It is a multi-use resource. Industrial hemp could even be used to replace steel and concrete. The news of hemp has been historically and systemically suppressed to avoid competition.

1. Just because you're "green" doesn't mean that you have given up all your worldly possessions and taken to eating mushrooms in the forest. There is more to people's opinions than just black and white. There are more political parties than just democrats and republicans, and there are more viewpoints than just "green or not green".

2. The problem is not that world oil supplies are running low; the problem is that we consume so many resources so damn fast in modern day western society (more particularly American society). All ecosystems are designed to give an organism more or less of what it needs, without giving too much of an edge to any one species. Our unfathomably large resource consumption on a daily basis is a castle made of sand quickly melting into the sea (rest in peace jimi hendrix). Our (humanity's) primary concern should be reducing waste, reusing disposable objects, and recycling everything no longer of use.

3. Lets face it. Very few people in the United States could actually survive in the woods. We (Americans) have adapted so well to modern technology that we can no longer live without it. The reality of it is that unless you move somewhere far far far away, you are dependent upon societies systems. That in mind, people should remember that abandoning all of our modern conveniences all at once is literally impossible. Convincing people to become more ecologically considerate will take time, and so will giving up harmful practices against the earth.

4. Plastic does not harm animals. Idiots who throw plastic into the bushes because they are too lazy to go to a trash can do.

Plastics are not the enemy here, friends. Our own behavior and inability to responsibly manage our resources is what will inevitably kill us.

Please, just think about it for a bit and together we can make the world a slightly better place one step at a time. --Jacob S.

From Gregg S., age 24

I'd love to see you wear leaves, not use cookers, not drive not use lic transport, not touch any plastic products, not watch tv or use the internet and you should stop saying we should stop using plastic and stop using it yourself.

If you're going to say something about plastics or whatever, do it yourself. apply it to your own lives.

Wasteful and harmful habits do not affect the individual doing it, but others will be affected down the line. I'm sure in old days the Greeks and Romans killed people who had similar mentalities.

Think of it like this: In America we have the liberty of free speech, but, if you say the wrong thing to the wrong person in the wrong place then guess what? you're going to pay something for it!

Of course plastics are highly useful and cheap and we cannot escape them today. But we must recycle, mitigate our use of certain kinds, and develop new materials with less risk and environmental impact.

A smart plastic company today would definitely invest in such development.

And to the guy who doesn't give a crap about the "stinking' dolphins" -- a pack of dolphins once saved a man's life from a great white shark simply because they knew he was in distress. He was attacked from below while on his surfboard. It was on t.v.; you can find it.

The Earth will be fine forever; it's people who are doomed the way we are headed.

We all need to be jointly intelligent and proactive on this one; it's a must.

For those who would rather be right than compassionate, calling someone a hypocrite for being critical and honest does not help the situation.

In conclusion, I would say that the root of the problem is not plastic, but rather humanity's wasteful, self centered, and ignorant mentality.

Peace.

Not all plastic is recyclable, especially when manufacturers create chemical bonds between HDPE and PS for no reason. There are plastics that do, in fact, decompose, and we should be making a shift in that direction.

In re to guy who says screw the dolphins: Do you not realize that we live in an interconnected web of life? We have a symbiotic relationship with the species on this earth. The loss of a species leads to the loss of an ecosystem, which creates a shift in the biosphere.

We will make this world unlivable for ourselves if we continue on this path of consumption and destruction.

On the other hand, for those more eco conscious people out there: Being overly preachy while participating in hypocritical practices does nothing to sway the masses; it solely leads to more incessant bickering.

Let us all practice a little tolerance with one another, and a little discretion in our purchases.

Jen- Tampa, FL

The biggest problem plaguing human interaction with the environment is our supply and demand global economy.

We can manage our resources and create better alloys, for humans and earth, but this is not as profitable as producing low scale, readily available materials. Research costs time, money and resources.

If our economy was focused on the availability and usability of resources, rather than profit gained by said resources, we would be better off.

Please think about this.

Plastic does decompose, and can be decomposed within thre months with the right microbe bacteria. Yes, it is bioaccumulation in animals everywhere and poisoning them. But who can live without it anymore?

Also, people that say we should be without plastic, I dare you not to use it. You wouldn't even have your computer to type this nonsense on.

The whole cause of "destroying the environment" via burning fossil fuels, littering/dumping, hunting etc. is solely caused by humans. If all the humans were gone, we'd have no environmental problems.

please help!

I think it's funny that the green people use most all the these products more so than someone like me who takes my own bags to the grocery store. Not because I give a crap about the environment, just it's more convenient for me. The plastic bags are a pain and always break and then take up too much room in my garbage can. However if the entire world turns into a toilet, so what?

~Elayna, age 16. I wrote a 6 page paper on plastic.

Anti "Green Person": Someone who hasn't realized this fact yet.

A plastic civilization.

The monuments would last a lot longer than the traditional bronzes.

Companies are starting to spring up faster and faster that recycle plastics for uses such as plastic lumber, and companies that provide safer and more renewable materials because they see the market for those materials opening up. Just try not to actually do your part to help the movement; be positive and supportive rather than un-knowledgeable; be conscious and aware because oil/plastics are a huge problem in the ways they're used now, but the shift away from that is happening, just be a part of it.

If we couldn't use plastic, you green people would start whining that people were chopping down too many trees and harming the environment.

Then, when we use metal, you would be whining about how mining was damaging 'beautiful nature.' If you really are so green, why don't you live your life *naked* outside in the freezing cold? Now *that* would be green. Conventional plastics are a marvelous invention, and metal/plastic alloys are being researched. What makes plastic so 'unhealthy'?

Won't your kids get harmed by wood splinters and harmful metals?

Everything comes with a price, and the price for using plastic is relatively small compared to the amounts of deforestation you would have to put up with if you want to use unconventional organic methods.

Plastics don't rot, and therefore are hugely useful, unlike wood.

From Martha

age 12.

I'd like to see all the "do-gooders" protesting plastic to live like that and report back to this blog telling me how it went.

But there's new corn plastic out now that's biodegradable!!