My research on the subject of "urban agriculture", which I prefer to call urban food production, all to often leads me into a community with rather extremist views. One of these unbalanced views is about plastics. It is a toss-up whether plastic or Monsanto is the most hated demon for many in this group.
A NYTimes opinion piece does a good job of painting a more balanced picture of plastics that doesn't evoke imagery of the Monsanto logo.
Excerpt:
Shunning plastic may seem key to the ethic of living lightly, but the environmental reality is more complex.
Excerpt:
Yet we can’t hope to achieve plastic’s promise for the 21st century if we stick with wasteful 20th-century habits of plastic production and consumption. We have the technology to make better, safer plastics — forged from renewable sources, rather than finite fossil fuels, using chemicals that inflict minimal or no harm on the planet and our health. We have the public policy tools to build better recycling systems and to hold businesses accountable for the products they put into the market. And we can also take a cue from the plastic purgers about how to cut wasteful plastic out of our daily lives.
We need to rethink plastic. The boar’s-hair toothbrush is not our only alternative. Read the article...
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