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Last updated on May 20th, 2017 at 07:17 am
Windsor Mann on Styropolitics:
In the last two years, one city after another has rediscovered a common pariah in the form of polystyrene foam, commonly known as Styrofoam. More than 100 cities including Portland, Oakland and San Francisco have banned it from restaurants and supermarkets …
Because it is not biodegradable, Styrofoam is a nuisance to dispose of. Each year people throw away 25 million Styrofoam cups, which then make their way into landfills where they linger but do not decay. “Even 500 years from now, the foam coffee cup you used this morning will be sitting in a landfill,” reports the Environmental Protection Agency. Styrofoam is waste that doesn’t waste away.
This fact upsets environmentalists, who, though willing to give fossils and ancient artifacts a pass, abhor foam’s apparent immortality. An oped in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer last year proclaimed Styrofoam to be “an environmental evil” that needs to be eradicated.
But it’s so useful as a movie prop.
I agree- let’s pull it out of such places as aircraft fuselages, so we can return to a more savoir faire style of in-flight garb.
Same goes for buildings- with the incipient ice age nipping at our heels we want all that carbon-fired central heating to leach straight through the walls and ceilings rather than being trapped inside- what’s a few coffin dodgers succumbing to hypothermia when there’s a whole ecosystem full of cuddly critters, pretty plants and frisky fish to save from Mr Frosty.
Isn’t it good that it doesn’t degrade. If its diodegradable it means that all those hydrocarbons it has locked up get released to the athmosphere.
Shouldn’t you get a carbon credit for each styrofoam cup (ie. it sequesters carbon, forever preventing it from being released to the athmosphere)
Check out how much carbon is in there:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polystyrene
- A couple of weeks ago, the Eco-Gauleiters at work decided the tyranny of Styrofoam was to end.
Suitably emblazoned mugs were scattered about to celebrate that most important blow for gaia.
Unlike the foam cups, the email gets recycled.
If there are any CUPS (and other crockery etc.) sitting around desks, could you pls return them to the canteen. Urgently needed.
A couple more weeks of this and I’ll make a fortune from my contraband Styrofoam cups.
Doesn’t styrofoam degrade the day after tomorrow?
Posted by surfmaster on 2008 04 24 at 06:04 AM • permalink
#8 – The Polystyrene he uses to make Napalm. Whew!!
This must be a teenage rite of passage. I made napalm from polystyrene and petrol when I was a teenager. Also a sort of Tarzan’s Grip, which wasn’t very successful.
Posted by walterplinge on 2008 04 24 at 06:09 AM • permalink
#9- For shame- all aware ecovandals know you make napalm out of organic brown rice and biofuel.
BTW, grated pingpong balls make a wonderful propellant/HE which is really unstable- it brings a tear to my eye when I think how those courageous bar girls of Patpong risk life and limb to entertain our brave boys when they’re on leave- the slightest bit of friction or ignition source could be disastrous.
#13, 14—Oh gawd, the images in my mind …
Posted by Evil Pundit on 2008 04 24 at 06:26 AM • permalink
- But doesn’t it make cheap white trash (know the feeling) some of which is recyclable?
IIRC MacDonald’s switched from foam to paper packaging for PR reasons; whereas paper takes more energy to produce and consumes tree-huggers’ trees and doesn’t keep the food nearly as warm …New arrival, ‘hot cakes’, come in foam to stay …
- Greens are Styrotypical in accepting any “science” that meets their needs.
2020 was but one of them. Of course Gorey started at the front foaming at the mouth, and Brown-coal-face likes to pretend too.Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 04 24 at 06:54 AM • permalink
1- Cohenite, I was that close to spraying dinner all over the screen.
On another matter entirely, has anyone ever heard of Bernie Matthews before this?
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2008 04 24 at 06:59 AM • permalink
O/T but there are recognizable visitors here—
Posted by walterplinge on 2008 04 24 at 07:48 AM • permalink
Habib, Pogs, Walter. Never tried the napalm at high school. I’ll give that a go tomorrow.
However, when we found the aluminium powder and the powdered iron….
Do you know that 12lb of thermite is an absolute shitload, and really will burn through the 2’ thickness of a reinforced concrete frame for the new school extensions under construction?
We didn’t.
MarkL
CanberraHey Habib. Glad to hear you got the nod finally. 23 are pretty good as they are co-located with a FEG. But still, if you can do chunks of OTS at Sale it makes things go a lot faster. Remember my email.
- 22 – my profile at a glance:
60% Capitalista
65% Evil Clown
05% Eagle Scout.Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2008 04 24 at 07:56 AM • permalink
- And obviously, Zero Fucking Percent Accountant.
