100+ Years of Plastics

100+ Years of Plastics PDF Author: E. Thomas Strom
Publisher: OUP USA
ISBN: 9780841226777
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A history of Leo Baekeland and his Bakelite synthesis--the starting point of the Age of Plastics

100+ Years of Plastics

100+ Years of Plastics PDF Author: E. Thomas Strom
Publisher: OUP USA
ISBN: 9780841226777
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
A history of Leo Baekeland and his Bakelite synthesis--the starting point of the Age of Plastics

Plastic

Plastic PDF Author: Susan Freinkel
Publisher: HMH
ISBN: 0547549148
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
“This eloquent, elegant book thoughtfully plumbs the . . . consequences of our dependence on plastics” (The Boston Globe, A Best Nonfiction Book of 2011). From pacemakers to disposable bags, plastic built the modern world. But a century into our love affair, we’re starting to realize it’s not such a healthy relationship. As journalist Susan Freinkel points out in this eye-opening book, we’re at a crisis point. Plastics draw on dwindling fossil fuels, leach harmful chemicals, litter landscapes, and destroy marine life. We’re drowning in the stuff, and we need to start making some hard choices. Freinkel tells her story through eight familiar plastic objects: a comb, a chair, a Frisbee, an IV bag, a disposable lighter, a grocery bag, a soda bottle, and a credit card. With a blend of lively anecdotes and analysis, she sifts through scientific studies and economic data, reporting from China and across the United States to assess the real impact of plastic on our lives. Her conclusion is severe, but not without hope. Plastic points the way toward a new creative partnership with the material we love, hate, and can’t seem to live without. “When you write about something so ubiquitous as plastic, you must be prepared to write in several modes, and Freinkel rises to this task. . . . She manages to render the most dull chemical reaction into vigorous, breathless sentences.” —SF Gate “Freinkel’s smart, well-written analysis of this love-hate relationship is likely to make plastic lovers take pause, plastic haters reluctantly realize its value, and all of us understand the importance of individual action, political will, and technological innovation in weaning us off our addiction to synthetics.” —Publishers Weekly “A compulsively interesting story. Buy it (with cash).” —Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature “What a great read—rigorous, smart, inspiring, and as seductive as plastic itself.” —Karim Rashid, designer

Plastics and the Environment

Plastics and the Environment PDF Author: R. M. Harrison
Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
ISBN: 1788012410
Category : Plastics
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Plastic has become a ubiquitous part of modern life. A cheap, lightweight material, it is used in everything from food packaging to consumer electronics and microbeads in cosmetic products. However, we are becoming increasingly aware of the problems our reliance on plastic is causing in the environment. For example, recent campaigns have highlighted the build-up of microbeads in the marine environment and the damage this is doing to wildlife, and the problem of marine litter, often in very remote locations. There are also concerns over exposure to plasticisers and their possible consequences for health. The plastics industry is under increasing pressure, not only from the government and environmental groups, but also from consumers, to improve the environmental impact of their products. This book presents an introduction to the uses of plastics and an overview of how they interact with the environment. It is a valuable resource for students studying environmental science as well as researchers working in the plastics industry, and policy makers and regulators concerned with waste disposal and environmental planning and conservation.

Plastic-Free

Plastic-Free PDF Author: Beth Terry
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1634500350
Category : House & Home
Languages : en
Pages : 668

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Book Description
“Guides readers toward the road less consumptive, offering practical advice and moral support while making a convincing case that individual actions . . . do matter.” —Elizabeth Royte, author, Garbage Land and Bottlemania Like many people, Beth Terry didn’t think an individual could have much impact on the environment. But while laid up after surgery, she read an article about the staggering amount of plastic polluting the oceans, and decided then and there to kick her plastic habit. In Plastic-Free, she shows you how you can too, providing personal anecdotes, stats about the environmental and health problems related to plastic, and individual solutions and tips on how to limit your plastic footprint. Presenting both beginner and advanced steps, Terry includes handy checklists and tables for easy reference, ways to get involved in larger community actions, and profiles of individuals—Plastic-Free Heroes—who have gone beyond personal solutions to create change on a larger scale. Fully updated for the paperback edition, Plastic-Free also includes sections on letting go of eco-guilt, strategies for coping with overwhelming problems, and ways to relate to other people who aren’t as far along on the plastic-free path. Both a practical guide and the story of a personal journey from helplessness to empowerment, Plastic-Free is a must-read for those concerned about the ongoing health and happiness of themselves, their children, and the planet.

Living Without Plastic

Living Without Plastic PDF Author: Brigette Allen
Publisher: Artisan
ISBN: 1579659403
Category : House & Home
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
“An eye-opening guide on how to lessen one’s dependence on plastics. . . . This is a clarion, convincing wake-up call to the scope of the global plastic problem and what readers can do about it. —Publishers Weekly Embrace a plastic-free lifestyle with more than 100 simple, stylish swaps for everything from pens and toothbrushes to disposable bottles and the 5 trillion plastic bags we use—and throw out—every year. Use a natural loofah, not a synthetic sponge Buy milk in glass bottles or make homemade nut milk Opt for a waste-free shampoo bar Skip the printed receipt and opt for an email instead Wrap gifts beautifully with cloth Organized into five sections—At Home, Food & Drink, Health & Beauty, On the Go, and Special Occasions—Living Without Plastic is a cover-to-cover collection of doable, differencemaking solutions, including a 30-Day Plastic Detox Program.

