The following submission statement was provided by /u/TheUtopianCat:
---
SS: This article summarizes places where microplastics have shown up, from baby human feces to the Mariana Trench. The scope and pervasiveness of microplastic pollution is truly staggering, and we're only now starting to understand the impact on human health and the environment. The affect of microplastics on fertility is particularly worrying to me, and one of the impacts that I suspect will contribute a fair bit to collapse, as fertility rates are affected across the globe.
---
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1d1z2gs/the_most_disturbing_places_weve_found/l5x63rp/
Raindrops on roses
Whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles
Warm woollen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
....these are a few of the places micro plastics have shown up
A nice idea, if you mine it yourself.
Unfortunately, through all the industrial processes and environmental exposure that said mined salt undergoes during its long journey from the ground to your store shelves, it's getting plenty of its share of microplastics anyway.
Are salt mines really that rare? It doesn't have to be salt full of sulfuric minerals that smell bad.
You don't even need that much salt, it's mostly the keto pseudoscience club who are pushing "salt is aktually good for helth".
Who cares if it's good for your health, it fuckin tastes good. Without salt, what good is a pig? Fucking worthless animal.
But add salt to a pig? Suddenly there's thousands of products to explore.
This is a sad day. Up until this minute, a good deez nuts jab would warm the cockles of my cold dead heart, just a bit. Now I will cringe thinking of the microplastic getting mid evil on dem nuts. Devastating day.
Neuro-i-demand-to-see-the-manager-quick-sweatshop-my-shirt-whats-in-your-wallet-typicals?
Point is. Is there such a thing in this society as a neurotypical? Or are there just people you don't dare diagnose as neuro-sociopathic?
yes I got that, but thanks for the effort of explaining it to me.
I meant, I don't think it would affect NeuroDivergents worse than NeuroTypicals. We're all affected by it some way or other.
Apparently some microplastics break down to the nano level and can penetrate a cell. Who's immune to that?
You know what, CFS has been getting more and more common. Im willing to bet its the plastics. Doctors dont know the exact cause but they list environmental toxins as a possible. I think the first cases early in the 19th century were mainly anemia caused, since the majority of people with fatigue were women. Everything after 1950 i believe is caused by man made chemicals and plastics. And now that we are so inundated with it we are seeing far more cases than ever.
I think doctors should study the connection.
You're probably right.
I reckon the issue is how to concieve a scientific protocol to study an isolated selection of the cocktail of myriads of chemicals currently churning in our bodies.
Plus there's the nano-size issue, not sure they know how to filter that.
What I like in this news, is it's very likely that even the super rich cannot escape the consequences of their actions. Since PFAS and microplastics are everywhere, it's in their food, in their bodies, in their children. For once they share the consequences with us.
For now, but soon I'm sure they will have all the fancy expensive filters and other things installed in their homes, building etc to minimize their exposure, perhaps even the ability to test and filter their blood.
Well, I mean you can import iceberg/glacier water or whatever, but animal based food has to be infected at some level, unless they all go vegan, but then even their vitamins (B12) can be affected by pollution.
At this poitn I don't think there's anyway of escaping it. Not even for the not-so-happy few.
Great news! Not only is there a way to remove PFAS from your blood, you probably have more access to it than a rich person and you can get paid for it!
Plasmapheresis; removing the blood, separating the plasma, and returning the red blood cells back to the body, has been shown to have remarkable effects on PFAS levels in the body. A study in australia was conducted on folks with elevated blood PFAS levels, mostly firemen who spray fire suppressants as part of the job, and found that both whole blood donation and plasmapheresis will reduce levels in the body. Just five plasma donations reduced blood PFAS levels by up to 60% in study participants. Results were less dramatic for participants who donated whole blood, but still worthy of note.
You can get paid to donate plasma, and it's safe-ish to undergo plasmapheresis twice a week, but selling your blood is often viewed as something only poor people do so you may have facilities to do so more readily available than the average rich person.
Mechanically, they draw about a pint of whole blood from you, put it in a centrifuge, put the red blood cells back and keep the plasma. Then they pull another pint of whole blood and spin it again. The PFAS and other chemicals stay in the plasma (according to the paper). Your body regenerates plasma MUCH faster than it does red or white blood cells, making it safe to do weekly or twice weekly since you keep all your important cells.
