Plastic: A Toxic Love Story

商家名称	信用等级	购买信息	订购本书
		Plastic: A Toxic Love Story
		Plastic: A Toxic Love Story

Plastic built the modern world. Where would we be without bike helmets, baggies, toothbrushes, and pacemakers? But a century into our love affair with plastic, we’re starting to realize it’s not such a healthy relationship. Plastics draw on dwindling fossil fuels, leach harmful chemicals, litter landscapes, and destroy marine life. As journalist Susan Freinkel points out in this engaging and eye-opening book, we’re nearing a crisis point. We’ve produced as much plastic in the past decade as we did in the entire twentieth century. We’re drowning in the stuff, and we need to start making some hard choices. 

Freinkel gives us the tools we need with a blend of lively anecdotes and analysis. She combs through scientific studies and economic data, reporting from China and across the United States to assess the real impact of plastic on our lives. She tells her story through eight familiar plastic objects: comb, chair, Frisbee, IV bag, disposable lighter, grocery bag, soda bottle, and credit card. Her conclusion: we cannot stay on our plastic-paved path. And we don’t have to. Plastic points the way toward a new creative partnership with the material we love to hate but can’t seem to live without.

网友对Plastic: A Toxic Love Story的评论

As a plastic distributor, I like to read books about the history of plastics. As a Colorado resident, and husband to a professional conservationist, I enjoy learning more about environmental issues. I got a chance to do both when I when I recently read the new book, Plastic; A Toxic Love Story by Susan Freinkel.

The author decided to spend a day without touching anything plastic. But she didn't make it too far. About 10 seconds, she estimates...since both the light switch and the toilet seat in the bathroom were made of plastic. So she changed the experiment into a list-making exercise and that day she wrote down 196 different plastic items that she touched. Of course, many of these items were non-durable items like plastic packaging. The next day she continued list-making with a similar tally of everything she touched that wasn't at least partially made of plastic. The non-plastic list only made it to 102 items.

This led to some reflection and a list of questions, which she attempts to answer in the book. Those questions include:

What is plastic?
Where does plastic come from?
How did we get so many plastic items in our lives without really trying?
What happens to plastics after we put them into a recycling bin?
Does plastic actually get recycled after it's picked up curbside?
How much of the plastic that the typical American discards is ending up in the ocean?
Should we stop using plastic shopping bags?
Is there a future for plastic in a sustainable world?
To explore the answers to these questions, the book is organized into separate chapters about eight common, everyday, relatively non-durable objects that are commonly made from plastic, including the comb, the stackable cafe chair, the Frisbee, the intravenous solution bag, the disposable lighter, the grocery bag, the soda pop bottle and the credit card.

Two of my favorite factoids in the book were:

In the 19th century plastics were actively promoted as a way to replace ivory from elephant tusks for use in billard balls and to replace hair comb materials that were coming from hawksbill turtle shells.
The rapid growth of plastics after World War II had a lot to do with their utility as a way to use the ever-increasing stream of petroleum refining by-products.
Overall it thought that the Pro's of this book were:

It's a good historical overview of plastic
The author acknowledges the paradoxes of the plastic industry
There is a good chapter explaining what the recycling numbers on plastic products indicate and where they came from
And there's an excellent notes section at the back of the book
And I thought the Con's of this book were:
No durable plastic items were examined
No full-scale solutions for the paradoxes of our huge reliance on non-durable plastic products were identified or examined

Thought it would be merely calling out the dangers of plastics and calling for alternatives that wouldn't be pragmatic. This book is much more, it outlines the entire history of plastic, the wonders plastic has done for us, and then later the more unpleasant side of plastics. Frienkel isn't at all a luddite, but to the contrary is very much in support of tech. Throughout the book she stays entirely objective, which is extremely admirable considering the insane amount of research she put into it. Excellent read, would like to see more books from her.

This book is chock full of the vital historical perspective we all desperately need to start setting our listing ship aright! Freinkel manages to tell this story in such a personal, narrative way it doesn't feel like a lesson at all. Most of us have grown up with plastic so deeply embedded in our lives, we can't imagine how it could be otherwise. This read feels like getting know some of our planets secrets that are hidden in plain sight. She brings plenty of insight and optimism to the table as well. Read it!

Eventhough early plastics have existed long before America started to put them to use in a high volume. Unfortunatetly I like most people want to make reality the old days when toys and stuff were made out of wood, metal, clay, porcelain and other creative ideas. I find the book shines a lot on the people who have over enthusasim for plastic. However I find there is one reality minimize our plastic to as much as possible. Now I understand that is hard but if you read this book it has a mix of people who are aware of what plastic is doing to us and those who are still unaware of what it is doing to our enviornent. Be aware of the dangers of plastic be it cellphones to credit cards however we should to minimize how much we have of it. I think that is what the book is trying to tell us. I also feel the message varies person to person as it should be but I think the people denying the dangers of plastic need to be woken up. However I think Western medicine may need plastics for a long time. Granted there are better ways to make the various things but they maynot last as long as plastic. If we cannot make plastic go away we will have to make it safer and thank the people who came before us and set the example in making it safer. This is a must read for anyone who wants to get into the complex world of why plastics exist and where they came from.

喜欢Plastic: A Toxic Love Story请与您的朋友分享,由于版权原因，读书人网不提供图书下载服务

查看更多 下一篇