remember a lot of broken glass everywhere. Almost noone here ever return glass bottles.
@@P1XeLIsNotALittleSquare true, broken bottles where definitely an issue but the means to reuse them was in place.
According to OurWorldInData, 80% of plastics that wind up in the Ocean comes from Asia, with North America making up less than 5%. Additionally 20% to 30% of ocean plastics come from the fishing industry
If you live in a wealthy country and you want to reduce the amount of plastic in the ocean, stop eating fish
Exactly !
Using the phrase "Most of them come from countries with a lot of coastlines like the US" is such a misleading statement ! yes the pollution comes from countries with a lot of coastlines, just like US has a lot of coastlines, but it doesn't come from the US.
Asia is not doing it's part (yes, because there are bigger problems) and it NEEDS to be said CLEARLY.
That misleading phrase has, for the first time in MANY years, made me click the thumbs down button on a SciShow video.
@@vimaxusWhere do you think countries like the US send their garbage to?
No worries. By 2050 the world will run out of edible fish, so the fishing industry only has another 26 years left. 😳😢
@@sharondesfor5151omega 3s gonna take a hit
Weird how much emphasis we're putting on cleaning up the plastics rather than stating the obvious, which is we should stop producing them. At the very least, single-use plastics should just be banned. Bottled water should be for emergencies only, especially when you consider how absurdly expensive it is and how abusive bottle water companies are to local communities that depend on that water.
LifeStraw makes great portable filters in many forms from straw to bottle to cooler. They give a lifestraw to a child in need for every product purchased, too! Going to be using one in my travels to where the drinking water isn’t reliable.
Boiling water can help reduce the amount of microplastics in it. Studies show that boiling tap water for a few minutes, especially hard water, can remove up to 90% of microplastics. This works because the minerals in the water form solids that trap the microplastic particles, which can then be filtered out using a simple filter, like a coffee filter. However, this method is more effective with harder water that has higher calcium content, while in softer water, the reduction may be closer to 25%.
Maybe glass bottles that we returned for a deposit was a better idea 🤔
Individual people doing things like cleaning beaches and cutting out plastic bottles means NOTHING if the corporations creating the toxic mess carry ZERO responsibility. Make them fix it first, then we can clean up.
Yes, it makes little difference, as the majority of the plastic comes from fishing activities. The rest is dumped into the sea by other companies.
Bottled water is not the main source of plastic pollution, as the plastic used for bottles, typically PET, is high-quality and can be effectively recycled. The real problem lies with single-use plastics and materials that are not as easily recycled or that end up discarded improperly, leading to pollution in oceans and the environment.
Just like we find sediments like charcoal, flint or limestone. In a few million years the future earthlings will find plastic layers
Your videos are awesome!
*A study published in 'Scientific Reports' indicates that 75% to 86% of the plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is attributable to offshore fishing and aquaculture activities.*
Before I can switch back to tap water, we need more regulations for it. It literally makes me sick to drink it, even after boiling and filtering it.
Zero Water Brand filter. I’ve had one for years and it removes chlorine AND dissolved solids.
I see the pitchers for sale second hand for $10 regularly in my area.
I never thought I'd see Wild Hope on here! I loved their episode on baby sharks
Thank you very much, I feel inspired now.
Liked. Shared. Commented. Sent the algorithm out to collect plastic in the wild.
Honestly for people wondering why so many people drink out of plastic water bottles well there's two easy answers. Accessibility many people can buy these cheap cases of water for a very cheap and I'm not talking about the alkaline water I'm just talking about normal purified and spring water. The second is more concerning and that's not having clean water, most of our water is treated in it sent to our houses. Now the problem is many people at least where I live at houses have older pipes. And they're not held up to code which means many people have old lead or copper pipes and the drinking water is known through often decaying rusted pipes and it's not safe drink even if it looks clear. Many people will just buy bottled water to drink rather than drinking fresh before water and that's not the only time we heard stories like this and see that many cities actually do have small contaminations in their drinking water systems.
