Greenpeace in 2026 running propaganda for "ban 3D printers" the same way they ran propaganda for "force everyone to use Dupont's new patented refrigerants after the old patents expired" back in the 1990s...
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Context: a toot they made blaming "heating up plastics" (talking about microwaving containers but with obvious double meaning at same time fascist governments want to ban 3D printers) as source of "microplastics", "chemicals", and "toxins". 馃檮
@dalias I agree with Greenpeace on this. Like the other person who responded, I used to work for Greenpeace. Plastic is a horror.
I can't remember any campaigns they've done that were wrong-headed. I still let what I learned canvassing for their dioxin campaign guide my family.
I think we need purists. I try to be a purist myself, under the belief that if I'm not part of the solution, I'm part of the problem. Nothing that involves victims is acceptable, and we all live in a real life version of the Twilight Zone episode "Button, Button" nowadays.
I'd love to have a 3D printer, but I won't get one because it's all plastic. So instead we collect woodworking tools. The kids use clay for things. Are there things for which a 3D printer would be wildly convenient? Absolutely. But it would be convenient in the way Amazon is convenient or gig economy companies are convenient. In this case, looking for the victims would be particularly easy - my kids would be among them given microplastics pollution.
The only crap like that we're allowing inside our bodies is mRNA vaccine carrier, and even there people are moving beyond polymers.
I'm going to hash-tag this as I want to boost it. I really care about this and want to offer more people the perspective that guides us.
@mason If you care about it at least care about getting the technical details right.
"Microplastics" do not come from heating up plastic. The vast, vast majority (to the extent that nothing else really matters until you eliminat these) come from intentional manufacture as abrasives (like in skin care products) and lubricants (like PTFE lube, utterly the worst), and from unintentional particulate emissions in abrasive processes.
I'm not here to judge on whether you want to have a 3D printer. But the ability to manufacture precision things fascists don't want people to be able to have, and to distribute the instructions for how to manufacture those things digitally in a way that does not require any sharing of physical artifacts like molds or application-specific tooling, is important. If you're engaged in a campaign to help them suppress that, you're doing us all a huge disservice.
@dalias I've been engaged in that campaign for a while for the reasons stated. Abrasives are not the only source of microplastics and similar. Look at, for example, car tires as they wear away. Even silicone breaks down and emits harmful particles.
If you want to overthrow fascism, convenience (Amazon, McDonald's, 3D printers) isn't the answer. Decide if you're going to pick up a gun or, instead, push for a representative democracy with things like ranked choice voting. Nothing else is going to save us.
For my part, I completely oppose guns, so pushing for citizen initiatives to enact ranked choice voting and calling my representatives to try to influence their voting is what I've got - that and trying to live the changes we're going to need to not snuff ourselves as a species.
@mason Car tires were the big "unintentional particulate emissions in abrasive processes" in my post you replied to. (Since it apparently wasn't clear, I've since edited them in by name.)
I'm not sure where guns came into this. Printed guns are the thing they like to demonize, but the antifascist applications of distributed reproducible precision manufacturing range from whistles to DIY drones not encumbered with spyware to stencils to repairing things that would otherwise be replaced with new surveillance-capitalist "smart" stuff.
@dalias I was confused by "abrasives" and figured you were talking about dishwasher detergent delivery or some industrial scrubbing scrubbing or polishing process I didn't know about.
Guns come in as an unsavory alternative to peaceful political change. Those are our options for change, so I suggested picking one. 3D printers have little to do with the change that must come about. (I wasn't thinking about printed guns, which are an awful idea.)
You mention whistles:
or
https://www.instructables.com/Make-your-own-whistle/
No need for plastic there.
As for drones, the brains are circuit boards. You can't 3D print those. The bodies are best made with carbon fiber if you want them to live through the first crash. Happily, your concerns about spyware are mitigated by all the software being free (BetaFlight, OpenTX, OpenLRS as some examples). If you're talking about Remote ID, just fly without it but be ready to get nailed by FAA regulations.
I see no compelling argument for churning out more plastic crap that will break down and inhabit our bodies before long.
They have a long, long history of being useful fools serving right-wing agendas and I don't trust them.
@dalias It's sad as a former GP'er & still supporter (on balance I still think they do more good than harm) to have to agree with this - but we often discussed it while I was there & I still talk about it with the friends I made at the time; the tendency to take up purist positions that poison our own well & helps our adversaries...