The Effects Our Fetish Has On Climate Change

[Diapered Jason]

Anyways a cleaner way of disposal sounds like a great idea! I do have a question, and I don't mean to beat the idea in so much but does anyone understand how Japan is using adult diapers to create energy? I mean that artical I posted earlier said they are useing adult diapers to create an alternative energy source. Are yhey burning it or are they useing a method as described earlier?

I think your article said they were making the used diapers into fuel pellets for burning by grinding them up and sanitizing them. It sounds very different than what was described earlier.

[waynecook52]

If only you could WRITE.

And if only you could leave a person alone for misspelling a few words here and there.As long as people understand the meaning thats all that counts.

[babykeiff]

The climate IS changing - FACT.

We, as humans, being one of the species that inherit the earth, DO contribute to that fact, as does ALL inhabitants on this earth. The only way we would not be responsible for the change (in part) would be if we were not living on this earth.

Yes, we can act more responsible, and not waste the resources that exist. As consumers, we do use resources. As an intelligent species, we can try and minimize our impact, but to do so requires a collective effort. Anything less is futile and selfish of those who do not wish to participate.

Unfortunately, because the actions of each human revolves around money, there will always be the 'businessperson' who will only do something / change actions if it is financially viable, and not for the benefit of the human race.

In my opinion, until we remove the greed and economics of the world, (money) we are doomed to self annihilation. Correspondingly, a conversation relating to climate change / global warming etc - whether it exists or not AND solutions to the problem is a waste of time and effort.

[KittenAB]

The climate IS changing - FACT.

We, as humans, being one of the species that inherit the earth, DO contribute to that fact, as does ALL inhabitants on this earth. The only way we would not be responsible for the change (in part) would be if we were not living on this earth.

Yes, we can act more responsible, and not waste the resources that exist. As consumers, we do use resources. As an intelligent species, we can try and minimize our impact, but to do so requires a collective effort. Anything less is futile and selfish of those who do not wish to participate.

Unfortunately, because the actions of each human revolves around money, there will always be the 'businessperson' who will only do something / change actions if it is financially viable, and not for the benefit of the human race.

In my opinion, until we remove the greed and economics of the world, (money) we are doomed to self annihilation. Correspondingly, a conversation relating to climate change / global warming etc - whether it exists or not AND solutions to the problem is a waste of time and effort.

So ... you are using climate change argument to mask hating corporations ...

[Bettypooh]

The climate IS changing - FACT.

We, as humans, being one of the species that inherit the earth, DO contribute to that fact, as does ALL inhabitants on this earth. The only way we would not be responsible for the change (in part) would be if we were not living on this earth.

Yes, we can act more responsible, and not waste the resources that exist. As consumers, we do use resources. As an intelligent species, we can try and minimize our impact, but to do so requires a collective effort. Anything less is futile and selfish of those who do not wish to participate.

Unfortunately, because the actions of each human revolves around money, there will always be the 'businessperson' who will only do something / change actions if it is financially viable, and not for the benefit of the human race.

In my opinion, until we remove the greed and economics of the world, (money) we are doomed to self annihilation. Correspondingly, a conversation relating to climate change / global warming etc - whether it exists or not AND solutions to the problem is a waste of time and effort.

I like the last paragraph though I only partially agree- greed isn't all bad- ir provides an impetus to find better things and methods I't is excessive greed that kills; especially that of those already rich who simply want to be the richest and don't care how they achieve that goal or who it affects And conversation abour global warming at least makes us aware of that situation so that it can be addressed if need be (which I think it does) Change is life, and life is change While each of us may affect only a tiny part of the big picture we still affect it If enough people move in the same direction though, that effect isn't so small anymore- and if we all move in the right direction good things will result and bad things will be avoided There is no panacea or Utopia, but there is a better- do we want that and what will we do to get it?

Bettypooh

[curiositykilledthecat]

At some point we must figure out out how to recycle the plastic of a diaper or when every town gets a clue and has their own trash to energy plant and sticks it up 'Big power's" ass and we use diapers as fuel, things will get better.