I think another solution to help with this is to collect the trash before you can put in the recycling bins. Maybe have it so when you did a case of water you can immediately put an empty bottle back within that case and send that out with a special type of trash for plastics in particular that are collected in a different way. Almost like how one would give back a water jug for a water cooler but on a more massive scale. I think one of the biggest problems is the way we transfer our trash, waste and byproducts. Making systems that help stop that in between so it's collected as soon as possible and then reuse for something beneficial would be a great advancement in fighting this type of effect.
I think a lot of that can be applied to even how the gases that we make from byproducts of different technology and resources we have with me beneficial too. But I do know people have been working on things that can naturally break down plastics and I think we should look at maybe having an area around the borders of certain cities or well known areas where it is polluted with trash that they would have to make it pass a certain point that would eventually dissolve that byproduct such as plastic and metals and be collected.
So before it even hits the ocean or the beaches as a whole process that has to go through that will reduce those byproducts affecting the environment so harshly. Originally I was thinking of maybe putting something in the ocean that can naturally dissolve the plastic then we could collect it from the top. But it would have to be something that wouldn't be harmful to the environment in the other creatures living in the oceans and that could easily break down once it does its job. We have enough ships going across the ocean having some that are meant to collect this material that would be the result of breaking down the plastic and having a fruit to the surface would be the official It would be a huge effort but well I don't think anybody would have a problem getting paid to go on their ship something they would already do as a secondary purpose.
People should really brainstormly I think we're getting to a point now where we are all noticing the effects of it we need to stop it at its source before it leaves the environment that we've made and affects the other ones even farther.
This is wild
suggest measures and industries in India, where plastic bottles can be recycled and reused
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7608798/
If we created an enzyme at the right pH and the right temperature like the PETase or MHETase enzyme, we might finish microplastics for good. Alternatively, we can use Xenobots, or... fungi.
Unfortunately only a very small percentage of plastic that is sent to a recycling center is actually recycled. Thats why it's Reduce, Reuse then Recycle. The best practice is to buy as little products in plastic as possible.
10 companies produce most of this ..remember that
It's almost as if a capitalist economy based on consuming is bad.
It's cause it really is bad. Especially when we don't have big companies and the government taking action about responsible ways to deal with the waste.
Commie
@@seansingh4421 Delusional.
What's your solution?
It isn't great, but what is the better option?
Unfortunately, there isn't one.
I’ve wanted to start a nonprofit to store plastic waste. Until we find a solution, a recycling option or something similar, we store it. As the plastic builds up in easy to access storage, sorted by types, it will become a potential resource. It’s a way to make a mint for any creative, science approved ideas.
What do you think a dump is?
The first step isn't to stop consumers using plastic, it's to stop fishing. The Ocean Cleanup's own website has an article on the studies that show the 75% of the plastic found in the ocean is from fishing. Do wish you had addressed that
Very important point.
That's hardly realistic. It would better to find a new material for nets
@@tesladrew2608 Why is it unrealistic to stop fishing?
@@fat_vegan_slim there's a large demand for it and also omega 3s are needed
Because so many people depend on it for food? Wdym?
Hi Stefan!
I use very few plastic water bottles, probably less than 15 in a year.. I have a reusable bottle at work and one in my home.
The ones I do buy, when they're empty, I refill with water and keep in the fridge to have cold water available.
That's still one a month. How could you possibly need a new plastic water bottle every month? At just keep refilling the same plastic bottle.
@@veronicamcghie5238well they probably aren't designed to be reusable and can degrade over time
@@veronicamcghie5238 Hey, at least it's something!
Sometimes I go out and forget to bring my bottle and have to buy one, or if I go to a club you can't bring your bottle. In restaurants they don't give you water (tap or bottle) where i'm from..
🤷🏻♀️ It just happens..
@@tesladrew2608 the best by date on the plastic bottles are not the water expiration date, it's when the plastic begins to deteriorate. I learned it somewhere..
