#Environment#Ecology#Waste#SupplyChains: "Material World is one of a spate of recent books that aim to reconnect readers with the physical reality that underpins the global economy. Conway’s mission is shared by Wasteland: The Secret World of Waste and the Urgent Search for a Cleaner Future, by Oliver Franklin-Wallis, and Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives, by Siddharth Kara. Each one fills in dark secrets about the places, processes, and lived realities that make the economy tick.
Conway aims to disprove “perhaps the most dangerous of all the myths” that guide our lives today: “the idea that we humans are weaning ourselves off physical materials.” It is easy to convince ourselves that we now live in a dematerialized “ethereal world,” he says, ruled by digital startups, artificial intelligence, and financial services. Yet there is little evidence that we have decoupled our economy from its churning hunger for resources. “For every ton of fossil fuels,” he writes, “we exploit six tons of other materials—mostly sand and stone, but also metals, salts, and chemicals. Even as we citizens of the ethereal world pare back our consumption of fossil fuels, we have redoubled our consumption of everything else. But, somehow, we have deluded ourselves into believing precisely the opposite.”"
I saw a post from someone saying goodbye to the kids on the school #bus that she had driven for several years and expressing happiness about her new job driving a #garbage truck where she will earn double the income.
Like education, #waste management is a very important thing. But still, the thought that we value driving trash around twice as much as driving kids around... It's a bit bleak.
12yo needed a new, slightly bigger, bike. Got one from a second hand bike shop. Old one works fine and is too good for scrapping, but isn't worth anything. So, a quick photo, up on Olio, and two days later another kid has a bike.
Meanwhile, a neighbour collected a stack of food "waste" from a local supermarket. Thanks to Olio, we've had pastries with our afternoon cup of tea and have bananas to go under custard later.
I found this deflated Mylar balloon on a nature reserve this morning.
Come on, folks. It’s 2024.
I’m pretty sure your seven-year-old could celebrate their birthday without these portable natural disasters.
Why haven’t these been banned? 😒😡
@gerrymcgovern I deleted 79,125 'promotional' emails from my Gmail account yesterday.
Didn't think I really needed them.
Didn't think they were useful.
Why do I get so many of these completely useless messages?
Why is so much time and energy expended on these hopeless things that most people completely ignore?
And why should we keep storing them, year after year?
@NatureMC I'm intrigued to see that this site on global trade data, potentially very useful, is open source & developed from a student project: https://oec.world/en/resources/about
Challenge: How do I eat a whole pineapple in two days? 🍍 😋
Pure luxury from the Zero Waste Box: a pineapple, lots of grapes and tens of mandarins. It's hard to believe that #supermarkets used to throw this away (which is now banned in France). A #ZeroWaste box in our #supermarket costs 3 EUR for 2 kg of "ugly" or overripe vegetables/fruits. The very ripe pineapple smells delicious!
Ancient woodland closed after years of illegal dumping of commercial waste, in Ashford
Illegally dumped commercial waste covers Hoad's Wood, a 199-acre site of protected ancient woodland that has seen industrial-scale illegal dumping since 2020 reaching heights of 12 feet and leading to its recent closure as campaigners continue their fight to have the site cleared, in Ashford, Britain. REUTERS/Chris J. Ratcliffe