[KittenAB]

At some point we must figure out out how to recycle the plastic of a diaper or when every town gets a clue and has their own trash to energy plant and sticks it up 'Big power's" ass and we use diapers as fuel, things will get better.

Um, most landfills already collect the gas off the waste, using it for energy, it's where a lot of our natural gas comes from.

[babykeiff]

So ... you are using climate change argument to mask hating corporations ...

As irrational as it is, I HATE corporations, and I do not mask my choices with anything. You can either agree or disagree, your choice.

[babykeiff]

I like the last paragraph though I only partially agree- greed isn't all bad- ir provides an impetus to find better things and methods I't is excessive greed that kills; especially that of those already rich who simply want to be the richest and don't care how they achieve that goal or who it affects And conversation abour global warming at least makes us aware of that situation so that it can be addressed if need be (which I think it does) Change is life, and life is change While each of us may affect only a tiny part of the big picture we still affect it If enough people move in the same direction though, that effect isn't so small anymore- and if we all move in the right direction good things will result and bad things will be avoided There is no panacea or Utopia, but there is a better- do we want that and what will we do to get it?

Bettypooh

Bettypooh,

may I correct myself. I stated that greed is bad. The intention was to reveal that I think that a drive to improve one selves wealth at the cost of others IS bad. In that concept, capitalism is greed that should not be allowed. The goal of self improvement is good as long as it improves oneself in conjunction with the world, and not at the cost of someone else.

[sissybabyemily]

"Um, most landfills already collect the gas off the waste, using it for energy, it's where a lot of our natural gas comes from. "

-ABkitten

I am amazed that I am surprised that you would make such a ignorantly false statement like that. Kitten If you are unaware, and evidently that is the case, there is currently a natural gas boom in North America. This boom started in about 2007/8 when a process called Hydraulic Fracturing (fracking) was perfected. This process involves a hole being drilled into the ground, then a mix, (slurry), of proprietary chemicals, containing hundreds of knows carcinogens, is forced into the hole with such great pressure that it breaks the bedrock containing pockets of natural gas that bubble to the surface for collection. The big problem, of which there are many, is that these chemicals used in the frac-job eventually make their way into the water table poisoning the wells of anyone nearby. The problem is so severe that many residents near these wells can literally light their water on fire. So kitten again please learn the actual facts before littering this forum with mistruths and wild assumptions.

http://www.energyjustice.net/lfg

http://climateprogress.org/2011/02/27/natural-gas-fracking-dangers-environment-health/

[Letluvsrool]

Well sooner or later thay are going to come up with a biodegradeable plastic.What we all should do is wright to the makers of the disspoables and ask if there is a way to do it.And try and start a letter wrighting the newspapers and the tv stations.thats my 2 cents

http://www.hempplastic.com/

It already exists! We could have had biodegradable plastic decades ago, but the DuPont family/company colluded with William Randolph Hearst to incite a smear campaign against hemp in the 1930s. This was done to protect their burgeoning plastics empire based off on petroleum that we use today. Marijuana was ultimately made illegal not because of its narcotic effects (though that was certainly used against it in propaganda films like Reefer Madness) but because the hemp plant is so useful, can produce so many different types of products , and grows so quickly that it would put oil companies, plastics manufactors and logging companies all out of business. HEMP 4 VICTORY!

[KittenAB]

"Um, most landfills already collect the gas off the waste, using it for energy, it's where a lot of our natural gas comes from. "

-ABkitten

I am amazed that I am surprised that you would make such a ignorantly false statement like that. Kitten If you are unaware, and evidently that is the case, there is currently a natural gas boom in North America. This boom started in about 2007/8 when a process called Hydraulic Fracturing (fracking) was perfected. This process involves a hole being drilled into the ground, then a mix, (slurry), of proprietary chemicals, containing hundreds of knows carcinogens, is forced into the hole with such great pressure that it breaks the bedrock containing pockets of natural gas that bubble to the surface for collection. The big problem, of which there are many, is that these chemicals used in the frac-job eventually make their way into the water table poisoning the wells of anyone nearby. The problem is so severe that many residents near these wells can literally light their water on fire. So kitten again please learn the actual facts before littering this forum with mistruths and wild assumptions.

