Plastic fantastic – the future of biodegradables

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/bc-pf101411.php

Public release date: 16-Oct-2011
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Contact: Dr Hilary Glover
[e-mail]
44-020-319-22370
http://www.biomedcentral.com/">BioMed Central

Plastic fantastic – the future of biodegradables

Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) is a thermoplastic polyester which occurs naturally in bacteria as Ralstonia eutropha and Bacillus megaterium. Even though PHB is biodegradable and is not dependent on fossil resources, this bioplastic has been traditionally too expensive to produce to replace petroleum-based plastics. New research reported in BioMed Central's open access journal Microbial Cell Factories describes an alternative method of producing PHB in microalgae.

PHB is synthesised in bacteria from acetyl-CoA using the enzymes ß-ketothiolase, acetoacetyl-CoA reductase and PHB synthase. The genes coding for these proteins were inserted into a diatom (Phaeodactylum tricornutum) resulting in expression of the enzymes and synthesis of PHB in cytosolic granules. After only seven days, about 10% of the dried weight of the diatoms was PHB.

Dr. Franziska Hempel and Prof Uwe Maier from the LOEWE-Centre Synmikro in Marburg, and Prof Alexander Steinbüchel from Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, explained, "Millions of tons of petroleum-based plastic are consumed every year worldwide causing immense amounts of waste that can take thousands of years to biodegrade – if at all. Bacterial fermentation is expensive and while people have introduced a similar system into plants, plants are relatively slow growing and biofuel agriculture uses up valuable land. P. tricornutum needs little more than light and water to grow and can produce similar amounts of PHB to the plant systems in weeks rather than months."

In the quest to find biodegradable and renewable sources of plastics these photosynthetic bioreactors may well provide an answer.

…

http://www.microbialcellfactories.com/content/10/1/81/abstract

[daleanime]

1. There are some many promising ideas out there....

are we providing enough resources(money) to getting them started, and how much time do we have left?:scared:

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. I look at it this way

It’s already too late for us to avoid all aspects of Anthropogenic Climate Change. (It’s not in the future, it’s already upon us.)

In a way, this is sort of freeing, because now we’re talking about attempting to do what we can (mitigation) rather than attempting to accomplish what is impossible (prevention.)

So, that leaves us with time that it takes us to make the best efforts we can to mitigate the negative effects as much as we can.

[daleanime]

5. I hear you....

I think I would feel better if more people were rolling up their sleeves instead of looking away.

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. That would make me feel better as well

However, we need to spend less time worrying about what we cannot do, and more time realizing what we can.

[valerief]

3. I wonder if the oil industry has already killed this. nt

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. Don’t attribute God-like powers to the oil industry

If you start with the assumption that the oil industry is all-powerful, then (logically) there is no point in standing up to them. You’ve already lost, before you begin.

Instead, assume they’re just a collection of people.

[valerief]

7. No, they're more than people. They're money. That's more valuable than people. It's proven over and

over again in every country on Earth.

[OKIsItJustMe]

8. They’re people with money…

…and money equates to power.

However it has also been proven over and over again that even the most powerful of corporations fail.

Consider the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company">East India Company, arguably more powerful than the oil industry today. Where are they now?

[valerief]

9. Rupert Murdoch will die. His money will live on. It's the money. nt

[OKIsItJustMe]

10. No.

Money has no will. Money is simply a resource.

Rupert Murdoch may pass his money on to someone else, giving them that power, but they may choose to do something else with that power than he would have done.

[valerief]

11. The forces of money system will require the inheritor to apply the money the way

the dead Murdoch did. It's a cycle. If the inheritor doesn't comply, death is imminent. That's how the Mafia works. Our government/banks (same thing) are the Mafia. Only without the honor.

[OKIsItJustMe]

12. That’s paranoid nonsense

Consider Andrew Carnegie. Are his descendents steel magnates?

Are Joe Kennedy’s descendents smugglers?

[valerief]

13. Their money lives on. nt

[OKIsItJustMe]

14. Their money is purely a concept

It exists, it does not live.

[valerief]

15. Whatever. It has power beyond individuals. Human people are at the mercy of the system.

Because money rules it. Until human people break the system. How that will happen, we'll see. Or not live to see.

[OKIsItJustMe]

16. Money has no will of its own

It’s up to people how it is used. Blaming money for the actions of people is a dangerous distraction from the truth.

Some people like to say that “money is the root of all evil.” The correct quote is: “…http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=185971615">the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil…”

Money is not responsible for the evil people do with it or for the love of it.

[valerief]

17. I'm talking about how difficult it is to change the system, because of money's power over

people. People in power yield to the money system because if they don't they most often get dead.

And we all know that quote. Correctly.

[OKIsItJustMe]

18. Money has no power over people

Don’t blame money for what people do. People are responsible for their own actions.

The “money system” is not some sort of omnipotent entity. It is a social construct. Money has as much value as society assigns to it.

If the “money system” had the sort of power you ascribe to it, why would it ever allow such a thing as “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinflation">hyperinflation” to occur?

Why would the all-powerful “money system” allow something like the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_Crash_of_1929">crash of 1929 to occur?

[kristopher]

19. The "money system" might not be omnipotent...

But it is an extremely powerful "entity".

Yes, it is an outgrowth of our social interactions, but that doesn't negate the fact that it behaves an an independent entity in its own right.

Your argument has two fundamental fallacies I would have thought you'd recognize - the appeal to the absolute "omnipotent" and the corresponding attempt to to negate other aspects of the system's power with the irrevelant example of one that it can't control. It is like saying that a rose doesn't have thorns because it is susceptible to being killed with RoundUp.

It looks to me like you both have valid points, but because you don't have the proper framework for discussion, you are talking past each other.

It might be useful to give some thought to the difference between infrastructure, structure, and superstructure.
http://www.indiana.edu/~wanthro/theory_pages/Materialism.htm

I think Valerief's point is the most relevant to the issue, but it is important to remember that there is hope because ultimately, as you say, we are the system.