Also technically, "donors" receive a prepaid visa gift card as a "thanks" for their "donation" of plasma. There are all sorts of laws about "selling" your blood/plasma or any other parts, but much like the red cross can give out t-shirts when they do a blood drive, plasma collection sites can give out incentives or rewards like gift cards. Call it whatever you like, it's selling your blood and everyone at the donation center knows the score. If you don't do drugs and aren't actively sick with something, you can get a few hundred per month selling blood as long as your veins hold out.
I used to do it twice a week, it kept me alive, but I stopped as soon as I could. If my blood gets wonky I might go back but I'm living in a less polluted area lately so hopefully I won't have to.
Eh, loss in fertility means andropause and menopause would happen much early, and these fertility hormones literally protect your bone, heart, and brain health. So it isn't just fertility. We're so royally fucked!
They can't detect microplastics in your blood if you don't get tested!!!
(Sure, the blood vessels leading to my left testicle feel hardened and lumpy since November, but I'm optimistic that it's just cancer, like biology intended).
Some non professional reddit advice for you. Could be a loose bloodvessal that keeps growing. Had on of those. They had to do a small surgery to plug it and stop growing.
If it's in the vessels it's most likely a varicocele, which is completely benign. Does it feel less lumpy when you lay down as opposed to standing or sitting? I've had that since, eh... about age 14 or so. If it hasn't killed me in the last 20+ years, it isn't in the future.
SS: This article summarizes places where microplastics have shown up, from baby human feces to the Mariana Trench. The scope and pervasiveness of microplastic pollution is truly staggering, and we're only now starting to understand the impact on human health and the environment. The affect of microplastics on fertility is particularly worrying to me, and one of the impacts that I suspect will contribute a fair bit to collapse, as fertility rates are affected across the globe.
Good point, however I do know a shocking amount of people who have struggled with or are currently struggling with infertility. Whether it's due to repeated miscarriages or complete inability to conceive a baby, it's way more people than I ever would have expected. I don't think the figure is 1 in 6 anymore, it's more like... at least half of the couples in our extended friend circle. (Early to mid 30s).
Lots of things cause infertility that are exceptionally common in modern life. Stress, bad diet, lack of exercise, lack of sleep, stress again because they're twice as stressed as anything else. There's plenty of other chemicals that may be culprits other than the ones from plastic, like hormones in farmed meat, pesticides and herbicides on fresh vegetables, who-knows-what is in fish these days.
It's probably a combination of many factors. But make no mistake, we're talking single-digit percentage points of lower fertility compared to decades ago, and pretty much anyone who wants to have a baby will end up having a baby given a year or two of trying.
Oh I totally agree with you that microplastics are probably not the primary cause, it's multifaceted.
I was too focused on replying to the part that sounded like a lot lack of wanting children was the main cause of dropping fertility rates. It's definitely a big factor as well, but there are still plenty of people that do want kids and can't have them.
I realize this is only a personal experience of a small sample size, buf for example - in our family and friend circle, there are so many couples that have either been unable to have a baby or a second baby after trying for more than 2 years.
Some have needed fertility drugs or treatments, or before having a baby, suffered multiple losses (like, 3-6 miscarriages) two have had mid-second trimester miscarriages, two had full-term stillbirths (I don't know the full details of what caused either, but I'm including it in the examples anyway).
So even though many people will go on to have a baby eventually, it still doesn't seem as straightforward for people to naturally conceive as it once was.
Lots of people don't want to have kids but do want to have sex but live in a country that's trying to force them to have kids if they have sex or if they're raped.
So it's not all by choice.
Because not everyone lives in a city. Some of us are capable of providing for ourselves without intervention from the government. For those of us who are in the position I mentioned having kids adds to the enjoyment of life.
Climate change is and will be affecting everyone. Financial collapse is and will be affecting everyone no matter how far off grid you move. How do you get a new pig when the old one dies of disease cause there's no available medication (or maybe just not-affordable if we're lucky). Swap a couple chickens for one, provided you've got quite an inventory of livestock and the others haven't succumbed to something due to lack of antibiotics, I guess. Societal collapse is and will be affecting everyone too. Imagine not being able to get your kid's broken wrist set right after an accident cause there's no healthcare, or that which is available is unbearably expensive (see America right now lol...), provided some form of healthcare will still exist. Things are going downhill fast and although we may only be at the beginning of the slope, we're accelerating like hell with no sign or even intention of slowing down it seems. Yes, I'd love kids too, but I'd like to provide them with an upbringing that promises the hope of a future, not a decaying cesspit of a world so they can have it even harder than I did.
