• Cait@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    9 months ago

    I’m still waiting for nature to figure out how to process plastics and bring down most of the world’s infrastructure with it. But I’m not qualified to actually know if this is even possible

    • Tinidril@midwest.social
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      9 months ago

      It took a long time for nature to figure out how to process wood, but it eventually happened. My wooden furniture is still standing though.

    • GTG3000@programming.dev
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      9 months ago

      There’s fungi that are eating the pacific trash patch, but the issue is that there’s not much energy to be gained from plastics we use. It’s slow.

    • MTK@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      If I remember correctly it is a real concern and also part of why developing a bacteria that can break down plastic is very dangerous (not just because it could degrade our tools and infrastructure, but also because it will release literally megatons of CO2 into the atmosphere)

      Fyi, in the past there was nothing in nature to break down trees (lignin) and it actually was a problem as they would literally pile up and essentially be the same problem we have today with plastic (ironically it caused global cooling) https://www.thorogood.co.uk/treevolution-how-trees-came-first-and-rot-came-later-in-earths-deep-past/

    • HexadecimalSky@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I thought it already had, I swear I rember some scientists finding or creating something, bacteria fungus or something that processes some polymers and they where tryna get ot to out and eat plastic ig so they can put it in landfills everywhere.