Pollutions and Solutions and Protections - Leather, Wood, Plastic

What are modern day widespread problems?

When plastic first came in, traditionalists preferred wooden furniture. I was a travel writer in the Nineteen Sixties and Anne Hills took a group of us around the hotels of London, ending up at the Berkeley five star hotel. The one star hotels had plastic. The five star hotels had wood. If a table looked like wood, it was wood.

Now, we are anxious to save trees, instead of cutting down trees, cut down on wooden furniture. Instead of printing out a receipt for your furniture, cut down on paper which is made from trees and go on line.

My late mother would not buy plastic shoes because they gave us blisters. She preferred leather.

However, our neighbours are vegan, so they would not sit on our leather furniture. They preferred sit on plastic.

Now, we are learnign about the perils of all types of plastic, especially the one use plastic bag.

From Wikipedia article on Joanna Lumley.

Joanna Lumley said:
I hate ... litter in the street .. it's lack of (interest /in the planet) concern for the hedgehog who might eat the plastic bag.
Adapted from BrainyQuote

Hunger and Thirst
Lack of food and water. Wasted food.
Lack of shelter. Shortage of housing.

Pollution
Why is pollution a problem? We are delighted to find buried Roman remains, broken down buildings, statues without noses and arms, creased coins. Under the sea, we are excited to find cities. And skeletons.

Dealy In Dissolving
Why is modern pollution such a problem? There is so much of it. Plastic does not dissolve and decay and disappear. If it breaks down into pellets, this is still a problem.

 It kills wildlife.

For example:
A straw in the nose of a sea turtle in Costa Rica.
You may have seen the videos on YouTube.

Burying plastic is not the complete answer. Pollutatns can seep out of the plastic into water and damage the water and the crops grown in fields next to the waterways and landfill.

What is the cause of pollution?

Creation of Plastic
Producing plastic?

Disposal
Individuals not disposing of it in litter bins?
Not separating plastic?
Burning litter?
Pumping litter into the sea?
Discarding litter?
Excess population: More humans than animals, birds and fish.

What Are The Solutions?
Prevention
1 Straws
Instead of plastic straws, a re-usable metal straw with a straw cleaner.
2 Re-use instead of throwing away.
a) Re-use at home.
Public recycling Shops hiring the disabled to provide them with employment.
Refusing bags - taking a re-usable bag.
But is it hygienic?

Ignorance

Cost

AFRICA

CHINA
Population explosion solved by one child policy.

SINGAPORE
Population control by sending domestic helpers for pregnancy checks before granting employment pass and after 6 months.
Child takes nationality from parent, not from being born in Singapore.

Strict

UK
Population problem and maternal death solved by birth control in Glasgow.
Deposits and refunds on bottles.

USA
Thin plastic bags shredded and heated to make solid plastic which can be cut and converted into coasters and other household objects.

Post being written. Come back later.

Can one person really make a difference?
I like the starfish story. An old man walks along a beach filled with stranded starfish. He sees a boy throw a starfish back into the sea and says to the boy, "The beach is filled with starfish. Throwing one back won't make any difference."
The boy picked up another fish and threw it back into the sea and replied: "I can make a difference to this one - and this one - and this one."

I was delighted to find the origin of the starfish story on Wikipedia.

The Starfish Story
"The Star Thrower" (or "starfish story") is part of a 16-page essay of the same name by Loren Eiseley (1907–1977), published in 1969 in The Unexpected Universe. The Star Thrower is also the title of a 1978 anthology of Eiseley's works (including the essay), which he completed shortly before his death.

Useful Websites
https://www.agriculture.com.ph/2019/05/30/a-state-in-the-us-offers-human-composting-as-a-way-of-burial/
https://brandongaille.com/125-protect-our-earth-slogans/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/how-did-sea-turtle-get-a-straw-up-its-nose.aspx
Protecting canals
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-48516745?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk&link_location=live-reporting-story

http://www.ninjajournalist.com/social/london-marathon-edible-water-pouches/
Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts

Plastics - what we could and should do

I used to imagine that pollution was a problem of modern cities. When I travelled to third world developing countries I was shocked to see the litter in their villages and urban streets and in dumps on the edge of the cities. The developing countries were developing litter and pollution.

What can you do?
1 Reveal the problem. Spread the bad news
2 Prevention. Do your bit to not buy plastic.
3 Do your bit to recycle plastic.
4 Spread good news about recycling initiatives.

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?
When I tried to photo individuals, my own families, or locals, I would rush to remove bits of litter spoiling the picture.

Should You Photograph Litter - yes or no?
When I tried to photograph graffitit and litter and dumps, my family objected. You would think they were employed by the local tourist board. They did nto want me to show litter. They thought it was unkind and disrespectful and ungrateful to both the family who had contributed to the cost of my family to show me good things in other countries as well as unfair to local people and might repel other potential tourists.

My view: Hiding the proble.. Not facing the problem. Not dealing with the problem.

Litter After Events
We have all seen photos of the litter left behind and the clear up needed after a major concert or event, whether in a farmer's field or a city centre. Sometimes the clean-up is represented as a story of horror. Sometimes as a forgotten team, the hard-working and saintly clear-up team.