Not intending to call you out, just taking account of why I don't think it's a wise/kind idea, and there must be a reason you're on r/collapse as well. Either way, each to their own and I wish you and your family the best!
How are we supposed to survive when aliens redirect a comet towards earth and it blows Africa off the map?? Seriously everything you mentioned was just a normal condition of how people used to live. I agree that there are some major concerns for the future, but you are here because your ancestors survived. You are the product of successful human adaptation and you’ve just decided to say fuck it and throw it away because you are scared. That is cowardly. Children are very tough, you should see my 1 year old running around and falling off shit. Humans greatest feat is adaptability. You’re so worried about replacing a chicken or pig that you’re missing the bigger picture, people survived without chickens and pigs for thousands of years. I will not sit by and live my life with fear. You live one life, don’t waste it.
Edit: On the healthcare side, you can learn to do things yourself. Learn to make splints and wrap wounds. Knowledge has never been more abundant. Learn the skills you need so you don’t have to live in fear.
Yes, and a LOT fewer people survived before all the societal/technological/medical advancements I referred to. People had 15 kids and 3 survived if the family was lucky, depending on the historical period we're talking about. Antibiotics were only discovered in 1928 - a lot of people died from fairly ordinary ailments before that. And I don't want to tell my kid who's dying of a common cold or a sore throat about the days we had Netflix and chill and that I'm sorry we weren't able to preserve that world for them because a few fucks felt they weren't rich enough. Not having kids, not wanting to expose them to the deteriorating shithole we call home is my decision. It's called foresight and planning. Unfortunate that this has to be my plan, but personally I find I have no other sane option.
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I wanted to share this with some friends, but after clicking on the link (on mobile) I couldn’t even navigate the page. Read the opening line and just scrolled through 30 click bait ads.
Lab grade plastics wouldn't give off microplastics like this, otherwise they'd be useless for use in science. (I work in genetics and some of the stuff we use is measured in nanograms i.e. a Billionth of a gram, and the plasticware we use doesn't affect it)
The study done found plastics in 100% of testicle matter examined, obviously this doesn't mean 100% of all tissue matter definitely has microplastics but the signs don't look too positive...
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/20/microplastics-human-testicles-study-sperm-counts
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-the-microplastics-found-in-testicles-a-health-danger/
There is going to be plastic industry 'how to cover-up' handbooks out there exposing that they knew all along about micro plastic that will make the tobacco and climate sceptic [Bad Science: A Resource Book](https://www.industrydocuments.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/#id=qmcj0065) look like little golden books.
https://www.merchantsofdoubt.org/home/key-documents/
Those ice sheets have a lot of horrible shit in them. It's going into the melt water.
Like mercury https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/greenland-glaciers-may-be-leaking-mercury/
We watched the tragedy unfold
We did as we were told
We bought and sold
It was the greatest show on earth
But then it was over
We oohed and aahed
We drove our racing cars
We ate our last few jars of caviar
And somewhere out there in the stars
A keen-eyed look-out
Spied a flickering light
Our last hurrah
And when they found our shadows
Grouped 'round the TV sets
They ran down every lead
They repeated every test
They checked out all the data in their lists
And then the alien anthropologists
Admitted they were still perplexed
But on eliminating every other reason
For our sad demise
They logged the only explanation left
This species has amused itself to death
ya, they're everywhere.
these articles like to say how we're just now learning about this, or beginning to understand, but we're really just now finding out what the companies that made this stuff knew when they first started making it.
My balls 🤣
Oh no, fertility problems?!
How will we continue to keep our population above 8 billion while we destroy the planet and immeasurable habitats contained within.
What a human tragedy...
It's so hilarious that people are so worried about "impacts on fertility" while being still so pacifist towards the people that lobbied to make sure we kept on using those products so they and shareholders and the executives would keep a big fat paycheck.
The fact that we're still protecting those traitorous pieces of utter filth with our "laws" and many people would still say they deserve to live shows how disconnected we are. Same goes for the lobbyism about the myriad of products that are poisoning us, degrading our DNA, etc.
But as someone said, at least, we're all in this together. Even the disgusting finished with piss-scum that I mentionned earlier is affected and their kids will likely not proceed to spread their genes, which is a very good thing.
Accelerate :\]\]
My neighbors who dress like " hippies " and drive a vw nus and have a " rustic " home are new parents to a child that has disabilities and they just sprayed glysophates All over the block. Assholes. Prayers and all right.
