SheamusPatt

pluralistic , 3 months ago to random

Back in the 1950s, a new, democratically elected Iranian government nationalized foreign oil interests. The UK and the US then backed a coup, deposing the progressive government with one more hospitable to foreign corporations:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalization_of_the_Iranian_oil_industry

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/27/korporate-kangaroo-kourts/#corporate-sovereignty

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breadandcircuses , 4 months ago to random

A few days ago, we focused on the fraudulent scheme of plastic recycling. It does not work, it never has worked, and it never will.

The oil industry, which produces millions of tons of plastics every year and makes HUGE profits from it, has known all along that recycling doesn't do any good — yet they continue promoting the idea.

So should we just quit? That's the question asked by a new article at Salon.

"Plastic experts say recycling is a scam. Should we even do it anymore?"

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Erica Cirino, communications manager at the Plastic Pollution Coalition, says, "Plastic recycling rates vary widely from region to region around the world. In the U.S., plastic recycling rates are currently below 6 percent."

Yet even those numbers are deceptive, Cirino warned, as they incorrectly imply that at least the plastic which does get 'recycled' is handled in ways that help the environment.

"Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter where or how you set out your plastic for recycling collection, whether at the end of your driveway, at your local recycling center, or in a municipal recycling bin: Most plastic items collected as recycling are not actually recycled," Cirino explained. "Surprisingly, plastic is not designed to be recycled — despite industries and governments telling the public that we should recycle plastic."

Instead the plastics that people think get 'recycled' are often instead shipped from the Global North to the Global South, with waste haulers often dumping and openly burning plastic without regard to environmental laws, Cirino explained. People who live near the sites where these things happen face a lifetime of health risks, to say nothing of living in a degraded environment.

Indeed, a compelling question arises from the fact that the crusade to recycle plastic is more corporate propaganda than true Earth-saving measure: Should we recycle plastic at all?

"No," Cirino told Salon. "Even if plastic recycling rates were higher, recycling alone could never come close to solving the serious and wide-ranging health, justice, socio-economic, and environmental crises caused by industries’ continued plastic production and plastic pollution, which go hand in hand." Cirino argued that, given how plastic production has grown exponentially and its pollution problems have likewise worsened, emphasizing recycling over meaningful solutions is at best irresponsible.

"It’s clear recycling is not enough to solve the plastic pollution crisis," Cirino concluded. "The fossil fuel industry, governments, and corporations really need to turn off the plastic tap. Ultimately, our world must decide what it values: money or life."

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FULL ARTICLE -- https://www.salon.com/2024/02/23/plastic-experts-say-recycling-is-a-scam-should-we-even-do-it-anymore/

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Pollution

Mozilla downsizes as it refocuses on Firefox and AI ( techcrunch.com )

ajsadauskas , 4 months ago (edited 4 months ago) to Technology

My real worry with Google's voyage into enshittification (thanks to Cory Doctorow @pluralistic the term) is YouTube.

Through YT, for the past 15 years, the world has basically entrusted Google to be the custodian of pretty much our entire global video archive.

There's countless hours of archived footage — news reports, political speeches, historical events, documentaries, indie films, academic lectures, conference presentations, rare recordings, concert footage, obscure music — where the best or only copy is now held by Google through YouTube.

So what happens if maintaining that archival footage becomes unprofitable?

#tech #technology #Google #enshittification #youtube #video @technology #capitalism #film #television #cinema #art #arts #SocialMedia #business #economics