http://www.energyjustice.net/lfg

http://climateprogress.org/2011/02/27/natural-gas-fracking-dangers-environment-health/

Yet, the only information contradicting my statement is from websites clearly aiming at 1. forcing other people to do what they think is right and 2. making a huge fortune off supporters who have no real clue. Get a life, they do collect it, there is even a huge market for landfill gas collection methods. So I will trump your bias references with a less than perfect one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landfill_gas

Just because you can hold up a mask of "being high and mighty" doesn't make you inherently correct. You want to know who has spread "mistruths" the most, Al Gore, your prophet, the moron that actually lied several times to the government, and many more times to the public, just to get attention and money.

[sissybabyemily]

OK kitten here are the sources listed at the bottom of your wiki article

"Primer on Landfill Gas as "Green Energy"". Energy Justice Network. Retrieved 2010-04-25.

Koch, Wendy (2010-02-25). "Landfill Projects on the rise". USA Today. Retrieved 2010-04-25.

"Landfill Gas to Energy". Waste Management. Retrieved 2010-04-26-2010.

"Landfill Gas". Gas Separation Technology LLC. Retrieved 2010-04-26.

"Landfill Gas Control Measures". Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry. Retrieved 2010-04-26.

Lets see ok the 1st source is the website that I listed in my post, that you think is biased so why did you use is as a source to attempt to discredit itself. lol. If you want to talk about biased and slant on events then why would you cite a wiki page that has the large amount of info being contributed by Waste Management & Gas Separation Technology LLC? Two companies who clearly have a stake in the matter in which information is presented about them. Kitten what is it? Do you hate clean air,water,ocean,forests,tundras,lakes, and all other life on this planet? Because your lack of knowledge and apparent disregard for facts about our ecosystem leads me and I'll assume others to believe that. It is either that or a. you are brainwashed by fox news, or b. you have the mental capacity of a two-year-old. Also I have to ask. What websites/television stations do you regularly get your news from and with what frequency?

[KittenAB]

OK kitten here are the sources listed at the bottom of your wiki article

"Primer on Landfill Gas as "Green Energy"". Energy Justice Network. Retrieved 2010-04-25.

Koch, Wendy (2010-02-25). "Landfill Projects on the rise". USA Today. Retrieved 2010-04-25.

"Landfill Gas to Energy". Waste Management. Retrieved 2010-04-26-2010.

"Landfill Gas". Gas Separation Technology LLC. Retrieved 2010-04-26.

"Landfill Gas Control Measures". Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry. Retrieved 2010-04-26.

Lets see ok the 1st source is the website that I listed in my post, that you think is biased so why did you use is as a source to attempt to discredit itself. lol. If you want to talk about biased and slant on events then why would you cite a wiki page that has the large amount of info being contributed by Waste Management & Gas Separation Technology LLC? Two companies who clearly have a stake in the matter in which information is presented about them. Kitten what is it? Do you hate clean air,water,ocean,forests,tundras,lakes, and all other life on this planet? Because your lack of knowledge and apparent disregard for facts about our ecosystem leads me and I'll assume others to believe that. It is either that or a. you are brainwashed by fox news, or b. you have the mental capacity of a two-year-old. Also I have to ask. What websites/television stations do you regularly get your news from and with what frequency?

Irony? More with your own comments. Waste Management & Gas Separation Technology LLC would actually benefit more if there were laws requiring the use of their technology, kind of like the recycling companies, yet they show that people are using their technology. It is you who is avoiding the reality. I simply stated that most landfills are using this, in the comment you tried to bash last, and showed that one of the major companies that profits from such a "green" procedure has said so as well.