Try 35% Evil Clown.Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2008 04 24 at 07:57 AM • permalink
BTW, an old skinhead mate of mine had an excellent recipe for thermite- we burned clean through the roof and floor of an FB wagon with it, then it dissapeared into the ground. It probably popped up somewhere in the old USSR- do you reckon Chernobyl is about directly opposite Brisbane on the globe? Oopsie.
- Tim did not report this earlier. Why?:
A British man has hired two men to accompany his father on trips to the pub, after an extensive interview process.Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 04 24 at 08:19 AM • permalink
We already know that styrofoam makes a great artificial ice shelf—why not dump it all in the Arctic Ocean to save the poor polar bears?
Posted by Paul Zrimsek on 2008 04 24 at 08:21 AM • permalink
This whole thread is naught but foam in a teacup.
It will blow away soon.
Posted by mr creosote on 2008 04 24 at 08:51 AM • permalink
Idiots. Landfills are designed to prevent biodegradation. Each 6 foot thick layer is capped with clay to prevent water from seeping in which would leach out chemicals into the ground water.
…archeology students working with the University of Arizona’s Garbage Project extracted 70-year-old newspapers that could still be read and 40-year-old hot dogs that looked nearly edible. Once garbage is compacted and deeply buried, the students discovered, degradation grinds nearly to a halt. Below roughly the top eight feet of a landfill, few organisms that require oxygen-which means precious few of the variety that most greedily chew up waste-can survive. Aerobic biodegradation works best when organic material is chopped up, kept moist and warm, and exposed to oxygen with regular turning. This is exactly the opposite of what happens when our sealed plastic bags are compressed in a landfill.
Landfill ArcheologyPosted by Some0Seppo on 2008 04 24 at 08:58 AM • permalink
The following article needs to be covered on this blog:
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23541918-5003402,00.html
Two words…Plant Dignity.
Posted by Jimmy the Dhimmi on 2008 04 24 at 09:07 AM • permalink
That’s an excellent thought you have there. I’m going to invest in landfill sites. They’d certainly be cheap to buy, and I’ll be waving at Robin-100 metre- Williams as he dog paddles to his timely end while I’m safe on my floating island which will be complete with it’s own methane generator to power my drinks fridge.
#43 Pogs: If you’re looking for luxury landfill living, I’m happy to report that your search is ended! Paco Enterprises’ real estate subsidiary – Habitat for the Lucky Few – has recently completed construction of two new developments: Basura Heights and Déchets Village. The seagull hunting is excellent (and the supply of old refrigerators that can be used as blinds, unlimited!) Each community has deluxe amenities: exercise facilities, bike trails, cinemas and a Table Scraps grocery store (a Paco-owned chain: “Quality You Can Smell a Mile Away!”)
So, follow your nose to your new home! Or, if you have a head cold, we’ll be happy to send you some brochures.
Actually, styrofoam breaks down pretty quickly when exposed to sunlight. Burying it just preserves it.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2008 04 24 at 10:55 AM • permalink
I once read where a scientist said to an eco-tard, “Everything is biodegradable; you’re just impatient.”
The Smokey Mountains once rivaled the Himalayas. Now? Not so much.
Posted by Rob Crawford on 2008 04 24 at 12:15 PM • permalink
I was reading a thread on Bolt’s and it led me to an ABC site where I looked at a few of the comments. This one particularly grabbed me. I reckon it’s the most succinct explanation of why we shouldn’t be on the AGW bandwagon I’ve ever read.
“Ian McFadyen:
24 Apr 2008 9:51:15pm
As a skeptic, denier, contrarian, delusionist of what ever you want to call me, I’m happy to tell you what I think. The climate change question is not one question but three. Is the world getting warmer? Is it because of human activity? Will the warming cause a disaster for humans? My answers are as follows. One: we don’t know if the world is getting warmer. Why not? Because we can NEVER know if the world – or anything else – is getting warmer. We can only know if it HAS warmed. It is something we can only measure AFTER the event, not during and certainly not BEFORE. Some scientists claim that the correlation between CO2 and temperature has been established and therefore as CO2 increases, temperatures must increase but correlations do NOT prove causality and even if there is such a causal relationshop, the effects relationship cannot be predicted by simple extrapolation because climate is a chaotic system with many unknown factors, feedback loops, homeostatic controls and butterfly effects. The warming predictors are putting forward a hypothesis that the world will get warmer, and then claiming that the hypothesis has been confirmed BEFORE it has been tested. This is not science. Second. even if the world has been getting significantly, and I stress significantly warmer, (the increase in temperatures over the 20th century has been in the order of 1/500th), we cannot know if it is because of human activity. Again, not “do not” but “cannot”. Because we do not have a Control – i.e. planet that is identical to Earth but with no humans we can never isolate the human factor from all the others. There is simply no statistical way to separate the human from the natural factors – especially since we don’t even know all the natural factors yet. Three: even if the world IS getting warmer, why might the benefits not be equal to or greater than the problems. e.g. longer growing seasons in high latitudes, less need for heating fuel in cold climates, permanent sea access around Canada, more rain in desert areas etc. Given all these uknowns, some of which are unknowables, the assurance and dogmatism of many climate scientists is a betrayal of the scientific method and represents not real scientific rigour but conjecture, hypothesising and perhaps even wishful thinking.”
