[lit-ideas] Re: Recycling -- and Nature (according to Amago)
- From: Andy Amago <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2004 13:23:02 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
-----Original Message-----
From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
Sent: Aug 31, 2004 10:33 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Recycling -- and Nature (according to Amago)
=20
=20
In a previous post, Amago called 'plastic' synthetic (as opposed to =20
'artificial'). Now he refines Geary's analysis or search for a criterion of=
=20
naturalness versus 'unnaturalness' -- the idea of recycling.
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In a message dated 8/30/2004 9:04:31 PM Eastern Standard Time, =20
aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
To the extent that plastics cannot return into the environment, decompose=
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and be reformed by nature into something else, they are in my opinion =20
unnatural.
----
Interesting. Recycling would be the criterion for 'naturalness'. Some quot=
es=20
from the OED on this interesting word -- first used in 1926. Cheers,
A.A. That's a good point. I had not seen recycling as a man-made naturaln=
ess. In recycling we are to a certain extent decomposing and reforming a p=
roduct. Still, nature is far superior because when nature recycles, the or=
iginal is completely reformed into something else. A tree becomes top soil=
for example. When humans recycle, plastic can become only another form of=
plastic. Also, in nature *all* products eventually decompose and become s=
omething entirely different, where only some plastic makes it to the recycl=
ing centers to become another form of itself. I think recycled plastic is =
not as desirable as original plastic, they way recycled paper is distinguis=
hable by its brownish hue. =20
I don't remember calling plastic synthetic, since plastic per se doesn't ex=
ist in nature. If it did and we found a way to create it, we would synthes=
ize it, like my vitamin C example. Synthesized rubber is an example of a s=
ynthetic. We haven't yet synthesized silk; we've come close with artificia=
l nylon, but nylon is not silk. Plastic is in that sense artificial since =
we're not synthesizing anything that already exists. To my knowledge plast=
ic is unknown in nature.
Regarding cord instead of chord, Amago is just keyboard challenged. I mean=
, yeah, cord, brilliant use of the word if I say so myself.
Marveling that nothing gets past JL,
Andy Amago
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recycle: to reuse (a material) in an industrial process; to return to a =20
previous stage of a cyclic process.=20
1926 [implied in recycling vbl. n.].=20
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1928 Jrnl. Inst. Petroleum Technologists XIV. 766=20
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It is economically more advantageous to stop cracking in the first cycle=
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when coke formation begins and produce more gasoline by re-cycling those=
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fractions which do not form great quantities of coke during cracking.=20
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1929 Proc. R. Soc. A. CXXIV. 43 It ought to be possible to obtain nearly=
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the theoretically possible yield by returning to the reaction chamber or =
=E2=80=98
recycling=E2=80=99 all the products formed except the gasoline.=20
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1945 H D SMYTH Gen. Acct. Devel. Atomic Energy Mil. Purposes ix. 100=20
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Any given sample of material is recycled many times.=20
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1958 Times 17 Oct. 5/1 It is envisaged that plutonium produced in the=20
working of the reactor will later be recycled through it.=20
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1964 N G CLARK Mod. Org. Chem. iv. 62 Using only a small volume of solven=
t,=20
which is continually re~cycled, it is possible to carry out the equivalent=
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of many hundreds of separate extractions.=20
=20
1972 Sci. Amer. Oct. 69/1 Their new process is the first closed-loop,=20
spray-etching system that electrolytically reverses the chemical reaction =
of=20
etching. It continuously recycles cupric chloride and has reduced the cost=
of=20
etching wiring boards by over 90%.=20
=20
1980 Times 7 Mar. 25/3 The uranium is recycled back to an enrichment plant=
=20
to make new thermal-reactor fuel, and the plutonium is stored.
1960 Aeroplane XCIX. 521/2 It has systems which reduce all organic waste =
to=20
a small amount of ash and recycle urine and waste water into drinkable=20
water.=20
=20
1967 Technology Week 23 Jan. 34/3 It would allow us to economically desal=
t=20
sea and brackish water, recycle water from sewage.=20
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1971 Sci. Amer. May 95/1 (Advt.), You bring us the cans and we'll recycle=
=20
them.=20
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1971 New Yorker 16 Oct. 33 What you ecology-minded ladies don't realize i=
s=20
that before a bottle can be recycled it has to be emptied.=20
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1973 Guardian 22 Mar. 15/1 The Liberals of Kew..have been recycling paper,=
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and have managed to scrape a regular =C2=A325 a month.=20
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1974 Listener 28 Feb. 278/1 Such a plant would recycle steel, aluminium,=
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zinc, lead and copper from scrap.=20
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1979 China Now Mar./Apr. 31/3 The report covers all methods of recycling=
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organic materials.
1965 G K WILLIAMS Econ. Geol. N.Z. i. 2/2 These [beds of sediment] are of=
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considerable interest to economic geologists for through them much detrital=
=20
gold was recycled within and beyond the primary gold-bearing areas.=20
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1970 Nature 17 Oct. 273/2 The annual discharge of dissolved sodium in rive=
rs=20
is about 20 =C3=97 107 tons, of which 9 =C3=97 107 tons have been recycle=
d from the=20
sea through the atmosphere.=20
=20
1971 I G GASS et al. Understanding Earth iii. 68/2 Much of the ocean will =
be=20
recycled in the ocean-floor spreading process.=20
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1973 Sci. Amer. Apr. 61/1 Stars continually recycle their material throug=
h=20
the interstellar medium.
1969 Guardian 12 May 1/5 (heading)=20
=20
Bankers find way to recycle hot money.=20
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1970 Nature 25 July 321/2 It is not possible to recycle the output of the=
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secondary schools without there being some intermediate opportunity for=20
broadening the intellectual experience of the young men and women concerne=
d.=20
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1973 Ibid. 2 Mar. 4/2 A further five [cases] may be the result of the viru=
s=20
being recycled in swill.=20
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1973 Black Panther 4 Aug. 7/3 Those workers finding themselves without=20
jobs..are re-cycled back to their former jobs at the reduced wages.=20
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1974 Weekend Mag. (Montreal) 16 Mar. 2/2 The kids are appropriating the=
=20
Fifties, proving once more that fads (like garbage) can be recycled.=20
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1974 Newsweek 7 Oct. 52/1 A new international banking system to recycle OP=
EC=20
funds into loans to the poorer nations.=20
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1978 Washington Post 8 Aug. C4/5 Many juveniles, he adds, are repeat=20
offenders, =E2=80=98recycled=E2=80=99 through the system.
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