Litter Picking
As soon as you think about it, your realise that a clean up can be done if somebody is willing to pay the cost.

DISNEY
Disneyland has huge numbers of people. They don't have litter during the day nor the morning after. Disney doesn't have signs threatning to fine you like Singapore. Disney has teams of people picking up litter at the time and after closing hours. (I can imagine somebody saying, yes, so that's why the prices are so high.)

SINGAPORE
I have read compaisons between Hong Kong and Singapore. Generally they show that Singapore does not just have people who are more litter conscious or more afraid of being fined. Singapore spends more on people picking up litter. You can employ low-paid foreign workers, conscript your army or gap year students, pay students pocket money, employ the handicapped with an easy job, have volunteer days.

Litter Disposal
But, after you have picked up the litter, where does it go? The official litter pickers and volunteers may be more keen or more skilled at separating litter into different types.

But we still have the question of where to put the piles of litter, neatly sorted, but what next?

The Disposal Problems
1 Plastics in the ocean are damaging wildlife, fish and birds.
2 It is aesthetically displeasing to see litter on the previously pristine ocan floor
3 Discarded litter causes fires in forests
4 Discarded litter causes fire in cities (The UK's fatal King's Cross station Fire was attributed to litter possibly catching fire due to a spark or cigarette end

Solutions Aggravating The Problem
China has stopped importing waste to put into landfill - which helps them but puts the problem back on others.

Local councils in the UK used to dump both sewage and unfiltered waste from sewage pipes into the ocean.
Burning waste makes pollution.
Shredding plastic makes smaller particles which get trapped in balleen whales. The balleen is a kind of comb instead of teech which filters their food so tiny creatures go through to the whale's stomach.


The balleen in a balleen whale which gets clogged with microplastic. Photo of ballen from Wikipedia article on balleen whales.

GOOD NEWS Current Solutions - Recycling

UK
UK COUNCILS
1 Harrow - compost machines
2 Hillingdon - biodegradable bags for kitchen waste

UK SUPERMARKETS


3 Waitrose is replacing plastic trays for ready meals with material which will compost at home



4 Morrisons is introducing plastic free fruit and veg - sold loose.

USA -
1 DIY shredding and reforming thin plastic (bags) into multi-colour sheets
2 Loopstore is collecting, washing and reusing packaging. They are linked with brands such as Body Shop, Colgate, Crest, Dove, Febreze, Haagen Dazs, Tide and many more.

AFRICA
1 Africa - turning plastic mixed with sands into durable protective roof tiles to build new homes and replace or improve shanty housing

Future Solutions
Small scale recycling businesses employing the handicapped in the UK. No need to worry about creating huge profits for shareholders if they are not for profit recycing organizations whose part purpose is to provide employment, teach skills and give satisfaction to employees.

Some Sensible Slogans
A journey starts with a single step (Chinese, attributed to Confucius)
Be the change you wish to see (Mahatma Gandhi)

Useful Websites
Problems
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7054471/Plastic-debris-bigger-risk-filter-feeding-whales-OIL.html

Solutions
SINGAPORE

UK
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7056017/Waitrose-unveils-worlds-compostable-ready-meal-trays.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ico=taboola_feed
USA
https://loopstore.com/
https://loopstore.com/brand-partners

Author Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Please share links to your favourite pages.

Hurricanes and typhoons - how people hope for the best but prepare for the worst

Problem
September 2018 you can see from satellite maps on the news how the winds are moving around the world, hitting
Hong Kong,
The Philippines,
and North Carolinas in the USA.

Hong Kong was set for a hurricane. My friend was in Singapore with one of her grown-up daughters, but her husband was at their tiny home in Singapore near their other married daughter. My friend's husband emailed, "There's a hurricane coming to Hong Kong! Come home immediately."

She laughed wryly about the fact that instead of telling her to stay safe in Singapore, he wanted her to help him in case of need in Hong Kong.

Why didn't he leave Hong Kong and fly to Singapore? Because he was working in Hong Kong.

What precautions should you take in an emergency?

Know your exit from a hotel or uphill away from a tsunami (sea) or flooded river.
Know alternative routes in case of fire.
Know how to turn off electricity before or during a flood. If not, wait for emergency personnel to check the gas and electricity supplies are off before you return.
Move valuable and papers and food from the floor - they could be damaged.  Wires to electrical devices underwater could trip you up.
Find waterproof boots and clothes for wading. Check water for debris and wildlife. (The Philippines has snakes from outside invading water-logged properties.)

1 Know the local conditions and sources of help.
a) Emergency phone numbers - put them in your phone and memorize them.
b) Refuge locations, such as the local school or stadium - and directions to get there.
c) Radio stations broadcasting warnings and advice.
d) Emergency kit - by the door to grab as you race out - including water, tin of food, first aid, blow up pillow for sitting and sleeping.
e) The basics such as Identity card, phone and charger and credit cards in a jacket so that if you run out of a building or plane and are told to leave your belongs behind, you still have money and contact to other members of your family and can call for help.

Check local newspapers and radio stations and websites for more information.

Emergency supplies:
Water and food for at least three days
Medicines
Torches, batteries, candles
Battery operated radio

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.