Harmful Effects of Plastic Essay Example for Free

Harmful Effects of Plastic Essay Composition and Types of Plastic A plastic is made up principally of a binder together with plasticizers, fillers, pigments, and other additives. The binder gives a plastic its main characteristics and usually its name. Thus, polyvinyl chloride is both the name of a binder and the name of a plastic into which it is made. Binders may be natural materials, e.g., cellulose derivatives, casein, or milk protein, but are more commonly synthetic resins. In either case, the binder materials consist of very long chainlike molecules called polymers. Cellulose derivatives are made from cellulose, a naturally occurring polymer; casein is also a naturally occurring polymer. Synthetic resins are polymerized, or built up, from small simple molecules called monomers. Plasticizers are added to a binder to increase flexibility and toughness. Fillers are added to improve particular properties, e.g., hardness or resistance to shock. Pigments are used to impart various colors. Virtually any desired color or shape and many combinations of the properties of hardness, durability, elasticity, and resistance to heat, cold, and acid can be obtained in a plastic. There are two basic types of plastic: thermosetting, which cannot be resoftened after being subjected to heat and pressure; and thermoplastic, which can be repeatedly softened and remolded by heat and pressure. When heat and pressure are applied to a thermoplastic binder, the chainlike polymers slide past each other, giving the material plasticity. However, when heat and pressure are initially applied to a thermosetting binder, the molecular chains become cross-linked, thus preventing any slippage if heat and pressure are reapplied. - Be Wise With Plastics Plastics are everywhere and in most cases are very affordable and convenient. But, increasingly scientists are finding that a hidden cost may be our health. Some common plastics release harmful chemicals into our air, foods, and drinks. Maybe you can’t see or taste it, but if you’re serving your dinner on plastic, you’re likely eating a little plastic for dinner. Beyond the immediate health risks, our increasing use of plastics is causing an enormous amount of enduring pollution. Every bit of plastic that has ever been created still exists (except for the little bit that has been incinerated, which releases toxic chemicals). In the ocean, plastic waste is accumulating in giant gyres of debris where, among other thing, fish are ingesting toxic plastic bits at a rate which will soon make them unsafe to eat. Plastic is generally toxic to produce, toxic to use, and toxic to dispose of. Luckily, we can all make safer choices. What to Do The best thing to do is to reduce your use of plastic. Look for natural alternatives like textiles, solid wood, bamboo, glass, stainless steel, etc. Also, look for items with less (or no) plastic packaging. If you do buy plastic, opt for products you can recycle or re-purpose (e.g. a yogurt tub can be re-used to store crayons). And, get to know your plastics – starting with this guide: The most common plastics have a resin code in a chasing arrow symbol (often found on the bottom of the product). PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate): AVOID Common Uses: Soda Bottles, Water Bottles, Cooking Oil Bottles Concerns: Can leach antimony and phthalates. HDPE (High Density Polyethylene): SAFER Common Uses: Milk Jugs, Plastic Bags, Yogurt Cups PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride, aka Vinyl): AVOID Common Uses: Condiment Bottles, Cling Wrap, Teething Rings, Toys, Shower Curtains Concerns: Can leach lead and phthalates among other things. Can also off-gas toxic chemicals. LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene): SAFER Common Uses: Produce Bags, Food Storage Containers PP (Polypropylene): SAFER Common Uses: Bottle Caps, Storage Containers, Dishware PS (Polystyrene, aka Styrofoam): AVOID Common Uses: Meat Trays, Foam Food Containers Cups Concerns: Can leach carcinogenic styrene and estrogenic alkylphenols Other this is a catch-all category which includes: PC (Polycarbonate): AVOID can leach Bisphenol-A (BPA). It also includes ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), SAN (Styrene Acrylonitrile), Acrylic, and Polyamide. These plastics can be a safer option because they are typically very durable and resistant to high heat resulting in less leaching. Their drawbacks are that they are not typically recyclable and some need additional safety research. New plant-based, biodegradable plastics like PLA (Polylactic Acid) also fall into the #7 category.

