New Water Bottling Plant in Hilo Proposed

[Rob Tucker]

Just slightly off subject.... years ago on a flight from Honolulu to Hilo, Aloha served me a little plastic cup of water. I looked at it an was amazed that it was bottled in Connecticut. Kinda blew my mind in a minor way. The economics escaped me.

[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by Rob Tucker

I have come to the conclusion that real time life threatening environmental issues are on our horizon. Pollution of all types is as much a by product of people themselves as the basic economic system in which pollutants are generated.

Capitalism is not compatible with environmental solutions. This is not an opinion I share with pleasure or enthusiasm. I base this opinion on simple analysis of the capitalistic system which asks no questions of human occupations/production except "Is it profitable?".

If we can add the question "Is it in the best environmental interest of a healthy planet?" of any and all manufactured products then the right to manufacture any crap we can make money with must change and that is not free enterprise.

I consider this to be a disturbing prospect but one which we will inevitably have to face or ignore. Personally I think we will fail at this and a down graded environment with all that entails is on our future.

This is one basis upon which I choose the Puna District of Hawaii for my home. I can't think of a better vantage point for watching the world devolve. Luckily for me I am getting old. I will provide for my kids here as best I can.

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Pardon my quote, for you offered a weighty opinion, and it deserves a similar response.

Having said that, and with all due respect, I think your prognosis is manifold too pessimistic.

Speaking Truth to Lies / Facts to Ignorance

[Rob Tucker]

No argument from me.

[glinda]

All very good points Rob. I too have very little faith in mankind. Too many people with too many pressing issues. But, maybe technology can lead us out of this quagmire. Regarding an alternative to plastic..

I guess most folks didn't see it on TV or look at the link I provided to last night's 60 minutes piece about an alternative to our current non-biodegradable plastics. Again..

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/marshall-me...0-minutes/

It really is a timely, and fascinating, story about a guy that has created a multi-billion dollar company that is poised to turn our energy, sugar, and plastics industries on their head. The company, Xyleco..

https://www.xyleco.com

has attracted major investors and has an all star lineup of board members, some of which include..

Robert C. Armstrong - Chevron Professor of Chemical Engineering and Former Department Chair at MIT - Director of the MIT Energy Initiative

Steven Chu - Former United States Secretary of Energy - Professor of Physics and Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford

Sir John S. Jennings - Former Group-Managing Director of Royal Dutch/Shell Group; Chairman of the Shell Transport and Trading Company and Director of Shell Oil

Mario J Molina - Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1995) - Three-time Member of the U.S. President’s Council on Science and Technology

William J. Perry - Senior Fellow and Professor of Engineering at Stanford - Former United States Secretary of Defense

And there are others.. all with equally impressive backgrounds.

Xyleco has created a line of plastics, made from cellulose, that will fill all our needs with a type of plastic that is truly biodegradable. Not from fossil fuels, not with any CO2 emissions, and truly biodegradable. So much so that they can build an actual life expectancy into each run. They can create plastics, made out of plant material, that will dissolve in six months, and others that will last six years, twenty years. And none of it will be around longer than one wants it to be.

And the whole plastic story is secondary to what they are doing to replace our dependency on oil. Look at the article.. read their website. This is good stuff.

But I am sure many will say lets not embrace new technology when all we have to do is make sure the stuff we make today finds it's way into some landfill. I take that as the oil industry's propaganda. But, since that is the system we have now, how is it working out? How much of that plastic is somehow, magically, ending up in the ocean? On the beaches? in our food? Literally in our food! How good is that?

[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by glinda

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If you squirt that or a similar cellulose-based resin through tiny spinnerets, you get a fiber called Rayon. Been around for decades.

As an aside, an acquaintance of mine marketed a line of bottled water in biodegradable bottles, presumably the ones you mention. I have no issues or objections whatsoever.



Speaking Truth to Lies / Facts to Ignorance

[kalakoa]

My guess is the operation will be approved with the appropriate kickbacks to our local governments.

Application was made by the right people. The hearing is a formality.

[ElysianWort]

I completely agree with Glinda here.

It's statements like this, from you terracore:
"This plant isn't going to create any plastic that isn't going to already exist."

and you OpenD:
"Please explain exactly how the planet is choking. Remember, choking is a terminal state of affairs if not remedied, so I assume you think that the planet will be dead shortly, OR...you are just using hyperbole, instead of truth, to scare people out of their lifestyle."

Statements like that keep the things the way they are.

Open D and Terracore are you two unaware of the islands of plastic floating in our oceans. Islands the size of the state of Texas!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qT-rOXB6NI

It's statements like that are ways of sticking your head in the sand like the proverbial ostrich and denying that we humans are wrecking the planet. Cannot believe you guys actually think that it won't make a difference by being against more companies that promote more products made of plastic.

Wake up!!

[PaulW]

The video you linked to does not contain a single picture of this supposedly Texas-sized garbage patch. Did you even watch it?

Bottling water does not cause pollution, it’s what it’s bottled in and what people do with those bottles. Here in Hawaii the water bottles have a 5c deposit on them and so I rarely see them strewn about.

You could just as well say that we should not build x because it contains plastic.

[ElysianWort]

Wow, now that is nitpicking.

You want me to provide a link that better proves we have a problem with plastic in our ocean?

Are you denying that we have a problem there?

[PaulW]

Nitpicking? For mentioning that you post videos you haven’t even bothered to watch yourself?

Sure there’s plastic in the ocean. That doesn’t mean we can’t pump water out of the ground and sell it. Go tell the people of Fiji to shut down the operation there, I’m sure you’ll get a warm welcome. They collect tens of millions of dollars in taxes from Fiji Water.