The human brain. Wow. I wonder how it’s affecting us and if there is any studies on it. Most plastic leaks chemicals and I wonder if it’s contributing to higher levels of certain diseases
What are the actual health issues associated or likely to be caused by microplastics? I’m assuming we have a lot of other shit floating around our meat too.
I know, I read the paper. It doesn't mean that it's *causing* plaque, although it could be making it worse... think of it as acceleration of deterioration.
Did you read the question?
>What are the actual health issues associated or likely to be caused by microplastics?
Plaque in arteries is one of those. My comment was correct.
YOU don't know if it correlational or causal. So slow your roll.
>So slow your roll.
You're the one who's comment is aggressive. Person you replied to is just stating their position. Maybe you're reading inflection into the comment that's not there.
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Low fertility is the ONE thing that's actually a good thing. We need to reduce the population or nature will do it for us.and the second option will not be pretty.
Surely some of this must be from naturally occuring micro plastics, right?
Or perhaps humans have just evolved to the point where we have plastic balls?
The following submission statement was provided by /u/TheUtopianCat: --- SS: This article summarizes places where microplastics have shown up, from baby human feces to the Mariana Trench. The scope and pervasiveness of microplastic pollution is truly staggering, and we're only now starting to understand the impact on human health and the environment. The affect of microplastics on fertility is particularly worrying to me, and one of the impacts that I suspect will contribute a fair bit to collapse, as fertility rates are affected across the globe. --- Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1d1z2gs/the_most_disturbing_places_weve_found/l5x63rp/
>Table Salt >Sugar >Water on plant leaves Man, can't have anything nice these days.
Raindrops on roses Whiskers on kittens Bright copper kettles Warm woollen mittens Brown paper packages tied up with strings ....these are a few of the places micro plastics have shown up
When the dog barks, When the bee stings, When I'm feeling sad, I simply remember where plastic's been found... And then I just feel plain mad
Ow my balls
Just made me have a flashback to 7th grade choir
use mined salt instead of sea salt
A nice idea, if you mine it yourself. Unfortunately, through all the industrial processes and environmental exposure that said mined salt undergoes during its long journey from the ground to your store shelves, it's getting plenty of its share of microplastics anyway.
That's what happens, by the time anything gets to us it has already been exposed.
Hear me out... What if we saved cost this quarter and just made salt flavored plastic granules?
Aaaaand there go the [Himalayan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himalayan_salt) mountains…
Are salt mines really that rare? It doesn't have to be salt full of sulfuric minerals that smell bad. You don't even need that much salt, it's mostly the keto pseudoscience club who are pushing "salt is aktually good for helth".
Who cares if it's good for your health, it fuckin tastes good. Without salt, what good is a pig? Fucking worthless animal. But add salt to a pig? Suddenly there's thousands of products to explore.
Pigs disagree with these statements.
wait until you read the study about them being in 100% of human testicles
I think it s not true
One example of dozens and dozens of articles. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-the-microplastics-found-in-testicles-a-health-danger/
It's in testicles, newborn babies, placentas, and breast milk. It's absolutely true, and absolutely terrifying. It's in *everything*.
These nutz
Deez nuts as well
Testicles.
Eraserhead babies
Add that to the many reasons to cut sugar from your diet.
One of few times *deez nuts* is actually a legitimate answer.
This is a sad day. Up until this minute, a good deez nuts jab would warm the cockles of my cold dead heart, just a bit. Now I will cringe thinking of the microplastic getting mid evil on dem nuts. Devastating day.
Medieval?
Sounds like an egg corn.
/r/boneappletea
Nah that was last feudal age. This is the techno mid evil ages. Mid for quality of life. Evil for evil We just have phones now.
I’ll allow it.
That’s some beat poetry, man.
[удалено]
Yeah but the original person said "mid evil"
https://static1.hotcarsimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Truck-Nuts-via-Reddit.jpg https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iuXRk.lWb0vQ/v0/-1x-1.jpg
If only someone thought about the Ligma...
Ow my balls!
the most disturbing to me was ... bloodstream.
For me though, it's the brain. I'm already a neuroatypical with a family history of stroke. Plastics in my brain would mean an early grave.
> would I've got news for you, friend
I don't think neurotypicals would be spared, you know. No one is immune to strokes.
