113
from his condensation reaction. It had all commenced at his laboratory in Yonkers,
New York. He had come to the United States, already a distinguished Professor at
the Ghent Municipal Technical School, in the late 1880s.
By November 9, 1933, Bakelite had been granted National Historic Chemical
Landmark status. And it is no small testament to the ingenuity of Baekeland that by
2015, an estimated “381 million tonnes” of plastic debris in countless chemical
incarnations and formulae (e.g., high- and low-density polyethylenes, polystyrenes,
terephthalates, polyvinyl chlorides) had been produced by one of the world’s dominant industries, with the resulting infestation of vast swathes of the planet.
10
These
organic polymers are a far cry from the tree sap, or the shellac secreted by female
lac insects (predominantly, the Kerria lacca scale species) upon trees in Asia with
which Baekeland had early on experimented.
The huge tonnage should not be taken as destiny, any more than the van Eyck
brothers’ masterpiece, or the lives of lambs themselves can be perceived to be
immune to injury. History rewards common sense at some level. In the Nilgiris of
India, there are expansive “Plastic Free Zones.”
11
China’s National Development
and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, have set
in place a ban on single-use plastic bags, beginning in 2022. The UK has banned
numerous small plastic articles, including cotton-buds with plastic stems, and plastic stirrers and straws. Throughout the marine environs between St. Kilda and the
coastlines of Scotland, plastic pollution was recently described by the BBC as a
“scourge” as aerial photographs and GIS maps began to reveal levels of devastation
12
and initial surveys of plastic impacts upon seabirds has come to light with
calls for action.
13
At the same time, more and more vegan Irish Lamb Stews, vegan
Greek Roasted Lamb, and other cruelty-free recipes have been commercialized.
But even the van Eyck’s “Adoration of the Mystic Lamb,” in preparation for its
588th-year anniversary (rounded out to 600 years), which occurred in the Spring of
2020 at the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent (the MSK’s “Van Eyck: An Optical
Revolution”), required preparatory restoration, after the arguably greatest painting
in the world’s stormy history of having been repeatedly touched up (overpainted),
looted, partially lost, and damaged. Such are the twists and turnabouts of otherwise
perfect inspirations (like the paradise of Litla Dimun, or St. Kilda, or “paradise”
itself).
10 See “Plastic Pollution,” by Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser, September 2018, Our World In Data,
https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution, Accessed January 24, 2020.
11 “The Nilgiris battling to stay plastic free,” Staff Reporter, The Hindu, December 24, 2018,
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/the-nilgiris-battling-to-stay-plastic-free/article25815378.ece, Accessed January 25, 2020.
12 “Map reveals ‘scourge’ of Scotland’s coastal litter problem,” BBC News, 28 August 2018, n.a.,
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-45323832, Accessed January 25, 2020.
13 See “Seabirds and marine plastic debris in Scotland -A synthesis and recommendations for monitoring,” by Nina J O’Hanlon, Neil A James, Elizabeth A Masden, Alexander L Bond, Circular
Ocean, Environmental Research Institute, North Highland College, www.circularocean.eu, May
2017,
http://www.circularocean.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Circular-Ocean_Scotland_
SeabirdsPlastic_May2017.pdf. Though this was a somewhat preliminary study, researchers found
that 20% of the 69 common Scottish seabird species had ingested various levels of plastic.
12.2 The Ghent Paradox
from his condensation reaction. It had all commenced at his laboratory in Yonkers,
New York. He had come to the United States, already a distinguished Professor at
the Ghent Municipal Technical School, in the late 1880s.
By November 9, 1933, Bakelite had been granted National Historic Chemical
Landmark status. And it is no small testament to the ingenuity of Baekeland that by
2015, an estimated “381 million tonnes” of plastic debris in countless chemical
incarnations and formulae (e.g., high- and low-density polyethylenes, polystyrenes,
terephthalates, polyvinyl chlorides) had been produced by one of the world’s dominant industries, with the resulting infestation of vast swathes of the planet.
10
These
organic polymers are a far cry from the tree sap, or the shellac secreted by female
lac insects (predominantly, the Kerria lacca scale species) upon trees in Asia with
which Baekeland had early on experimented.
The huge tonnage should not be taken as destiny, any more than the van Eyck
brothers’ masterpiece, or the lives of lambs themselves can be perceived to be
immune to injury. History rewards common sense at some level. In the Nilgiris of
India, there are expansive “Plastic Free Zones.”
11
China’s National Development
and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, have set
in place a ban on single-use plastic bags, beginning in 2022. The UK has banned
numerous small plastic articles, including cotton-buds with plastic stems, and plastic stirrers and straws. Throughout the marine environs between St. Kilda and the
coastlines of Scotland, plastic pollution was recently described by the BBC as a
“scourge” as aerial photographs and GIS maps began to reveal levels of devastation
12
and initial surveys of plastic impacts upon seabirds has come to light with
calls for action.
13
At the same time, more and more vegan Irish Lamb Stews, vegan
Greek Roasted Lamb, and other cruelty-free recipes have been commercialized.
But even the van Eyck’s “Adoration of the Mystic Lamb,” in preparation for its
588th-year anniversary (rounded out to 600 years), which occurred in the Spring of
2020 at the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent (the MSK’s “Van Eyck: An Optical
Revolution”), required preparatory restoration, after the arguably greatest painting
in the world’s stormy history of having been repeatedly touched up (overpainted),
looted, partially lost, and damaged. Such are the twists and turnabouts of otherwise
perfect inspirations (like the paradise of Litla Dimun, or St. Kilda, or “paradise”
itself).
10 See “Plastic Pollution,” by Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser, September 2018, Our World In Data,
https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution, Accessed January 24, 2020.
11 “The Nilgiris battling to stay plastic free,” Staff Reporter, The Hindu, December 24, 2018,
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/the-nilgiris-battling-to-stay-plastic-free/article25815378.ece, Accessed January 25, 2020.
12 “Map reveals ‘scourge’ of Scotland’s coastal litter problem,” BBC News, 28 August 2018, n.a.,
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-45323832, Accessed January 25, 2020.
13 See “Seabirds and marine plastic debris in Scotland -A synthesis and recommendations for monitoring,” by Nina J O’Hanlon, Neil A James, Elizabeth A Masden, Alexander L Bond, Circular
Ocean, Environmental Research Institute, North Highland College, www.circularocean.eu, May
2017,
http://www.circularocean.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Circular-Ocean_Scotland_
SeabirdsPlastic_May2017.pdf. Though this was a somewhat preliminary study, researchers found
that 20% of the 69 common Scottish seabird species had ingested various levels of plastic.
12.2 The Ghent Paradox