You also have never even thought of any other possibility than what your media tells you to think (BTW, Fox news actually reports more pro-econut stories last time I watched TV, about 3 years ago). ALL media is just hype, it feeds on scare stories, the world ending stories make them a fortune, thus why they like supporting environuts since we know the rest of the doomsday is religious nutjobs anyway. Seriously, you need to start looking at more than one source yourself, I do, and there are many conflicting reports on both sides. Just because people like me want facts and not a bunch of hype doesn't mean we are anti-clean. But some day you will grow up and actually start learning science instead of just swallowing hype, for now we will chalk this up to you being too young to think clearly yet. The bandwagon isn't right, it never is, the majority of people in the US are now econuts, sadly, buying into the whole "green" movement without even knowing what natural is.

[sissybabyemily]

If all media is hype, kitten then where do YOU get your information from. because as stated earlier you don't watch tv, or read academic journal, so what is it conspiracy sites? either way I am not trying to fight with you, it is just that the fact that you didn't know where the majority of natural gas comes from really annoyed me. sorry if I was rude in my response, I will try to respond with a little more civility next time. Well kitten getting back to the OP, what ideas do you have for improving the environmental sustainability of our fetish, e.g our diapers? I think for starters as waynecook said, we should demand that the plastic covers of our diapers be made from biodegradable plastic. Power in numbers is real, and in our market economy if there is enough demand for environmentally friendly diapers they will eventually have to change. What are your ideas?

[KittenAB]

If all media is hype, kitten then where do YOU get your information from. because as stated earlier you don't watch tv, or read academic journal, so what is it conspiracy sites? either way I am not trying to fight with you, it is just that the fact that you didn't know where the majority of natural gas comes from really annoyed me. sorry if I was rude in my response, I will try to respond with a little more civility next time. Well kitten getting back to the OP, what ideas do you have for improving the environmental sustainability of our fetish, e.g our diapers? I think for starters as waynecook said, we should demand that the plastic covers of our diapers be made from biodegradable plastic. Power in numbers is real, and in our market economy if there is enough demand for environmentally friendly diapers they will eventually have to change. What are your ideas?

I actually read the reports. As for biodegradable plastics .... they are in use. However you are again failing to see that something else is already in use "just because the corporations can get a profit from it." Yes, all the stuff you are asking for IS in use already, and corporations are making huge profits from it. But ... stay blind to that, also stay blind to the fact that it's not changing anything.

Lastly, I never said a majority of natural gas, clearly you didn't even read my post because you have labelled me as an enemy, I said a majority of landfills are using the method already. There seems to be a LOT of information you do not have, so I ask again, what are YOU doing to change things? Stop trying to force people to change, do it yourself. Ends do not justify lying, and that's what you are buying into blindly without actually reading the data. The data doesn't say what's responsible, the data does not show why it's changing, the environment however changes all the time, naturally, on it's own, and in dramatic ways very often. We are a young species, we haven't seen the worst the climate can be naturally, we don't have the data for all of it because of this, but we do know it changes a lot from geological analysis. Nothing could have stopped the ice ages (there were many in the past) or even heat waves (again there were many) and these are part of the natural change.

[Diapered Jason]

Well, the problem with biodegradable plastics are their strengths. What makes a plastic biodegradable is a low softening temperature. The softening temperature directly correlates with the mechanical strength of the polymer. In addition to their lower strengths, it will take lower temperatures to melt these polymers. Cellulose based plastics are not actually that promising for replacing all petroleum based plastics. At its current strength, you may be able to replace polypropylene with hemp plastic at an increase in cost, but certainly not glass fiber or any other stronger polymers such as Kevlar, thus it will not really compete with oil and plastic manufacturers. It would work for diapers, but you will need to keep you diapers away from heat. All it would take is hot soup, and your diapers would be ruined. Such was the fate of my biodegradable spoon in my soup.

[sarah_ab]

i am changing things by staying in a diaper as long as possible... thus less diapers used...

so for all us diaper wearers out there.... wet till it leads, poop till it runs down your leg... then and only then are you allowed to change!!!!!

see fewer diapers used that way!

