Posted on 02/24/2020 7:20:47 AM PST by karpov
Why do our political leaders want to take away our plastic bags and straws? This question is even more puzzling than a related one that I’ve been studying for decades: Why do they want us to recycle our garbage?
The two obsessions have some common roots, but the moral panic over plastic is especially perverse. The recycling movement had a superficial logic, at least at the outset. Municipal officials expected to save money by recycling trash instead of burying or burning it. Now that recycling has turned out to be ruinously expensive while achieving little or no environmental benefit, some local officials—the pragmatic ones, anyway—are once again sending trash straight to landfills and incinerators.
The plastic panic has never made any sense, and it’s intensifying even as evidence mounts that it’s not only a waste of money but also harmful to the environment, not to mention humans. It’s been a movement in search of a rationale for half a century. During the 1970s, environmentalists like Barry Commoner wanted the government to restrict the use of plastic because it was made from petroleum, which we needed to hoard because we would soon run out of it. When the “energy crisis” proved a false alarm, environmentalists looked for new reasons to panic.
They denounced plastic for not being biodegradable in landfills. They blamed it for littering the landscape, clogging sewer drains, and contributing to global warming. Plastic from our “throwaway society” was killing vast numbers of sea creatures, according to Blue Planet II, a 2017 BBC documentary series that became an international hit. Its depictions of sea turtles, dolphins, and whales in jeopardy prompted Queen Elizabeth II to ban plastic straws and bottles from the royal estates
(Excerpt) Read more at city-journal.org ...
Be sure to read the article. The ocean plastic is not from America.
I reuse plastic shopping bags that I get (despite trying to use my canvas bags in the store instead—never seem to bring enough into the store) to line trash cans and to collect dirty cat litter for disposal. In a pinch, I’ve used them to pad packaged materials I’m mailing. They certainly don’t just get thrown away after one use. And I would never simply toss them where they could find their way into the ocean, only too aware of the peril they place sea turtles and other marine life in.
Read the article. Paper costs far more to produce, not only in dollars but resources. Paper bags are also heavier to transport and thus use more resources and cause more pollution than the similar number of lightweight plastic bags.
Read the article and you’ll find out about bacteria and the absolute fact that people do not reuse cloth bags 143 times
I remember my grandmother went shopping with string bags. MUCH easier to clean that the full “reusable” bags, especially now that such string bags are made from nylon, which washes easily.
I see it as a tourism, recreation thing.
Eventually our landfills in Indiana will provide some awesome winter sports slopes.
My solution will be to drive 10x more and just pick up a handful of items that I don’t need a bag to carry. So I’ll burn more gas, big deal to them I guess.
Exactly, these people can’t see past the nose on there face. Their ignorant hypocrisy never made sense to me.
These have more uses. Better and cheaper than the four gallon trash bags used in bathroom and bedroom trash cans. Great for bagging cat litter. When tied tightly they make great freezer bags for larger cuts of meat.
Go to grocery store.
Buy bread in a plastic bag.
Buy meats in plastic packaging.
Buy produce in plastic packaging or put it in a plastic bag.
Buy milk, juice, creamer and water in plastic containers.
Buy condiments and spices in plastic containers.
Go to check out...
Sorry no plastic bags!
The extent to how folks can be made to agree and push the most absurd things is to tell them we need to ban dihydrogen oxide because so much is being used and then flushed down the drains. Oh, that is water but don't tell the fool signing the petition. OK rant/ off.
George Carlin: “the earth doesn’t share our prejudice towards plastic. Plastic came from the earth. The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the earth allows us to be spawned from it in the first place: it wanted plastic for itself. Didn’t know how to make it, needed us. Could be the answer to the age old philosophical question, “Why are we here?” “Plastic, a**holes.”
Movements like this give self-loathing people a shot at empowerment, an excuse to scold and belittle their neighbors.
And spread the cooties developed in the unwashed bag from last week’s meat leakage all over the grocery store’s counter? No thanks !
READ the article.
To be honest I didn’t mind paper bags, and I didn’t mind glass containers. Something triggered corporations to go with the Disposable wrap.
Was it that we were using too many trees and too much sand?
It’s not about the environment. It’s all about control.
I make it a point when I shop to always ask for and get paper IN plastic. The paper provides extra strength and the outer plastic bag gives me convenient handles.
One of the large chains in the area went bag-less. Next time I go there I plan to bring plastic bags from their main competitor and tell the checker to use them at the checkout.
In modern designed land fills when sealed they are anaerobic and nothing much degrades. Archeologist William Rathje has found 25 year old guacamole. He’s the Harvard trained expert on the subject. Look him up.
300 years from now, they'll be mines. For everything.
We own some super-durable LLBean canvas shopping bags that are going strong after 38 years of marriage. Your “143 uses” claim is, er, somewhat flawed.
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