September 30, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Wow. Did you watch the presidential debates last night? LOL Mr. Plastic Picker turned on CNN for me (I am still unable to figure out the TV) and exited the room quickly. He refuses to watch any political coverage as it gives him too much stress. I watched last night with our teen son, and I had a great time! Yes it was very scary to hear all of the Orange Man’s nonsensical utterings. The current occupant of the White House is clearly unhinged and his refusal to disavow white supremacists is downright scary. But I had a great time yesterday because Vice President Joe Biden showed just how decent he is and he did great. He stayed in there, and he uttered things to the Orange Man that no one else but a fellow 70-year-old white male could say to him “Just Shut Up Man.” That is Joe Biden’s white old guy priviledge and I appreciate that he used it! And Dr. Plastic Picker applauded gleefully. It is so odd. Last night was the first night I slept a full 8 hours and deeply. I don’t follow too much political news, but my heart was content with Joe Biden’s performance. I’ll donate some money and I’ll move on. Yes everyone needs to get out the vote. But the Dumpster Fire that was the Presidential Debate showed how much the Orange Man looks down on the common everyday person. He made fun of Joe Biden attending Delaware College. Who does that? Does the Dumpy President really believe that blue collar workers and immigrants or anyone likes someone who makes fun of where someone went to college where they are worried about 200,000 COVID-19 deaths and many can’t even attend college? If the Irish-Catholic white senator feels Trump is looking down on Irish Catholics, how do you think the rest of the brown and black and yellow and green and purple people are feeling? Oh and don’t forget! While the US was distracted with COVID-19 deaths and the farce that has become our presidential election, Russia claimed the entire planet on Venus. Yes, the Russians claimed Venus. Do you think that was Putin’s plan to begin with? He distracted us enough to claim an entire planet. If American Democracy and our laws and institutions can’t prevail over a clearly incompetent and not that talented and clearly not-smart President, than we are toast. Because when the Klingons come, what is going to happen? If the Vulcans come we will be okay, because they believe in Infinite Diversity in Infinate Combinations.

So let’s go on to reasons to hope this Wednesday other than the Orange President crashed and burned last night on the debate stage. So many reasons to hope this morning. The first and most important item was sent by our blog friend Dr. Young Ho Yoon. Young-Ho just sent it to me as a message, and I asked to include it in today’s blog for the rest of our readership.

1. New Super-Enzyme Eats Plastic Bottles. Dr. Young Ho had expressed in one of our first MD interviews here, “I sometimes idly wish that I were a mad scientist who could create a new food chain at the bottom of which were bacteria that could break down microplastics. Or otherwise create a chain of thermostable enzymatic reactions to accomplish the same result.” Well for Young-Ho, there was a mad scientist in Japan combined with the mutations that happened in nature that did exactly that. From the Guardian artcile Dr. Young-Ho Yoon sent me “A super-enzyme that degrades plastic bottles six times faster than before has been created by scientists and could be used for recycling within a year or two . . . The super-enzyme, derived from bacteria that naturally evolved the ability to eat plastic, enables the full recycling of the bottles. Scientists believe combining it with enzymes that break down cotton could also allow mixed-fabric clothing to be recycled. Today, millions of tonnes of such clothing is either dumped in landfill or incinerated.” Dr. Plastic Picker highly recommends you read the entire article to get some hope! Thank you Dr. Young-Ho Yoon for this item. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/28/new-super-enzyme-eats-plastic-bottles-six-times-faster?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1
2. Green Roofs. At our house we are loving the concept of green roofs. In fact, right now at home Dr. Plastic Picker is actively converting our roof space into a green roof preferentially placing white reflective ceramic pots with succulents. Every day I do a little bit of something. I’m really excited about the journey to our green roof. One Guardian article I refer back to explains that “Green roofs offer antidtoe to urban heat island effect . . . A layer of plants and earth can cut the rate of heat absorption through the roof of a building in the summer by 84%.” I once looked up how much these services would cost and it was in the thousands. But then I became Dr. Plastic Picker, and I realized I could do it myself! I’m having fun with it and have set myself the parameters to repurpose and reuse things. No buying new. This forces me to be more creative.
3. California Governor Gavin Newson Bans Sale of Gas-Powered Cars by 2035. This made my proud to be from California. That is it. Gas cars banned. Done. Move on people.
4. Berkeley becomes 1st city to ban junk food at grocery store checkouts. This was from the Today Show and Yahoo News. This made me happy as a lot of plastic pollution on the beach is processed junk foods. This will help our children stay healthier as well. https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/25/us/berkeley-ban-junk-food-grocery-aisle-trnd/index.html
5. Maryland Becomes First State to Ban Foam Food Service Products. This was on CNN. Thank the Lord! “The law – which includes items such as cups, plates, carryout containers and trays – affects food service as well as other businesses and institutions that use these products, such as schools.” Dr. Plastic Picker picks up lots of styrofoam residue. They litter the cliffs that overlook the ocean and get embeded in the kelp where the shorebirds feed. I’ve seen styrofoam buried and aged deep in the sand. Weathered old styrofoam can look like a rock, and it is so weird and disturbing. Lets just ban it people.
6. Tahlequah (J35) Baby Boy is Healthy. BONUS ITEM!!! Yes we had six items this week. But I want to keep the original title to be consistent week to week. Do you remember the mother killer whale that carried her dead calf is mourning for 17 months? Remember I did mention new baby killer whale was healthy a few Wednesdays ago? Well he’s not only healthy, he is spunky! I believe Tahlequah and killer whale mother’s are similar to us. They want a livable world for their babies as well. https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/tahlequah-orca-new-baby_n_5f6f6e25c5b61af20e7677e1

Thank you for reading this week’s installment of Five Reasons to be Hopeful this Wednesday. It’s really Ten Reasons to be Hopeful because it’s the (6) items listed, the performance of the Orange President last night on the debate stage (7), that Dr. Young-Ho Yoon has hope “It’s an encouraging report” he messaged me (8), I made a vegan soup in the instapot yesterday which was really easy (9), and I lastly got to talk to a really cool teen jounnalist yesterday who interviewed me regarding Dr. Plastic Picker for an on-line publication (10). I’ll cross post when she finishes writing the interview piece. But that there are talented kids like that out there, gives this pediatrician so much hope.