Oh it's Claire. Hello Claire.
Why is when a thread appears in which the poster is worrying about an environmental problem and wonders what we can do about it, they are often attacked for being a hypocrite or lacking in scientific knowledge, or in my case on another thread with similar theme to this, a scaremongerer. It was obvious that the OP here was concerned about the disposable culture of plastic use. In the thread I started it was about this plastic litter killing wildlife. In neither thread was anyone saying "I use no plastic. I disagree with plastic. No one should use any plastic - it's evil," but in both threads posters were wondering about what we should do about the amount of plastic which is simply discarded and were wondering whether there another, better way. You cannot compare plastic toys with laptops, and dismiss someone who worries about the former while using the latter as a hypocrite. It is not that black and white. Laptops have a high value so we look after them better and use them for longer than say a plastic cup, or a cheap toy for example. How many laptops do you see lying around on the beach compared to a plastic cup, or a spade or a flag? Again this is different to the sharing and passing on and reusing of plastic toys, which other posters have said they do, and all credit to them.
Why do people get so defensive? What's wrong with acknowledging that there is an issue and wondering if together there is something we can do about it, without some posters feeling "judged". I don't think any sane person could deny that there is far far too much discarded plastic litter the land and the sea and that it is most certainly not a good thing.
Claire said "We should concern ourselves with what happens to these plastics when we no longer want them, but that is a different discussion altogether." I don't think it is a different discussion altogether. If there wasn't so much produced then there wouldn't be such a problem with disposing of it, and if it wasn't considered to be so disposable and cheap, then there wouldn't be so much produced. In another thread she said I wasn't in possession of sufficient facts to observe that there was a massive problem (in that case it was the sea of plastic in the Pacific finding its way onto Midway Atoll, pretty much the most remote place on earth, and which you would think would be fairly pristine. It isn't. Seabirds and their chicks, and other animals like dolphins and turtles, are dying in vast numbers because they are choking on plastic. Watch here ).
She refused even to look at the link I had poster and questioned my motives in starting such a discussion, implying that the film maker was biased and unbalanced and she shouldn't give it her attention. How are we supposed to ever improve anything if people who are concerned and try and bring issues to other people's attention are dismissed as hysterical, unbalanced, unscientific, lacking in education, facts and knowledge? Bob Geldof didn't know everything about the situation in Ethiopia in 1984 when he watched a film which shocked him to the core and he decided to bring it to as many people's attention as he could. Was he dismissed as emotive, ignorant and hysterical? (and no, before anyone suggests it, I don't believe I am like Bob Geldof)
Why are people not allowed to feel strongly about something which is to do with the environment and to try and discuss it with other people on MN?