Civil Disobedience Martin Luther King David Thoreau LA riot Essay

Civil Disobedience On April 29, 1992, the City of Los Angeles was surrounded in a riot in response to the "not guilty" verdicts in the trial of four white Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers accused of unlawfully beating Rodney King. Six days later, when the fires were finally extinguished and the smoke had cleared, â€Å"estimates of the material damage done vary between about $800 million and $1 billion, 54 people had been killed, more than 2000 injured, in excess of 800 structures were burned, and about 10,000 people were arrested.†(Khalifah 89) The 1992 riots in the City of Los Angeles were arguably the most devastating civil disturbance in the history of the United States. Anyone can say that a law is unfair and unjust. However, who is really willing to accept the consequences for going against this law? Is breaking this law really worth the punishment? The government is the one to decide whether a law is reasonable, but what if a member of the public believes that a law is not? Should he rebel against this law? Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. answered yes to this question and believed that one should speak out against an injustice. They both believed that government had many flaws. They shared many beliefs in the same subjects concerning Civil Disobedience but had many different views on how the government should work and how the citizen should be treated by society. Civil disobedience can turn into civil disturbance. When a white truck driver, Reginald Denny, was dragged from his vehicle and severely beaten by an angry mob. Both Martin Luther King Jr. and Thoreau believed that one should act out against an unjust law by means of peaceful protest. Therefore both King and Thoreau would not support the rebels’ violent behavior of the LA riots. If one is going to openly express his ideas of disagreeing with an unjust law, he must be willing to accept the consequences. Both Martin Luther King Jr. and Thoreau demonstrated this acceptance of consequences by going to jail without repercussion. This shows that they truly believed in the eradication of such a law that forces them to do something that they do not want to do. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested for gathering with others to protest peacefully, which the police claimed was unlawful, because they were parading without a permit. Martin Luther King Jr. peacefully went ... ...or not paying taxes. Martin Luther King serves a sentence, which is usually longer than a day, for a peaceful protest. Not paying taxes seems a lot more incriminating than having a peaceful gathering. However, the laws have changed considerably since the time of Thoreau. Despite this, there still was a double standard that people of different races had to deal with. The answer to the question whether one should disobey an unjust law is yes. One should stand up for what he believes in, and not have anyone else dictate to him what is right or wrong by passing unjust laws. â€Å"According to the U.S. Constitution, one has the right of free speech; the ability to speak out against a law that he believes is morally unjust.†(____) People should not be treated differently because of their race, color, or beliefs. Laws should not be passed that impose bad intentions upon certain groups. In conclusion, King and Thoreau believe one should have the right to question their authority if the authority has passed an immorally just law. The way looters questioned the injustice has gone overboard, affecting the lives of innocence is not what King and Thoreau believed in terms of civil disobedience.

Great Gatsby Final Paper on Feminism Essay

In his timeless novel The Great Gatsby, author Francis Scott Fitzgerald draws attention to the irrational nature of women and the effect it had on their lives during the 1920s. The female characters in the novel tend to irresponsibly think with their hearts rather than with their heads. Time and again, this way of the thinking leads these women to a life of unhappiness and insecurity. Fitzgerald utilizes tools such as paradox and imagery to effectively display the negative consequences of their choices. Fitzgerald’s purpose is to emphasize the true sufferings of women caused by their own lack of reason. He establishes a candid tone throughout the novel in order to demonstrate to readers that the true source of the emptiness and sorrow felt by women in the 1920’s does not come from the men in their lives, but from their own incoherence. Fitzgerald primarily uses paradox as a strategy that best exemplifies the irrational behavior and decisions women in the novel make. Early on in the novel, Jay Gatsby hosts grand parties at his home hoping to one day lure Daisy, the woman he is madly in love with, back into his life. Most women attend Gatsby’s parties not because they are friends with him, nor because they were invited, but instead to have a carefree time at a stranger’s expense. Jordan regularly attends these extravaganzas at Gatsby’s home; she confesses to Nick one night, â€Å"’I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.’† Her statement  associates grandness with privacy and security, and smaller affairs with loneliness and discomfort. Jordan demonstrates the senseless thinking of many women of the era. They feel the need to be surrounded by strangers and indulge in the finest of things in order to feel intimate or secure. These gatherings are one way women fill the emptiness in their souls. They drink their pain away, dance off their fears, and gossip incessantly. These females are blinded by the spotlight given to them at these affairs. Wealth is mistaken for security as attention is for love. In the same way, Daisy loses the voice of reason in her own life when she marries Tom for his wealth despite being madly in love with Gatsby. The day before her wedding, Daisy is described to be â€Å"lying on her bed as lovely as the June night in her flowered dress-and as drunk as a monkey† (76). Fitzgerald’s use of  paradox exemplifies the struggle Daisy is facing. Although it is her wedding day, and she looks beautiful, the discontent she feels is obvious. Fitzgerald strategically employs paradox to portray the insecurity and despair the women of West Egg feel throughout their lives. Furthermore, Fitzgerald demonstrates the pain of women through his use of imagery. At the first party Nick attends, he witnesses a woman, who although dressed beautifully, and surrounded by glamour, is visibly in misery. She â€Å"had drunk a quantity of champagne, and during the course of her song, she had decided, ineptly, that everything was very, very sad† (pg.51) This vivid description of the woman represents the pain felt by many women during this time period, and wealth’s inability heal it. In the same way, Fitzgerald uses imagery to shed light on Daisy’s unhappiness after her marriage to Tom. Gatsby describes Daisy’s life as a single woman as innocent and pure. Fitzgerald uses color  imagery to exemplify this. She owned a white car, lived in a home described as a â€Å"high white palace† and lived what Gatsby thought was a â€Å"white girlhood†. The use of color imagery emphasizes the purity before she was corrupted by the idea that one could marry for money and still be happy. This use of color imagery once again acknowledges the senseless decisions women made during this time period, and the despairity that backfires on them because of these choices. In the Great Gatsby, author F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays women as irrational in their thinking, behaviors, and actions. This senselessness is supported by the lifelong insecurity and loneliness the women feel as a result of their actions.

American Bungalow Style Houses, 1905 - 1930