Arguments are only as good as their assumptions. When people defend plastic and technology, the argument is usually the same; the assumption is that no one in their right mind would ever want a lifestyle that doesn’t include all of modernity’s conveniences, like this poorly-argued Boston Globe article which completely ignores various alternatives to what the author describes. If you’ve been reading this comic, you can spot his ignorance easily, which paints poor recycling habits as the only real problem we’re facing, forgetting that most plastic isn’t really recyclable and that reusing things is a much better solution than maintaining our consumer lifestyle.

Here’s a good article about plastic in general, mentioning the issues with recycling plastic used in food, and how different plastic melting points make everything more complicated. For New Yorkers, here’s the scoop on our city’s recycling program. Not very encouraging news! If you don’t know who Max Headroom is, I am officially an old man.

]]> http://foolfactory.com/hmte/comics/six/feed/ 1 http://foolfactory.com/hmte/comics/five/ http://foolfactory.com/hmte/comics/five/#comments Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:47:49 +0000 memo http://foolfactory.com/hmte/?p=50

More explanations about recycling specifics and blow-molding … and here’s a little more on how plastic is made… and some common misconceptions about recycling.

You can read about New York City’s outdated sewage system or about plankton and the ocean’s bio-diversity, if you’re interested. Without plankton, we can’t breathe and we can’t eat. I’m not sure how that isn’t enough of a reason for most people to quit their plastic habits.

You can learn a lot more about nurdles here. This comic (and many others in the series) inspired by Alan Weisman’s superbly-realized The World Without Us.

The North Pacific Gyre is where all of Asia and America’s waterways end up- and with it, our garbage. This comic is just the most basic of overviews- there’s a lot more to know about this ridiculous, man-made dump!