@tesladrew2608 Yeah, they're not gonna degrade within a single month though are they
The world can only be saved by fire
Most recycling programs are not actually recycling. I worked at a dump and u would not believe how many recycling trucks dump thier loads there
How many of those loads have been contaminated by people unable to handle basic sorting of recyclables?
This is part of why I prefer that single-use containers be made of glass or metal. Those are far less harmful to the environment (they're just "rocks"). Still not ideal, but better than plastic for sure.
Single use plastic should just be illegal. Simple as that.
So fishing.
Phase out plastic. We lived without it before the 50s, and we can do so again.
We should ban single use plastic. Yes, in some cases there useful but we should find less harmful alternatives.
Is there a way to sort the microplastics versus the sand at the bottom by density so that we can get them out of the ocean
Don't forget that the vast majority of the trash in the world comes from business rather than residential. If we want to make changes, it's gotta be at a different level (although we can still do things as individuals).
How to reduce plastic consumption? Tax it and use the revenue to subsidize recycling and the elimination of microplastics from wastewater. I know a lot of people on the left would see that as regressive, but what are the alternatives? Outright banning plastics for things? I fail to see how that is a superior option in this context. "Oh yes! Let's ban a cheap material and force people to replace it with a more expensive one! Surely that's better than a regressive tax on plastic." I'm sorry but this line of thinking makes no sense.
There should be a regulation that sets a timeline for replacing plastic and combine that with increaced funding to the fight climate change including reasearch on how to clean up the mess we made.
Taxing could be in a great combination with these things no sole thing will make it better by itself. Taxation has this major flaw that its glaringy obvious. It doesnt stop us from still making it. So no one solution should be responsible.
@@Knifity Stopping people from making plastics, the end goal of which would be presumably be to eliminate their use, is not my intention since I believe that such a goal is both impractical and not really necessary either.
For the former (the impracticality of such a goal), plastics replaced a huge amount of materials, some of which (like steel and glass) were inorganic yes, but a lot of them were organic and had to be grown. We do not have the land to replace plastics with materials that are grown. And any directive to “just consume less stuff!” would get the leader who proposes such a directive booted out of office, one way or another. Long story short, we’re stuck with at least some plastics and must therefore make the best of that situation.
@@alexanderstone9463 Plastics arent the end goal of material science, more materials will be discovered that are more eco friendly than plastic. As for the the land, there is plenty of land to be replaced from the cattle and other grazing animals which are also part of the global emissions. To say the least there is plenty of opportunities to improve our state of the world and relying on oil companies isnt one of them.
The plastic bottle in the thumbnail is so clean and shiny
We know people won’t stop buying plastic bottles for drinks cause of convenience. The change needs to be made on the manufacturing side/tax side. Add a VAT to single use plastic bottled drinks, it’ll dissuade manufacturers from using plastic bottles and the ones that end up on the shelves are more expensive leading to consumers choosing non plastic container alternatives.
or just legislate for plastic producers to have responsibility for their toxic products
A recent abstract said microscopic plastics are throughout all? living thing’s blood stream. Scary 😱
We need drink and soda manufacturers like coke and pepsi to stop using plastic bottles and /plastic-lined soda cans/ to actually do something. We had glass bottles before, with glass exchanging as direct recycling. I remember being so disappointed when Snapple moved from glass to plastic, it tastes a lot more stale too.
People are inherently terrible. So the only real way to make humanity more responsible is to take away plastic as an option and to hold People legally accountable for their polution. Its literally the only way forward.
World militaries should be using their naval vessels to clean up ocean plastic. They have the ships, it's just a matter of organization and making enough nets. 2000 ocean clean up projects would be a breeze with the money they already receive.
Save Our Planet Now
Well, we have to for our future generations and her health. We have to get these out of our environment.
What about the life evolving on the plastics? What would it take to burn plastics for electricity? Scrubbers evolutoin?
Is burning waste plastic worse than burying it? I mean in the long-term. Does the airborne pollution break down faster than the pollution in the soil?