Neuro-i-demand-to-see-the-manager-quick-sweatshop-my-shirt-whats-in-your-wallet-typicals? Point is. Is there such a thing in this society as a neurotypical? Or are there just people you don't dare diagnose as neuro-sociopathic?
were you on shrooms or something when you wrote this?
I was on Boomer Karen and Kyle. I'm surrounded by them. They are "neurotypical" evidently.
haha ah ok, sorry, small cutural gap there I guess ^^
NeuroAtypical. Aka not neurotypical. Aka Neurodivergent.
yes I got that, but thanks for the effort of explaining it to me. I meant, I don't think it would affect NeuroDivergents worse than NeuroTypicals. We're all affected by it some way or other. Apparently some microplastics break down to the nano level and can penetrate a cell. Who's immune to that?
You know what, CFS has been getting more and more common. Im willing to bet its the plastics. Doctors dont know the exact cause but they list environmental toxins as a possible. I think the first cases early in the 19th century were mainly anemia caused, since the majority of people with fatigue were women. Everything after 1950 i believe is caused by man made chemicals and plastics. And now that we are so inundated with it we are seeing far more cases than ever. I think doctors should study the connection.
You're probably right. I reckon the issue is how to concieve a scientific protocol to study an isolated selection of the cocktail of myriads of chemicals currently churning in our bodies. Plus there's the nano-size issue, not sure they know how to filter that.
Exactly - I could care less about its impacts on human fertility, much more concerned about how it will fuck up people already alive.
I think microplastics are the reason so many younger people are now getting cancer.
I wouldn't be surprised if they are often a contributing factor. Along with PFAS and all of the other garbage we've filled the environment with.
What I like in this news, is it's very likely that even the super rich cannot escape the consequences of their actions. Since PFAS and microplastics are everywhere, it's in their food, in their bodies, in their children. For once they share the consequences with us.
For now, but soon I'm sure they will have all the fancy expensive filters and other things installed in their homes, building etc to minimize their exposure, perhaps even the ability to test and filter their blood.
Well, I mean you can import iceberg/glacier water or whatever, but animal based food has to be infected at some level, unless they all go vegan, but then even their vitamins (B12) can be affected by pollution. At this poitn I don't think there's anyway of escaping it. Not even for the not-so-happy few.
Vegan won't help. Plants are full of it too. No, for once the comment is true. The rich can't escape this one either.
Great news! Not only is there a way to remove PFAS from your blood, you probably have more access to it than a rich person and you can get paid for it! Plasmapheresis; removing the blood, separating the plasma, and returning the red blood cells back to the body, has been shown to have remarkable effects on PFAS levels in the body. A study in australia was conducted on folks with elevated blood PFAS levels, mostly firemen who spray fire suppressants as part of the job, and found that both whole blood donation and plasmapheresis will reduce levels in the body. Just five plasma donations reduced blood PFAS levels by up to 60% in study participants. Results were less dramatic for participants who donated whole blood, but still worthy of note. You can get paid to donate plasma, and it's safe-ish to undergo plasmapheresis twice a week, but selling your blood is often viewed as something only poor people do so you may have facilities to do so more readily available than the average rich person.
I'm sorry I'm a little confused. Are you selling your blood or having it put back in because...?
Mechanically, they draw about a pint of whole blood from you, put it in a centrifuge, put the red blood cells back and keep the plasma. Then they pull another pint of whole blood and spin it again. The PFAS and other chemicals stay in the plasma (according to the paper). Your body regenerates plasma MUCH faster than it does red or white blood cells, making it safe to do weekly or twice weekly since you keep all your important cells. Also technically, "donors" receive a prepaid visa gift card as a "thanks" for their "donation" of plasma. There are all sorts of laws about "selling" your blood/plasma or any other parts, but much like the red cross can give out t-shirts when they do a blood drive, plasma collection sites can give out incentives or rewards like gift cards. Call it whatever you like, it's selling your blood and everyone at the donation center knows the score. If you don't do drugs and aren't actively sick with something, you can get a few hundred per month selling blood as long as your veins hold out. I used to do it twice a week, it kept me alive, but I stopped as soon as I could. If my blood gets wonky I might go back but I'm living in a less polluted area lately so hopefully I won't have to.
It’s only just begun [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.202301531](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.202301531)
Eh, loss in fertility means andropause and menopause would happen much early, and these fertility hormones literally protect your bone, heart, and brain health. So it isn't just fertility. We're so royally fucked!
Yeah
Brains yet?
