#113: Are you kidding me, plastic recycling is a myth
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Happy Halloween! Currently experiencing the Sunday scaries.
PSA: Hades, the fantastic video game I talked about last week, is 20% off on all platforms (Windows, Mac, Nintendo Switch) till Nov 5!
The secret to better Zoom calls is zooming out
The metaphor of 'supply chains' obscures our understanding of economic justice
The supply chain metaphor encourages us to see yet more consumption as the principal means of addressing problems that are ultimately rooted in consumption. The more our agency is reduced to that of a consumer, the more important consumption becomes to the influence we have on the world. Buying even more stuff becomes a moral act, an expression of values akin to the civic duty of voting. Questioning this cycle of consumption, or retreating from it, comes to look like an abrogation of that responsibility.
Plastic recycling is a myth created by the oil industry
All used plastic can be turned into new things, but picking it up, sorting it out and melting it down is expensive. Plastic also degrades each time it is reused, meaning it can't be reused more than once or twice.
On the other hand, new plastic is cheap. It's made from oil and gas, and it's almost always less expensive and of better quality to just start fresh.
All of these problems have existed for decades, no matter what new recycling technology or expensive machinery has been developed. In all that time, less than 10 percent of plastic has ever been recycled. But the public has known little about these difficulties.
At this point⊠I'm disappointed but not surprised.
The history behind the design of Hanoi's shophouses
One designer's quest to redesign Singapore's subway signage
You can spot the new designs at Paya Lebar!
If a dog gave a house tour
Hello! I have never met you and now you are my best friend and I love you so much! I am the dog and I would love to give you a tour of my home, where I keep my toys and my food and my pet humans and now you live here, too, because you are my best friend! I own this house despite not only not knowing what a mortgage is but also not even really knowing what my name is, especially when called, eighty-five per cent of the time!
What does living through societal collapse feel like? Surprisingly ordinary.
I lived through the end of a civil war â I moved back to Sri Lanka in my twenties, just as the ceasefire fell apart. Do you know what it was like for me? Quite normal. I went to work, I went out, I dated. This is what Americans donât understand. Theyâre waiting to get personally punched in the face while ash falls from the sky. Thatâs not how it happens.
How gargoyles became monsters
Why pipe organs sound scary
Have a superb week ahead (avoiding eye contact with the US presidential elections),
Werty & Yuni