By this strange definition my desire to live as a beggar in Thailand for 10 years to meditate find my inner self even though I might hypothetically make $1M/yr

By this strange definition my desire to live as a beggar in Thailand for 10 years to meditate find my inner self even though I might hypothetically make $1M/yr now working in an office iseconomically rational. When people (including myself) say that something is economically rational it's commonly understood to mean that any given person wouldn't make the same choice if given the choice, not that you can't find an example of someone who'll do otherwise. In other words talking about something being "economically rational" is the other side of there being an "economic incentive". In this case the economic incentives of not just throwing away plastics aren't aligned with the desired effect. This is a classic example of an externality coupled with the tragedy of the commons.