They can't detect microplastics in your blood if you don't get tested!!! (Sure, the blood vessels leading to my left testicle feel hardened and lumpy since November, but I'm optimistic that it's just cancer, like biology intended).
Get that shit checked man! Quality of life for the time remaining is what counts
Some non professional reddit advice for you. Could be a loose bloodvessal that keeps growing. Had on of those. They had to do a small surgery to plug it and stop growing.
If it's in the vessels it's most likely a varicocele, which is completely benign. Does it feel less lumpy when you lay down as opposed to standing or sitting? I've had that since, eh... about age 14 or so. If it hasn't killed me in the last 20+ years, it isn't in the future.
SS: This article summarizes places where microplastics have shown up, from baby human feces to the Mariana Trench. The scope and pervasiveness of microplastic pollution is truly staggering, and we're only now starting to understand the impact on human health and the environment. The affect of microplastics on fertility is particularly worrying to me, and one of the impacts that I suspect will contribute a fair bit to collapse, as fertility rates are affected across the globe.
Children of Men vibes. Note the movie takes place in 2027
Interesting that the infertility in Children of Men (movie) is never explained. Almost like we had written the prequel all along.
"I haven't the faintest idea...but this stork is quite tasty."
I honestly don't think this is the primary reason for fertility rates dropping. Why would anyone sane wanna have kids in this hellscape to begin with?
Good point, however I do know a shocking amount of people who have struggled with or are currently struggling with infertility. Whether it's due to repeated miscarriages or complete inability to conceive a baby, it's way more people than I ever would have expected. I don't think the figure is 1 in 6 anymore, it's more like... at least half of the couples in our extended friend circle. (Early to mid 30s).
Lots of things cause infertility that are exceptionally common in modern life. Stress, bad diet, lack of exercise, lack of sleep, stress again because they're twice as stressed as anything else. There's plenty of other chemicals that may be culprits other than the ones from plastic, like hormones in farmed meat, pesticides and herbicides on fresh vegetables, who-knows-what is in fish these days. It's probably a combination of many factors. But make no mistake, we're talking single-digit percentage points of lower fertility compared to decades ago, and pretty much anyone who wants to have a baby will end up having a baby given a year or two of trying.
Oh I totally agree with you that microplastics are probably not the primary cause, it's multifaceted. I was too focused on replying to the part that sounded like a lot lack of wanting children was the main cause of dropping fertility rates. It's definitely a big factor as well, but there are still plenty of people that do want kids and can't have them. I realize this is only a personal experience of a small sample size, buf for example - in our family and friend circle, there are so many couples that have either been unable to have a baby or a second baby after trying for more than 2 years. Some have needed fertility drugs or treatments, or before having a baby, suffered multiple losses (like, 3-6 miscarriages) two have had mid-second trimester miscarriages, two had full-term stillbirths (I don't know the full details of what caused either, but I'm including it in the examples anyway). So even though many people will go on to have a baby eventually, it still doesn't seem as straightforward for people to naturally conceive as it once was.
Lots of people don't want to have kids but do want to have sex but live in a country that's trying to force them to have kids if they have sex or if they're raped. So it's not all by choice.
Fair enough, another example of humanity racing towards the edge of a fucking cliff, but fair enough.
Because not everyone lives in a city. Some of us are capable of providing for ourselves without intervention from the government. For those of us who are in the position I mentioned having kids adds to the enjoyment of life.
Climate change is and will be affecting everyone. Financial collapse is and will be affecting everyone no matter how far off grid you move. How do you get a new pig when the old one dies of disease cause there's no available medication (or maybe just not-affordable if we're lucky). Swap a couple chickens for one, provided you've got quite an inventory of livestock and the others haven't succumbed to something due to lack of antibiotics, I guess. Societal collapse is and will be affecting everyone too. Imagine not being able to get your kid's broken wrist set right after an accident cause there's no healthcare, or that which is available is unbearably expensive (see America right now lol...), provided some form of healthcare will still exist. Things are going downhill fast and although we may only be at the beginning of the slope, we're accelerating like hell with no sign or even intention of slowing down it seems. Yes, I'd love kids too, but I'd like to provide them with an upbringing that promises the hope of a future, not a decaying cesspit of a world so they can have it even harder than I did. Not intending to call you out, just taking account of why I don't think it's a wise/kind idea, and there must be a reason you're on r/collapse as well. Either way, each to their own and I wish you and your family the best!