#56 Brilliant Kae. Your every wish is my my command.
- #60 Kae, oh, so that’s how they do it.
I thought it was the way I had arranged them, but as I have never been to one, I will accept your advice and go to work on another image.
May take a while as it will require morphing.
Just hope I can get itupon Photobucket before the Colonel sees this thread.
Now lefties are inventing quotes from the Bible:
Biblical Scholars Challenge Pelosi’s ‘Scripture’ Quote
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is fond of quoting a particular passage of Scripture. The quote, however, does not appear in the Bible and is “fictional,” according to biblical scholars.
In her April 22 Earth Day news release, Pelosi said, “The Bible tells us in the Old Testament, ‘To minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.’ On this Earth Day, and every day, let us pledge to our children, and our children’s children, that they will have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and the opportunity to experience the wonders of nature.”
One thing we’ve learnt from the enviro-nazis is that it’s ok to make stuff up as long as your heart’s in the right place.
By the way, I like this bit:
Eric Jenislawski, a professor at Virginia’s Christendom College, said that the Bible teaches in Genesis that man was placed on earth “to till it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). But just a few verses earlier, he pointed out, God also commanded man “to fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28).
…
“Environmentalists who make man subservient to the natural world actually invert the biblical view of man’s relationship to the earth,” he said.Posted by Art Vandelay on 2008 04 25 at 12:40 AM • permalink
Polystyrene breaks down if you pour petrol on it and set it on fire.
Posted by brian_smaller on 2008 04 25 at 01:35 AM • permalink
A demented friend just gave me a photocopy from an 1879 treatise on torpedoes.
It contains a step by step method to manufacture gunpowder, nitro glycerine, dynamite, guncotton and fulminate of mercury, for use in detonators. One can store guncotton forever, it is more difficult to detonate, slightly less powerful than 1880s dynamite and harder to make, but it’s a lot safer to make.
Not too hard to make, either. Need quite a bit of equipment, though.
Hmmm. Guncotton.
MarkL
Canberra
- Why are you guys dicking around with the small stuff? Somewhere on the internet there’s a complete set of instructions for an atomic bomb.
And when I find it North Korea’s going to get all the power it needs for a very very long time. Assuming I can get it through the slot in the mail box, of course.Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2008 04 25 at 07:20 AM • permalink
- #69
In one of Jules Verne’s book, can’t remember which, he describes the making of gun cotton.
(of course it’s far easier to find it on the net)His books are the few good things, ever coming out of France.Sorry frenchies, but you have deceived and let us (Hungarians) down so often by breaking promises of help, that we cannot forgive you.
Maybe what these envirowhacks should do to protest those who still use styrofoam is what Harrison Ford did to protest deforestation…same thing in the envirowhacks’ eyes, right?
Man…what a p**sy
Posted by Sharon Ferguson on 2008 04 26 at 12:50 AM • permalink
- O/T
Just happened to hear ABC Grandstand on the radio today. Did anyone else hear it at about, oh, 12:30ish or 1?
I’m sure I’m not mistaken, but they were talking about overcoming racism in Australia by using sport.
They used the uproar about the Chinese support in Australia of the torch as an example of the inherent racism in Australia, and the “hostess” dribbled on about how, eventually, the Chinese will be accepted in Australia, the same as the Greeks and Italians eventually were.The programme was painting all Australians as racist.Aside from sounding like some fool who’d been living under a rock for the first part of her life, she was absolutely clueless about most of what she was gibbering on about.
I’m both angry and unsurprised that the ABC gets away with this crap.
No wonder so many Aussies seem to think that Aussies are racist… ABC propaganda.
“Even 500 years from now, the foam coffee cup you used this morning will be sitting in a landfill”. Not mine, I use them for urine samples; 2 minutes after I’ve used them they spontaneously combust.