plastics are being used to such an
extent throughout the world that we may
well ask what was used before its
discovery before 1950 plastic was barely
a part of American life so how did our
culture become so plastic modern plastic
didn’t really get its start until World
War two when the military realized how
versatile it could be if you’re old
enough to remember the old fashioned
glass windscreens
this is what happened when you banged
your nut yeah huge improvement there but
after the war ended
plastic companies needed to find new
ways to sell their products both cheap
and powder are now being dramatically
applied to peacetime living in hundreds
of beautiful and useful ways and so
plastic went from protecting cargo to
protecting our leftovers food stored in
baggies plastic bags always have the
sound of freshness and nylon went from
the skies to our thighs they stretch
better to fit better
and of course my mama done told me she
told me huh we’re having a party a
Tupperware party people went absolutely
crazy for plastic and a new plastic
decorator container put them in a
polyethylene plastic bag and to brighten
up the plastic tree plastic decorations
nowadays everything can be made in
plastic this was where our addiction
began for decades Americans had a make
it do or do without mentality but our
new throwaway culture fell in love with
single-use plastics and didn’t worry
about the consequences vinyl and
asbestos on the floor embrace sun sea
and sky colors oh the irony
during the 60s global plastic production
increased 400% and by 1979 we are
producing more plastic than steel but
people were starting to worry about
plastic side effects the exposing
animals to BPA resulted in serious
ailments that signaled problems in
humans we are suspicious of a Crillon i
trial because it’s chemically related to
vinyl chloride utter nonsense side note
they were talking about these bottles
specifically which were created by
coca-cola and Monsanto in 1975 and
surprised acrylonitrile is toxic and it
was used in food and beverage containers
for three decades it was finally banned
in 1977 and the bottles were taken off
the shelves
and as the research was stacking up so
was the garbage due to a landfill
shortage a ship nicknamed the garbage
barge made headlines in 1987 after it
wandered the shorelines for months
looking for a place to dump its trash
and it got people talking they seem odd
to you that for such a large country
we’re having trouble with our garbage
but we’re drowning in this stuff so we
added a fourth R to reduce reuse recycle
refuse with that in 2007 San Francisco
banned plastic bags they end up as a
litter problem the city has to spend
tens of millions of dollars cleaning up
that little problem they get in the
ocean and they’re ingested by marine
mammals Turtles they cause huge problems
there the measure would require stores
to offer only bags made of recyclable
paper reusable cloth or new bio bags
that can be turned into compost powerful
plastic lobbies freaked out worrying
that the trend would catch on and spent
millions trying to overturn the
statewide bill in 2015 they also
successfully lobbied states to
preemptively ban plastic bag bans under
the guise of protecting the consumer in
the grocery stores and so the plastic
bag remains as does our plastic
addiction in 2014
100 billion plastic bags were used in
the u.s. that’s almost one per person
per day we’re still consuming plastics
at a breakneck pace even though we can
literally see the toll it takes on our
environment and wildlife so far some 700
species of marine animals have been
reported to have eaten or been entangled
in plastic in scientists estimate that
by 2050 virtually every seabird species
on the planet will be eating
currently only about 1/5 of all plastics
get recycled but it’s going to take more
than recycling to fix our plastic
problem you will need to stop using so
much of it in the first place if we want
to save our world and ourselves we have to decide planet or plastic
extent throughout the world that we may
well ask what was used before its
discovery before 1950 plastic was barely
a part of American life so how did our
culture become so plastic modern plastic
didn’t really get its start until World
War two when the military realized how
versatile it could be if you’re old
enough to remember the old fashioned
glass windscreens
this is what happened when you banged
your nut yeah huge improvement there but
after the war ended
plastic companies needed to find new
ways to sell their products both cheap
and powder are now being dramatically
applied to peacetime living in hundreds
of beautiful and useful ways and so
plastic went from protecting cargo to
protecting our leftovers food stored in
baggies plastic bags always have the
sound of freshness and nylon went from
the skies to our thighs they stretch
better to fit better
and of course my mama done told me she
told me huh we’re having a party a
Tupperware party people went absolutely
crazy for plastic and a new plastic
decorator container put them in a
polyethylene plastic bag and to brighten
up the plastic tree plastic decorations
nowadays everything can be made in
plastic this was where our addiction
began for decades Americans had a make
it do or do without mentality but our
new throwaway culture fell in love with
single-use plastics and didn’t worry
about the consequences vinyl and
asbestos on the floor embrace sun sea
and sky colors oh the irony
during the 60s global plastic production
increased 400% and by 1979 we are
producing more plastic than steel but
people were starting to worry about
plastic side effects the exposing
animals to BPA resulted in serious
ailments that signaled problems in
humans we are suspicious of a Crillon i
trial because it’s chemically related to
vinyl chloride utter nonsense side note
they were talking about these bottles
specifically which were created by
coca-cola and Monsanto in 1975 and
surprised acrylonitrile is toxic and it
was used in food and beverage containers
for three decades it was finally banned
in 1977 and the bottles were taken off
the shelves
and as the research was stacking up so
was the garbage due to a landfill
shortage a ship nicknamed the garbage
barge made headlines in 1987 after it
wandered the shorelines for months
looking for a place to dump its trash
and it got people talking they seem odd
to you that for such a large country
we’re having trouble with our garbage
but we’re drowning in this stuff so we
added a fourth R to reduce reuse recycle
refuse with that in 2007 San Francisco
banned plastic bags they end up as a
litter problem the city has to spend
tens of millions of dollars cleaning up
that little problem they get in the
ocean and they’re ingested by marine
mammals Turtles they cause huge problems
there the measure would require stores
to offer only bags made of recyclable
paper reusable cloth or new bio bags
that can be turned into compost powerful
plastic lobbies freaked out worrying
that the trend would catch on and spent
millions trying to overturn the
statewide bill in 2015 they also
successfully lobbied states to
preemptively ban plastic bag bans under
the guise of protecting the consumer in
the grocery stores and so the plastic
bag remains as does our plastic
addiction in 2014
100 billion plastic bags were used in
the u.s. that’s almost one per person
per day we’re still consuming plastics
at a breakneck pace even though we can
literally see the toll it takes on our
environment and wildlife so far some 700
species of marine animals have been
reported to have eaten or been entangled
in plastic in scientists estimate that
by 2050 virtually every seabird species
on the planet will be eating
currently only about 1/5 of all plastics
get recycled but it’s going to take more
than recycling to fix our plastic
problem you will need to stop using so
much of it in the first place if we want
to save our world and ourselves we have to decide planet or plastic
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