The Plastics Paradox

The Plastics Paradox PDF Author: Chris Dearmitt
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780997849967
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
The Plastics Paradox is the first and only book to reveal the truth about plastics and the environment. Based on over 400 scientific articles, it dispels the myths that the public believe today. We are told that plastics are not green when in fact, they are usually the greenest choice according to lifecycle analysis (LCA) We are told that plastics create a waste problem when they are proven to dramatically reduce waste, for example replacing 1lb of plastic requires 3-4lb of the replacement material We are told that plastics take 1000 years to degrade when in fact a plastic bag disintegrates in just one year outdoors We are led to believe that plastic bags and straws are an issue when in fact they barely register in the statistics The list goes on... Everything you believe now is untrue and we are making policies that harm the environment based on bad information. After reading The Plastics Paradox you will be able to make wise choices that help create a brighter future for us and for our children.

Earth's Plastic Problem

Earth's Plastic Problem PDF Author: Adam Furgang
Publisher: Rosen Publishing Group
ISBN: 9781725323155
Category : Plastic scrap
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
"In 1907, a chemist named Leo Baekeland invented the first synthetic plastic. In the little more than 100 years since, plastic has benefited humanity even while we polluted Earth with it. During the 1950s, plastic production rapidly increased and since then, people have created billions of tons of plastic. Millions of tons of plastic enter the world's fragile oceans and ecosystems every year. This informative book examines the globally significant plastic pollution problem, how it got so bad, and the steps that governments, activists, and young people are taking to demand change"--

How to Give Up Plastic

How to Give Up Plastic PDF Author: Will McCallum
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525506144
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
An accessible guide to the changes we can all make—small and large—to rid our lives of disposable plastic and clean up the world’s oceans How to Give Up Plastic is a straightforward guide to eliminating plastic from your life. Going room by room through your home and workplace, Greenpeace activist Will McCallum teaches you how to spot disposable plastic items and find plastic-free, sustainable alternatives to each one. From carrying a reusable straw, to catching microfibers when you wash your clothes, to throwing plastic-free parties, you’ll learn new and intuitive ways to reduce plastic waste. And by arming you with a wealth of facts about global plastic consumption and anecdotes from activists fighting plastic around the world, you’ll also learn how to advocate to businesses and leaders in your community and across the country to commit to eliminating disposable plastics for good. It takes 450 years for a plastic bottle to fully biodegrade, and there are around 12.7 million tons of plastic entering the ocean each year. At our current pace, in the year 2050 there could be more plastic in the oceans than fish, by weight. These are alarming figures, but plastic pollution is an environmental crisis with a solution we can all contribute to.

The Plastic Age

The Plastic Age PDF Author: Percy Marks
Publisher: Standard Ebooks
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
The Plastic Age can be read as an exposé on the moral failings of undergraduates in Jazz Age New England, as described through the four-year experience of a young man at the fictional Sanford College. Students enroll at Sanford to “acquire culture,” and do so at an age when they are “plastic” in the sense that they are changeable and meant to be transformed by the experience. But, not all of the lessons of a college education are in the curriculum. To a student reader of the 1920s, Marks’ novel would have looked more like a moral tale, critique, and guide to navigating the challenges, pitfalls, and possibilities of higher education. Marks was an English instructor at Brown University at the time of publication but also had experience teaching at MIT and Dartmouth from which to draw his descriptions of campus life. The book was popular, the second best selling novel of 1924. It inspired two motion pictures. But it was also controversial. The novel was banned in Boston and Marks was removed from his teaching position at Brown the next year. College administrators saw the novel’s setting as a thinly-veiled version of their own school and the novel’s portrayal of college life hit too close to home. A Sanford English instructor seems to convey the author’s view when he says: “Some day, perhaps, our administrative officers will be true educators; … our faculties will be wise men really fitted to teach; … our students will be really students, eager to learn, honest searchers after beauty and truth.” But what Marks sees instead are uninspired teaching and advising, superficial learning, pervasive smoking, prohibition-era drinking, vice, gambling, billiards, institutionalized hazing, excessive conformity, and a campus life that molds its students into less serious people. The author seeks elevation but sees regression. Some of the norms and expectations of the 1920s may seem dated to the modern reader, but important themes endure. Marks went on to write 19 additional books and late in his career, returned to teaching literature at the University of Connecticut. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.

Peak Plastic

Peak Plastic PDF Author: Jack Buffington
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 139

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Book Description
Shows why plastics, in aggregate, have become a toxin to humans, wildlife, and the planet, and proposes novel solutions that involve neither traditional recycling nor giving up plastic. "Plastics!" In the 50 years since Dustin Hoffman's character in The Graduate was instructed that this was the career field of the future, we have not been able to escape this ubiquitous but poorly understood material. Author Jack Buffington argues that the plastics crisis is careening toward a tipping point from which there will be no return. There is still time, however, to do something about this crisis if we have the imagination and the will to move away from the failed policies of the past. This book is the first to propose a new model for linking our synthetic world to the natural one, rather than seeking to treat them as separate entities. The key is supply chain innovation. Buffington presents five market-based solutions based on this principle that will allow consumers to continue to use plastic, which has in many ways enabled our way of life. Alongside these proposed solutions, he also addresses the proliferation of plastic as we know it—growth that, if left unchecked, will lead to a "planetary crisis," according to the United Nations—and considers how the material itself might be adapted for a sustainable future.