So, No Plastics Aren’t Biodegrable

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A common criticism of many plastics is that they are not biodegradable – if you drop a plastic water bottle on the ground it’s not going to be eaten by bacteria and other wildlife and rot away to be soil. The bottle will last on the ground indefinitely, unless it’s pick up off the ground by a human or animal, subject to mechanical or ultra violet degradation or burned in a fire, bonding the carbon atoms in the plastic to oxygen to become carbon dioxide.

I’ve always thought this to be somewhat silly criticism — as many things said to be biodegradable do not actually biodegrade in the environment they are disposed of. Many so-called biodegradable things like paper are imprinted with toner, which is a mixture of plastic and black carbon. In other cases, the environment is too dry or oxygen deprived to allow for biodegradation like compressed inside of a landfill.

Moreover, many products that are made of so-called natural materials, rather then plastics, come with a significant ecological cost because they have to be raised and harvested. It’s not saying that they are better or worse — it’s just pointing out that there is no free lunch in trying to reduce impacts by switching to natural and biodegradable products, even if they are just going to ultimately end up in the landfill.

Reducing toxicity of products consumed and discarded is more important, as is reducing the volume of products consumed and discarded. Promoting bottles and cups that can be washed is vastly superior to any natural or biodegradable product. If you get more use out of it before the landfill, the incinerator, or the burn barrel, the better for the environment. It’s just that simple.

Plastic Bottle Litter

September 7, 2020 Morning

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Good morning! Happy Labor Day 👨‍🏭! Five weeks to Columbus Day ⛵. Mostly and 69 degrees at the Green Mountain National Forest. 🌤️ There is a south-southwest breeze at 11 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 50 degrees.

It’s been a good weekend but in a little bit I’m going to start taking down camp to head home. 🏡 A very pleasant day at least when the sun is out although got really cloudy. ☁️ I originally thought about staying a few more days but I really need ice before tomorrow and I think I will need Wi-Fi for work on Tuesday. ✳️ But so be it. I wasn’t originally planning on going anywhere this weekend until the forecast improved but it certainly wasn’t as nice as earlier estimates.

Labor Day will be partly sunny 🌤️ , with a high of 71 degrees at 3pm. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 18th. Maximum dew point of 52 at 6pm. South wind 11 to 15 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 73 degrees. The record high of 96 was set in 1945.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:51 pm with sun having an altitude of 52.8° from the due south horizon (-17.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 4.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:40 pm with the sun in the west (273°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (279°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:17 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 57 seconds with dusk around 7:44 pm, which is one minute and 46 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:21 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 68 degrees. The dew point will be 52 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 11 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 52 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 51 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 57 degrees at 5am. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 2nd. Maximum dew point of 54 at 4am. South wind 7 to 10 mph. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 52 degrees. The record low of 34 occurred back in 1978.

It seems like cleaning out in the inside of the truck bed stopped the mouse problem. 🐭 Probably wasn’t a bad idea it was kind of dirty to say the least and maybe there was food crumbs or something that was attracting them. 🍪 It needed a good cleaning and probably it’s best to leave the mud and dirt in the woods. 🌲

Next Saturday looks nice but not so Sunday. 😕 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 62. Maximum dew point of 47 at 7pm. Sunday, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 66. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Maximum dew point of 56 at 6pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 74 degrees.

I have plans for week of the 21st so I’ll probably end up staying home 🏡 the next two weeks. But maybe after then I’ll think about a trip to the Adirondacks to do some small game hunting and leaf peaping, remote working from the Spectulator Library 💻 assuming we have good weather for the solar. ☀️ Gets tough with the days getting shorter though.

Looking ahead, there are 5 weeks until Columbus Day ⛵ when the sun will be setting at 6:13 pm with dusk at 6:42 pm. On that day in 2019, we had partly sunny skies and temperatures between 66 and 44 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 61 degrees. We hit a record high of 85 back in 1954.

Hammock View

NPR

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Fascism Scholar Says U.S. Is ‘Losing Its Democratic Status’ : NPR

Since it was first popularized by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in the 1920s, fascism, and accusations of it, have been a common theme in American political discourse.

Voices on the left warned of fascism in the form of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush; conservatives have accused liberals of actually being the ones to embrace the far-right ideology.

Historians have noted similarities between Donald Trump and Mussolini since before the 2016 election. Some of the racial justice protesters this summer have said they are fighting fascism in the form of President Trump. And the presence of antifa — anti-fascist — protesters at some demonstrations has upped attention to the word.

But what is and isn't fascist isn't even agreed upon by scholars.