6 ms·

ITT: this person is provided with many alternatives to help not use plastic, but is somehow able to find a problem with all of it. Newsflash: we fucked up. big

ITT: this person is provided with many alternatives to help not use plastic, but is somehow able to find a problem with all of it. Newsflash: we fucked up. big time. we're all very comfortable with our wasteful lives. It's going to be uncomfortable to change our behavior. It's worth it.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
kortilla 8y ago
Newsflash: plastic bags are only wasteful if you don’t reuse them as small garbage bags. If you use paper bags and buy small garbage bags, you are worse than the person using the plastic bags.
- Wowfunhappy 8y ago
  Yeah. I do feel a bit like I'm making excuses to everyone's (much appreciated) suggestions, but I also feel like my problems are legitimate when, as far as I can tell, this won't actually reduce my carbon emissions. That's the core issue. Global warming is an urgent problem, and I'm more than okay being inconvenienced to help with that. I don't think this helps, at least not relative to a surcharge. As an aside, all of this stuff is effectively scribbling in the margins. Same with plastic straws and biodegradable utensils. That doesn't make these moves bad or even unnecessary, but I worry they're distracting from what is most urgently needed: major taxes on carbon emissions.
  - bluntfang 8y ago
    > I also feel like my problems are legitimate Listen, refusing to carry a book bag when you know you are a compulsive shopper is not a legitimate problem.
    - balfirevic 8y ago
      Yeah, just carry a freaking book bag or backpack everywhere with you that you don't actually need because you might go to the store. WTF is happening here :-D Also, compulsive shopper was probably not what you wanted to say.
      - dingaling 8y ago
        I've noticed that as a difference between Car People and Non-car People. The latter tend to have a backpack or other general-purpose bag with them at all times containing wallet, keys, bottle of water, waterproof jacket, reusable grocery sack etc. After a while it feels naked to go out without it. Whereas Car People leave that stuff in the car or shove it into bulging pockets.
      - bluntfang 8y ago
        It's called being a human with needs and solving those needs. yes carry a back pack wherever you go. Am empty back pack is light and you won't even notice it. I guarantee there are things that you use everyday that you can put in there. Like a user below me suggested, a water bottle is a great first thing to carry with you everywhere. It's not that you might go to the store either. OP explicitly said they do not know when they are going to shop. It is random, therefore either change your behavior to be more predictable or prepare yourself for your known unknown. Excuses like these are childish unless you have accessibility issues.
    - reitzensteinm 8y ago
      You're being awfully high and mighty jumping around this thread to criticize what is, on the scale of typical human consumption, really quite minor. Do you own a car? Have you flown in the last year? Do you eat out or get food delivered to you? How often do you get a new laptop? Do you use air conditioning? Apparently it's socially acceptable to look down on someone for using plastic bags, but it would be uncouth to suggest that someone use public transport or vacation domestically. The latter examples would be an actual sacrifice, and we only want to make token gestures to feel good about ourselves and move on with our lives.
      - Rudneudnru 8y ago
        >Do you own a car? Have you flown in the last year? Do you eat out or get food delivered to you? How often do you get a new laptop? Do you use air conditioning? No, no, yes, not in more than ten years, no. Not really that hard.
        reitzensteinm 8y ago
        You do realize saying yes to a single one is enough to absolutely dwarf plastic bag use, right?
      - bluntfang 8y ago
        >You're being awfully high and mighty jumping around this thread to criticize what is, on the scale of typical human consumption, really quite minor. It may be minor, but if OP is complaining about things as simple as "I don't know when I go to the store, so I MUST use plastic bags", then imagine what else they are unwilling to budge on. Not to mention, broken windows theory is real, remove plastic waste from the streets like plastic bags and people will modify their behavior. >Apparently it's socially acceptable to look down on someone for using plastic bags I am not looking down on someone for using plastic bags, I am looking down on them for making really bad excuses for continuing to use plastic bags. It's literally a lack of effort.
        reitzensteinm 8y ago
  - dTal 8y ago
    I've always seen these plastic bans as being more about litter prevention than carbon emissions. It's unconscionable that we've invented a material that doesn't biodegrade, and we use it for single-use items that end up in the environment, there to accumulate until everything we eat and breathe is riddled with tiny particles. Quite honestly, even plastic garbage bags are a travesty that I hope we can figure out a way to get rid of someday.
- amyjess 8y ago
  Hell, not just as garbage bags. I reuse my grocery-store plastic bags whenever I need to transport a bunch of small objects somewhere. Let's say I have some snacks at home, and I want to bring them to the office. What to do? Grab a Kroger bag and put my snacks in there! (edit: also, since I check my mail infrequently, they come in really handy when I go to the mailbox, especially if I'm doing so on the way to work)
- mac01021 8y ago
  Does anyone buy trash bags that small? Either way, I don't generate nearly enough by trash to keep up with the stream of grocery bags I bring home.
  - Wowfunhappy 8y ago
    > Does anyone buy trash bags that small? This is one of those areas where I think it makes a big difference whether you live in a proper house or a tiny apartment. In a small studio, a large trash bag can take a week or more to fill up, but can start to smell up the small space after only a couple days. So I—and a lot of people I know—use smaller bags and take them out once every couple days.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

kortilla 8y ago

Newsflash: plastic bags are only wasteful if you don’t reuse them as small garbage bags. If you use paper bags and buy small garbage bags, you are worse than the person using the plastic bags.

