Wooden spoons are making us sick? I thought that was fish slices | Arwa Mahdawi https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/05/wooden-spoons-are-making-us-sick-i-thought-that-was-fish-slices #Health&wellbeing #Lifeandstyle #Environment #Socialmedia #Pollution #Gasstoves #Plastics #Society #Hygiene #Health #Media #PFAS #Food

Here's #WhatBidenDid to fight plastic pollution:

Biden administration unveils plan to wean US government off single-use #plastics

“Because of its purchasing power … the Federal Government has the potential to significantly impact the supply of these products.”

https://www.dailyclimate.org/us-government-ocean-plastic-pollution-2668780871.html

Wool can be made without killing animals. I think we need to go back to using #hemp, #wood and #wool -- and less synthetics. But most of all, make furniture and rugs that last -- so generation after generation can use them!

What You Need to Know About #OffGassing

Even after an install, a project’s furnishings and finishes can leach harmful chemicals into the air for years through a process called off-gassing. Here’s how you can combat it.

by Audrey Gray

"'Okay, I want to tell you about some things,' she recalls telling her client, going on to carefully explain the dangers inherent in both flooring choices—primarily the health impacts of chemical inhalants. Not only would these #chemicals flood a home during the installation of new #carpet or #vinyl planks, but they would continue to gradually leach into the air for years to come—a more subtle (but dangerous) process referred to as off-gassing. Thompson didn’t want her client’s family exposed to a vapor stew of chemicals every day, least of all in the yoga space, where the whole point was to breathe deeply while near the floor.

"She offered her client some carefully sourced options such as an all-wool carpet with a natural #rubber pad, and advocated for solid, #sustainably sourced wood downstairs instead of a composite of plastics. 'I thought she’d be excited,' Thompson says. 'But because of her beliefs about animal rights, I learned that wool wasn’t acceptable to her…and there were price point issues too. I thought, ‘Wow, this is a whole new level I hadn’t encountered.’”

"Welcome to what materials experts call 'one of the most complicated issues in health and wellness,' the murky and unregulated (at least in the U.S.—Europe is much stricter) relationships humans have with thousands of airborne #toxins emanating from our building materials, #furnishings, #CleaningProducts, #CarInteriors, #iPads, and even #candles.

"'Nobody’s telling you what is coming from all those vapors mixing in the air,' says Jillian Pritchard Cooke, the founder of Wellness Within Your Walls, an education consultancy focused on dramatically reducing the dangers of off-gassing in the built environment. 'It’s up to us to understand the individual effects each chemical can have on your #NervousSystem, your #lungs, and your cellular makeup. We need to be doing right by our clients.'

"Designers have, of course, been aware of the dangers of volatile organic compounds (#VOCs) for a long time, and have helped influence some wins in the marketplace, like the rising popularity of low- or no-VOC paints and the 2015 ban Home Depot and Lowe’s instituted in 2015 on toxic #phthalates (a class of industrial chemicals that help make plastic bendy) in flooring.

"But the problem endures, and unfortunately, many of the worst effects of VOCs—showing up in health conditions—accumulate over long periods of time.

"One of the best arguments for incorporating #vintage pieces in design, apart from saving space in landfills and decreasing carbon emissions, is that they are far safer from an off-gassing perspective. #Recycling building materials (for instance, saving the doors during a retrofit) helps too."

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/what-you-need-to-know-about-off-gassing?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us

#Recycle #Repair #Reuse
#ThrowawayCulture #Synthetics #Plastics #Pollution #Underconsumption

So, unfollow or block me if you will, but this is so true! #Pleather is #Microplastic pollution! Yes, #Leather is made from skin of animals, but IT LASTS! And it doesn't cause microplastic pollution! And it can be tanned sustainably (I've done it with acorns). If animals are going to be killed (and yes, whether for meat or old age, animals will die) -- it's better to utilize them fully rather than use #Plastics!
#ProWool #ProLeather #ProBees

The thing about #plastics is they are such a damn useful way to kill all life on the planet.

UN plastic talks on verge of collapse in final hours https://www.politico.eu/article/un-plastic-talks-verge-collapse-final-hours-busan-south-korea/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication #EnergyandClimateUK #EnergyandClimate #Sustainability #ForeignAffairs #Sustainability #Environment #Chemicals #Plastics #Politics #Weapons #Energy #Media #Oil

Experts say the world needs a global treaty to cut toxic #plastics pollution that could double by 2050: “if plastics were a country, it would be the world’s fifth-highest emitter of greenhouse gases.”
nytimes.com/2024/11/24/cli… via @NYTimes @HirokoTabuchi @nytimes #climate #climatechange
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/24/climate/plastic-pollution-south-korea-talks.html

"Plastic pollution is changing entire Earth system, scientists find"

#Plastic #Plastics #Environment #Pollution

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/07/plastic-pollution-is-changing-entire-earth-system-scientists-find

Like #Tobacco companies, #plastics firms have been lying to the public about their products.

In plastics case it has been the viability of #recycling that has been the subject of deceit by major #corporations.

Given that plastics are related to #fossilfuels, this may come as little surprise given the mendacity & #politics of distraction conducted in the #energy sector.

Its now pretty clear that we've had the knowledge to address our #climatecrisis but its been hidden!
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/15/recycling-plastics-producers-report