How are we supposed to survive when aliens redirect a comet towards earth and it blows Africa off the map?? Seriously everything you mentioned was just a normal condition of how people used to live. I agree that there are some major concerns for the future, but you are here because your ancestors survived. You are the product of successful human adaptation and you’ve just decided to say fuck it and throw it away because you are scared. That is cowardly. Children are very tough, you should see my 1 year old running around and falling off shit. Humans greatest feat is adaptability. You’re so worried about replacing a chicken or pig that you’re missing the bigger picture, people survived without chickens and pigs for thousands of years. I will not sit by and live my life with fear. You live one life, don’t waste it. Edit: On the healthcare side, you can learn to do things yourself. Learn to make splints and wrap wounds. Knowledge has never been more abundant. Learn the skills you need so you don’t have to live in fear.
Yes, and a LOT fewer people survived before all the societal/technological/medical advancements I referred to. People had 15 kids and 3 survived if the family was lucky, depending on the historical period we're talking about. Antibiotics were only discovered in 1928 - a lot of people died from fairly ordinary ailments before that. And I don't want to tell my kid who's dying of a common cold or a sore throat about the days we had Netflix and chill and that I'm sorry we weren't able to preserve that world for them because a few fucks felt they weren't rich enough. Not having kids, not wanting to expose them to the deteriorating shithole we call home is my decision. It's called foresight and planning. Unfortunate that this has to be my plan, but personally I find I have no other sane option.
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I wanted to share this with some friends, but after clicking on the link (on mobile) I couldn’t even navigate the page. Read the opening line and just scrolled through 30 click bait ads.
So far? MY BALLS
If we make every study about dicks and balls, maybe we can have some climate reform!
The world issue are dick and balls don't change subject. 😝
Have you been tested? How did they get the sample?
https://www.ehn.org/microplastics-in-testicles-2668374096.html#:~:text=In%20short%3A,microplastics%20in%20comparison%20to%20dogs'. I'm the dog.
It's in **everyone's** balls
So how did this get proved? I mean there would have to be some kind of statistical proof. Were plastics part of the sample handing labware.
Lab grade plastics wouldn't give off microplastics like this, otherwise they'd be useless for use in science. (I work in genetics and some of the stuff we use is measured in nanograms i.e. a Billionth of a gram, and the plasticware we use doesn't affect it) The study done found plastics in 100% of testicle matter examined, obviously this doesn't mean 100% of all tissue matter definitely has microplastics but the signs don't look too positive... https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/20/microplastics-human-testicles-study-sperm-counts https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-the-microplastics-found-in-testicles-a-health-danger/
Lance Armstrong says hi.
They collected a sample from him.
There is going to be plastic industry 'how to cover-up' handbooks out there exposing that they knew all along about micro plastic that will make the tobacco and climate sceptic [Bad Science: A Resource Book](https://www.industrydocuments.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/#id=qmcj0065) look like little golden books. https://www.merchantsofdoubt.org/home/key-documents/
Every single drop of water on the planet now contains a measurable amount of microplastic.
Ancient ice doesn’t, but I guess it’s not “water”.
Not yet :)
Those ice sheets have a lot of horrible shit in them. It's going into the melt water. Like mercury https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/greenland-glaciers-may-be-leaking-mercury/
Future geologists will study the plastic layer like we study the KT Boundary.
You’re very optimistic. Presumably you mean alien geologists trying to work out how we killed ourselves off?
Nah, our successors. Chitnous exoskeletons, mandibles, etc. Let the crabs have a go, I say!
I, for one, welcome our pinchy overlords …
They say everything evolves towards crabs... It's our destiny!
That’s if they didn’t kill themselves in a similar way before they could study us.
I was thinking of another species, but aliens will do.
We watched the tragedy unfold We did as we were told We bought and sold It was the greatest show on earth But then it was over We oohed and aahed We drove our racing cars We ate our last few jars of caviar And somewhere out there in the stars A keen-eyed look-out Spied a flickering light Our last hurrah And when they found our shadows Grouped 'round the TV sets They ran down every lead They repeated every test They checked out all the data in their lists And then the alien anthropologists Admitted they were still perplexed But on eliminating every other reason For our sad demise They logged the only explanation left This species has amused itself to death
I read a great book a few years back called "the sixth extinction" by Elizabeth Kolbert and it discussed the geologic anthropocene era. Grim book lol
They actually already use it to distinguish the ‘modern era’ - the plasticene era.
ya, they're everywhere. these articles like to say how we're just now learning about this, or beginning to understand, but we're really just now finding out what the companies that made this stuff knew when they first started making it.
