I like to catch sea turtles with my plastic bags........The dummies think they're jellyfish!!!

 

Yeah the turtles will do that, but I'm not going to rise to the bait...

 

e1p1...

I know you know I was kidding....Funny comeback....

And I'm as much against idiots throwing garbage in the water as much as anyone....Especially stuff like plastic bags which turtles (and other jellyfish-munching creatures like sunfish) have been known to choke on.....

Oh yeah......I guess it's nationwide......But don't ever get caught so much as harming a turtle egg.....let alone a turtle.....or you are truly federally screwed. Better you get caught killing another human being.

There's your federal priorities right there.

 

Oh yeah, it's all good between us.

Living and sailing on Monterey Bay, I see the damage all the time from all kinds of upriver pollution. What's even worse is that as the plastic degrades into smaller pieces, animals and fish that feed on plankton and krill suck it up, and it clogs their guts too.

I don't know if it would work, but a contractor I know was wondering if there was a way to make a factory ship that could suck up the sea garbage in the gyres, and somehow separate it and process it into blocks of plastic that could be used for either raw material for recycled goods, or as building pieces.

When I was living in Sri Lanka in '95 there was a good capitalistic answer for protecting the turtles. Someone had the idea to pay turtle egg hunters to dig up the nests and transport them to a fenced off beach facility, and rebury them. After hatching, the babies were kept in ponds for a few days until the umbilical cords fell off. This raised their initial survival rate substantially. The tourists paid a couple bucks each to view and hold the babies...we got to release a few...and the money was used to pay the egg hunters.

Result was a rebound in turtle population, the fishermen made as much or more $$ than they did selling the eggs. There are issues within the conservation groups about cleanliness and dispruption of natural cycles, but these are slowly being addressed. The only losers I could see were some seagulls and turtle egg soup lovers.

 

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.....

The grocery bags are kinda fragile....Aren't they engineered to break down after a certain amount of time? Or aren't they working on something like that?.....(i.e. If they're on or in the ground, they'll disintegrate).....

 

They don't disintegrate like they should.I plan on getting Canvas bags for shopping,I'm tired of the plastic tearing with something a little heavy like a 2 liter drink or a gallon of milk. Great thing is if they get dirty they are washable.

 

But the breakdown is part of the problem (see my above post). All you get is smaller plastic particles, and as we're finding, particulate matter has very detrimental effects on humans as well as the environment.

If you think about it, plastic bags are still a relatively recent phenomenon...and one we can do without, IMO. Yes, you gotta cut trees for paper bags, but at least it's more a renewable thing. To touch another can of worms, you can make cloth OR paper bags out of hemp (saving trees for other uses), if we legalized it for such.

 

Hell...I wouldn't cry if they legalized it. Better all-around.

Think about it. Regulate it like tobacco......Convenience stores can sell them like packets of cigarettes and think of the tax windfall!

That would undercut the 'illicit' trade in a big way (i.e. importation from mexico in 50lb bags)....and who in the hell would bother trying to buy the crap from a drug dealer when you can get ready-made, professionally-rolled doobies from you local 7/11?

Physically, it's not much worse than sucking on a cancer-stick.....You plays the game, you pays the price......There's questions about harm against brain function, but hell, ALCOHOL does THAT to a certain extent.....

And regarding importation....Marijuana grows just as well in the United States as anywhere---maybe even better.....Farmers can grow marijuana...sell it like a commodity like tobacco....get it gobbled up and manufactured as 'gange-rettes' by companies like Altria......

And that's where I draw the line. Heroin and Cocaine? Hell no. Fight it.....

Remove marijuana from the mix, and you free up a LOT of resources to fight those two and their derivatives (they, unlike marijuana, HAVE to be imported).

Question. From all of you 'you-can't-do-anything-about-illegal-drug-imports' crowd. If we really DID have a secure border (land AND sea).....Would that put a much bigger dent on cocaine and heroin imports? Particularly if marijuana was removed from the 'drug war' mix?

Damn....Is this ,or what?

 

I agree. If I must stock up on their FREE bags so I can reuse them, that is the plan. Sounds like Washington State is getting more LIBERAL than Kalifornia.

 

I agree! I wish they would ban bottled water also. I see more empty plastic water bottles tossed around than anything.

 

Ban? What justification do you have for banning bottled water other than the empty plastic bottles that you see? When you start banning things you start walking down a very slippery slope. The more power you give "them" the less control you have over yourself.

 

True. Ban is a bad word. How about a "passing fad"....

 

...Ditto...

 

I am going to put a disclaimer at the beginning of this post SO PLEASE READ IT BEFORE JUMPING ON ME.

Disclaimer: my post is ONLY talking about plastics of any type that is actually put into land fills and does NOT include ANY garbage thrown into water ways, ditches, fields, the street or anywhere else animals or anything else can get too it.

Ok someone PLEASE tell my why it's such a big issue that some types of plastics etc will not deteriate for 10,000 yrs when put in a land fill. WHO CARES. Isn't the entire point of a land fill to fill up some pit that was dug for some other purpose or land that is a natural hole in the ground that is useless for any type of development etc, so that it can then be later used to put a housing development or shopping malls on? You know take worthless ground and make it usable for urban expansion instead of using up good quality farm ground? Locally the land fills are old coal mines or rock quarries that have zero benifit to anyone due to NO topsoil, and extremely steep sides.
So you fill it up with stuff that will retain it's structure and integrity for 10,000 yrs and doesn't degrade into other stuff that CAN cause issues or sink holes in our now filled up landfill someone PLEASE what is the problem isn't that the whole point? I mean does anyone really think we are going to dig it back up and see what is there?

I have listened to the "tree hugger" types make this point in protesting things like plastics getting put into the garbage and have asked this question and not one has EVER actually been able to answer me except to say "but your destroying the earth by burying stuff that will not every break down", and the answer is still SO? What does this hurt in a landfill? What is evil or wrong about filling up holes that were dug by man and turn them back into usefull land instead of ruining forests or farm ground?

I am still waiting for an answer


Disclaimer: my post is ONLY talking about plastics of any type that is actually put into land fills and does NOT include ANY garbage thrown into water ways, ditches, fields, the street or anywhere else animals or anything else can get too it.

 

Monsterbaby, when did you start posting multiple 'disclaimers' in your posts?.......Man, that's getting too PC.....Sign of weakness, dude......