Imagining a Future Beyond Plastics
––––––––––––––––––––Part 4 of 4 in our Plastic Free July series–––––––––––––––––––– Closeup of mycelium. 📷: Christian Scheckhuber, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons When plastics first emerged, they promised to usher in a new era of abundance and convenience. The look and feel of plastics was so new and unusual that it became emblematic of human scientific achievement, and […]
Plastics: the Mycelium Solution
––––––––––––––––––––Part 3 of 4 in our Plastic Free July series–––––––––––––––––––– 📷: Ecovative Babies weren’t the only thing that proliferated after the second World War. Plastics provided a booming post-war middle class with reliable, durable materials. They would come to represent technological wonder, economic abundance and, of course, convenience. Sleek new TVs and toasters symbolized a dawning future of plenty. With the […]
Plastics: the Good and the Bad, and the Ugly
––––––––––––––––––––Part 2 of 4 in our Plastic Free July series–––––––––––––––––––– 📷: CaptainDarwin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Plastics have had quite a century. A vast class of materials never before seen on Earth until around the first World War, now can be found in every corner of the planet. On land, in the deepest ocean, and […]
A (Very) Brief History of Plastics
––––––––––––––––––––Part 1 of 4 in our Plastic Free July series–––––––––––––––––––– 📷: Deeneris, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons In the beginning, there wasn’t plastic. In fact, mass production of plastic has been around for less than a hundred years. In that time it has come to touch nearly every aspect of our lives, whether we want it to or not. There […]