Wowfunhappy 8y ago
Yeah. I do feel a bit like I'm making excuses to everyone's (much appreciated) suggestions, but I also feel like my problems are legitimate when, as far as I can tell, this won't actually reduce my carbon emissions. That's the core issue. Global warming is an urgent problem, and I'm more than okay being inconvenienced to help with that. I don't think this helps, at least not relative to a surcharge. As an aside, all of this stuff is effectively scribbling in the margins. Same with plastic straws and biodegradable utensils. That doesn't make these moves bad or even unnecessary, but I worry they're distracting from what is most urgently needed: major taxes on carbon emissions.
- bluntfang 8y ago
  > I also feel like my problems are legitimate Listen, refusing to carry a book bag when you know you are a compulsive shopper is not a legitimate problem.
  - balfirevic 8y ago
    Yeah, just carry a freaking book bag or backpack everywhere with you that you don't actually need because you might go to the store. WTF is happening here :-D Also, compulsive shopper was probably not what you wanted to say.
    - dingaling 8y ago
      I've noticed that as a difference between Car People and Non-car People. The latter tend to have a backpack or other general-purpose bag with them at all times containing wallet, keys, bottle of water, waterproof jacket, reusable grocery sack etc. After a while it feels naked to go out without it. Whereas Car People leave that stuff in the car or shove it into bulging pockets.
    - bluntfang 8y ago
      It's called being a human with needs and solving those needs. yes carry a back pack wherever you go. Am empty back pack is light and you won't even notice it. I guarantee there are things that you use everyday that you can put in there. Like a user below me suggested, a water bottle is a great first thing to carry with you everywhere. It's not that you might go to the store either. OP explicitly said they do not know when they are going to shop. It is random, therefore either change your behavior to be more predictable or prepare yourself for your known unknown. Excuses like these are childish unless you have accessibility issues.
  - reitzensteinm 8y ago
    You're being awfully high and mighty jumping around this thread to criticize what is, on the scale of typical human consumption, really quite minor. Do you own a car? Have you flown in the last year? Do you eat out or get food delivered to you? How often do you get a new laptop? Do you use air conditioning? Apparently it's socially acceptable to look down on someone for using plastic bags, but it would be uncouth to suggest that someone use public transport or vacation domestically. The latter examples would be an actual sacrifice, and we only want to make token gestures to feel good about ourselves and move on with our lives.
    - Rudneudnru 8y ago
      >Do you own a car? Have you flown in the last year? Do you eat out or get food delivered to you? How often do you get a new laptop? Do you use air conditioning? No, no, yes, not in more than ten years, no. Not really that hard.
      - reitzensteinm 8y ago
        You do realize saying yes to a single one is enough to absolutely dwarf plastic bag use, right?
    - bluntfang 8y ago
      >You're being awfully high and mighty jumping around this thread to criticize what is, on the scale of typical human consumption, really quite minor. It may be minor, but if OP is complaining about things as simple as "I don't know when I go to the store, so I MUST use plastic bags", then imagine what else they are unwilling to budge on. Not to mention, broken windows theory is real, remove plastic waste from the streets like plastic bags and people will modify their behavior. >Apparently it's socially acceptable to look down on someone for using plastic bags I am not looking down on someone for using plastic bags, I am looking down on them for making really bad excuses for continuing to use plastic bags. It's literally a lack of effort.
      - reitzensteinm 8y ago
- dTal 8y ago
  I've always seen these plastic bans as being more about litter prevention than carbon emissions. It's unconscionable that we've invented a material that doesn't biodegrade, and we use it for single-use items that end up in the environment, there to accumulate until everything we eat and breathe is riddled with tiny particles. Quite honestly, even plastic garbage bags are a travesty that I hope we can figure out a way to get rid of someday.
amyjess 8y ago
Hell, not just as garbage bags. I reuse my grocery-store plastic bags whenever I need to transport a bunch of small objects somewhere. Let's say I have some snacks at home, and I want to bring them to the office. What to do? Grab a Kroger bag and put my snacks in there! (edit: also, since I check my mail infrequently, they come in really handy when I go to the mailbox, especially if I'm doing so on the way to work)
mac01021 8y ago
Does anyone buy trash bags that small? Either way, I don't generate nearly enough by trash to keep up with the stream of grocery bags I bring home.
- Wowfunhappy 8y ago
  > Does anyone buy trash bags that small? This is one of those areas where I think it makes a big difference whether you live in a proper house or a tiny apartment. In a small studio, a large trash bag can take a week or more to fill up, but can start to smell up the small space after only a couple days. So I—and a lot of people I know—use smaller bags and take them out once every couple days.