It Starts and Ends at the FACTORIES!!!
I want to live on the garbage patch like the third book of the CS Lewis space trilogy / Life of pi
Plastic based from hemp or other plants would have been biodegradable but there was no corporation that could profit from this system so thank you DuPont and other corporations
Cns and amigdila hardwired to emotional center. Rem sequence patterns with heart rate
Is anybody looking into how micro-plastics affect development of developing babies of any species? I have a feeling that it might be a cause of various developmental issues we're seeing over the last several decades.
Serious question-not a troll:
What about land fills? Ideally located nowhere near the ocean…what’s your opinion on this?
Nvm *8:00 you kinda glazed over that one but it seems like a solution of some sort.
Also I’m glad I’ve never been a fan of seafood! 😂
some sort of mass composters filled with fungi and bacteria that eat plastic is probably the best bet, but creating facilities for this and potentially engineering new strains that can handle all of our different types of plastics would cost trillions and people aren't usually keen on paying for it
just ban the production of single-use plastics, its not a big deal. dont make it illigal just ban new production, it does not limit our freedom in any meaningful way and improves our health and the environment
Easier said than done with the lobbying of the big oil and the fact some people are dependant on it, its like trying to make someone stop smoking. The fact is that the whole world would have to agree on banning it which is a hard thing to do and people like the easy route, keeping the plastics in. I would love to see a world where we only use the existing plastic for something greater than it is now.
wow if we don't overcome this, soon we'll be MADE of plastic
9:06
Funny Face!
its the factories
Was hoping you would dive more into plastic eating microbes
So we're still looking for 'ambulance at the bottom of the cliff' solutions to plastic pollution. This is about all I got from the 'hopeful' part of this vid.
Crazy question:
Where do humans put their garbage when there is no more land to be filled?
Or is this just one of the problems we save so the generations that come after us will have something to think about as well?
Did I miss something? From the headline I thought I'd learn what happens to the plastic after it is removed from the ocean. I still don't know
the term your looking for is 'clickbait'
it was covered in the video, it goes into the cells of living organisms, including you
@@AndrewKelley I don't think you understand. What I'm asking is: well-meaning companies are cleaning up the ocean, but what happens to the plastic they remove? That's what I thought this video was about. Instead it's just the same old story about how it pollutes everywhere. Yes, I know that.
The first step is don't make the plastic!
7:52 no, it all starts with production actually.
most of the plastic is used to make useless stuff, objects that are intentionally not durable or well designed; to drive consumption and thus the flow of cash to the pockets of the perpetrators.
BALTIMORE MENTIONED 🥳🥳 every city should have trash wheels!
We are 𝙨𝙤 screwed.
Use glass bottles and drink more tap water.
They've purposely tainted tap water. Along with all other things taxes will never do, replacing plumbing so we have safe drinking water is one, stopping fracing and waist that ruin ground water is another. Keep paying the bullies
Glass is not exactly good for the environment either. They still a lot of sand from beaches to make glass also to recycle it is a lot of resources.
@@7-ten Nothing we do is good for the environment.
I would love to see the source that says most of the plastic is coming from the US. My research has shown that most of it comes from other countries and most of it is fishing plastic.
Just stop buying bottled water?
Fix your public plumbing, use filters, and if you live in an area that just has fine tap water...like the whole of australia, just fkn use it
cool
Does big plastic sponsor this channel?
Life is adapt in to plastic
glass bottles!
We should go back to glass, hemp, etc.
Ah yes while we having a sand shortage 😊
Are heavier requiring more fuel to transport leading to higher prices on goods. And also are very breakable.
Everyone always forgets there's a reason people started using plastic in the first place.
The problem is grocery stores. They don’t care about the environment. It’s more profitable to sell water bottles than to sell water filters and reusable bottles.
Sorry, but plastic is awesome. I agree on using less of the water and packaging plastic, but everything already has plastic in it. We need hardcore concentration on plastic waste management, maybe building from the ground up.