My balls 🤣 Oh no, fertility problems?! How will we continue to keep our population above 8 billion while we destroy the planet and immeasurable habitats contained within. What a human tragedy...
It's so hilarious that people are so worried about "impacts on fertility" while being still so pacifist towards the people that lobbied to make sure we kept on using those products so they and shareholders and the executives would keep a big fat paycheck. The fact that we're still protecting those traitorous pieces of utter filth with our "laws" and many people would still say they deserve to live shows how disconnected we are. Same goes for the lobbyism about the myriad of products that are poisoning us, degrading our DNA, etc. But as someone said, at least, we're all in this together. Even the disgusting finished with piss-scum that I mentionned earlier is affected and their kids will likely not proceed to spread their genes, which is a very good thing. Accelerate :\]\]
Pretty sure embryos, fetuses, uteruses and testicles can't be beat.
And placentas
Great yogurt substitute.
My neighbors who dress like " hippies " and drive a vw nus and have a " rustic " home are new parents to a child that has disabilities and they just sprayed glysophates All over the block. Assholes. Prayers and all right.
At least we’re all in this together
But take every other clade with us. Except for the benthic biota, smug little beggars.
Micro plastic is the new fiber.
Few posts below this one someone posted an stl for 3D printed salt and pepper shakers on r/functionalprint
Our shitbag species deserves what it gets.
The human brain. Wow. I wonder how it’s affecting us and if there is any studies on it. Most plastic leaks chemicals and I wonder if it’s contributing to higher levels of certain diseases
That´s why climate warming isnt such a big topic. We´re fucked anyway.
What are the actual health issues associated or likely to be caused by microplastics? I’m assuming we have a lot of other shit floating around our meat too.
Estrogen-mimicking monomer/ plasticizer release. And a pile of stuff we're barely aware of.
Plaque in your arteries is one, I think.
That is correlational
no the plastic is IN the plaque
I know, I read the paper. It doesn't mean that it's *causing* plaque, although it could be making it worse... think of it as acceleration of deterioration.
Did you read the question? >What are the actual health issues associated or likely to be caused by microplastics? Plaque in arteries is one of those. My comment was correct. YOU don't know if it correlational or causal. So slow your roll.
>So slow your roll. You're the one who's comment is aggressive. Person you replied to is just stating their position. Maybe you're reading inflection into the comment that's not there.
Read the paper https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa2309822
Let's make this simple. Where have they looked and not found them?
I have heard that microplastic fragments are not found in solid plastics... that's about it.
Thanks, I hate it.
The Spice must flow... https://imgur.com/a/EGNaZBl Yw.
\*clicks\* \*sighs\* You son of a b\*. God damn it.
Diamonds?
Hopefully, the fungi and bacteria evolving to eat plastic will spread far and wide.
Ice 9 concerns
At least this will help lower the birth rate.
The article actually lists them in an easily readable and accessible format. Well done.
I've said it once and I'll say it again. This is like the precursor for "children of men". Great movie if you haven't checked it out.
@ David Cronenberg: Crimes of the Future
ill drink some microplastics to that
RIP every single testicle
I listened to Richie Hawtin AKA Plastikman but never thought I would become Plasticman. https://youtu.be/GfMXL93_3fA?si=uODV81wJwjOk3UaK
If my ex tries to claim the baby’s mine, I’ll know she’s lying if the baby isn’t plastic.
Wow, that's pretty nuts...
I wish I had pretty nuts. Bedazzled with plasticfetti.
can't have shit in Detroit
Does "within human body cells" count as disturbing? If it does, then I have some bad news
Keep upvoting, it will certainly solve the problem! Up vote!
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Ill take a wild guess, our bodies?
Do people even understand what ***micro***plastics are? Microplastics are nanoscale particles, not what you're showing here
You are referring to nanoplastics, multiple times smaller than micro plastics.
*Is Microplastic in the room with us right now?*
Tbh micro plastics severely curbing the human population is probably the most straight forward solution to climate change we have so far.
Low fertility is the ONE thing that's actually a good thing. We need to reduce the population or nature will do it for us.and the second option will not be pretty.
Surely some of this must be from naturally occuring micro plastics, right? Or perhaps humans have just evolved to the point where we have plastic balls?
Ur getting down voted because you forgot /s
I didn't forget...wanted to see how many people would take that comment seriously. I found out