“When I was a kid plastic didn’t rot”
“Okay grandpa. Eat your soylent.”
this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2026
57 points (96.7% liked)
Climate
8560 readers
429 users here now
Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.
As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades:
How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world:
Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:
Anti-science, inactivism, and unsupported conspiracy theories are not ok here.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Soylent Green,
I doubt that plastic in a well maintained state will rot fast. Wood rots quickly in the wild, but can last millennia in controlled conditions (kept clean and dry)
Sure, but often plastic is used precisely because it doesn't rot when wet for extended periods.
Life, uh... Finds a way.
I've thought about this too. We'd have to redo material science
To be fair, material scientists are redoing everything always as it is
That seems quite fast.
How long have plastics been around? A century? Less?
When lignin in wood first evolved and trees became a thing 400 million years ago, it took about 100 million years before fungi evolved the ability to digest it.
There was 100 million years where wood wasn't unable to decompose and just sat around or burned, creating all of our coal deposits.
100 years for something to evolve and decompose plastics seems lightning quick.
Well, its possible that the mutations necessary were very close to something they already had. Or very 'lucky' mutations happened, interpret that as you will.
Someday, these items will all be eaten slowly, or perhaps quickly. When will this begin in force? When will it affect our daily lives and health? Will we be able to prepare?