[Letluvsrool]

Wooo I love it when people get all angry on a silly interweb forum

[~Pamperchu~]

your numbers are wrong, environmentalists often don't do any research and will publish false reports that are allways in favor of their cause. Diapers only account for around %5 of USA garbage. Construction work waste from building and demolition along with manufacturing make up the most at around %40. The garbage we make has very little impact on the environment. It gets buried or burned to make power for homes, also we will never run out of landfill space unless they stop building new sites and landfills might be a great resorce or metals and fuel for furture genrations. If you are worried about the environment, don't have a kid. Other than that, don't bother trying to be "green", the difference is vanishingly small at the cost of higher prices and lower quality of life.

[ForbiddenFruit]

I'll just leave this here.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Global_warming#Various_claims_by_global_warming_denialists

[Rihanna]

your numbers are wrong, environmentalists often don't do any research and will publish false reports that are allways in favor of their cause. Diapers only account for around %5 of USA garbage. Construction work waste from building and demolition along with manufacturing make up the most at around %40. The garbage we make has very little impact on the environment. It gets buried or burned to make power for homes, also we will never run out of landfill space unless they stop building new sites and landfills might be a great resorce or metals and fuel for furture genrations. If you are worried about the environment, don't have a kid. Other than that, don't bother trying to be "green", the difference is vanishingly small at the cost of higher prices and lower quality of life.

WHY TFare you dragging up a year and a half old post???

WTF II, why the hell are people "liking" their own posts? Seems nasrcissic and stupid to me.

WTF III, how about citing facts to back up your claims of 5% and 40%

[Diapered Jason]

your numbers are wrong, environmentalists often don't do any research and will publish false reports that are allways in favor of their cause. Diapers only account for around %5 of USA garbage. Construction work waste from building and demolition along with manufacturing make up the most at around %40. The garbage we make has very little impact on the environment. It gets buried or burned to make power for homes, also we will never run out of landfill space unless they stop building new sites and landfills might be a great resorce or metals and fuel for furture genrations. If you are worried about the environment, don't have a kid. Other than that, don't bother trying to be "green", the difference is vanishingly small at the cost of higher prices and lower quality of life.

Hehe, I remember this thread. I think what you do not realize is the total lifetime a material goes through from cradle to grave. There is the cost to getting the materials, processing the materials, packaging the materials, shipping the materials, and more often than not, using the materials. The garbage we throw away has a significant effect I believe due to this whole motion from cradle to grave. Still, I do not want to not do it. I just want to do it more efficiently and in a way that effects the environment in a smaller way. You know, so you can have clean drinking water and air. Yes, this will require an investment, but the best approach to helping will always be to extend the life of whatever material you are using. For instance, using shopping bags as trash bags or to pick up pet feces at the low scale, or using old electronic components in new electronic components at the larger scale.

Some environmentalist are quite peculiar. For instance, they shoot themselves in the foot every time they want a hydroelectric dam removed. There is also quite some confusion out there on what is necessarily better for the environment. For instance, I'll ask the question that anyone here can answer. When you go to a grocery store and are asked "paper or plastic," what do think is more environmentally friendly?

WTF II, why the hell are people "liking" their own posts? Seems nasrcissic and stupid to me.

Lol, before we could not tell who liked what, but now... oh the shame.

[rosalie.bent]

I know that this is an old thread but it caught my attention. So much so-called 'environmental' issues are poorly understood. The disposable diaper was considered to be a huge environmental disaster until a few years ago when some researchers excavated landfills to discover the ACTUAL (as opposed to predicted) decay rates of various items - including disposable diapers. The surprise results was that disposable diapers - even with plastic backing - decayed faster that newspaper! In other words, disposable diapers are the landfill disaster many predicted and in fact are far better than most other items.

I am transitioning my baby girl to more cloth for expense-sake. Given the extra power and water used for washing I am not expecting it to be significantly more eco-friendly (although it will be to some degree).