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What would you do? What would anybody do? I don't have an answer to this specific scenario that you described. That said, I wasn't saying we should all suddenl

What would you do? What would anybody do? I don't have an answer to this specific scenario that you described. That said, I wasn't saying we should all suddenly become 100% socially responsible overnight - it is just not practical. There are lots of things that are super easy to do, and yet have positive influence on the environment, society etc. We can keep a handful of cloth bags handy, when we go grocery shopping. This isn't hard to do, and will help reduce plastic bags. We don't have to wait for legislation to act on this. We don't have to replace our perfectly working phone, every other year (or every year) and throw it in the landfill. And so on. These are definitely small compared to the pollution caused by corporations. But corporations exist to sell to consumers. Plus, change has to start somewhere. Why not start at home?

jdietrich 8y ago
>We can keep a handful of cloth bags handy, when we go grocery shopping. That probably doesn't help. A cotton bag requires about 130x more resources to produce than a standard HDPE carrier bag. If you re-use a plastic bag three times, you'd need to use your cotton bag nearly 400 times to break even. The cotton bag is likely to wear out substantially sooner than that. The plastic bag can be disposed of responsibly by recycling, incineration or as a container for non-recyclable domestic waste. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/291023/scho0711buan-e-e.pdf https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...
Retra 8y ago
Isn't that hypocritical though? You want to assign blame to me for not bringing cloth bags, yet you want to coddle me for making that mistake by offering me free plastic bags when I forget? Perhaps I would be more incentivized to bring cloth bags if I had to suffer some for not doing so. Make me buy some at the register, run to my car to retrieve them, or make multiple trips. (Point in fact, I have cloth bags in my car, but I have not once remembered to bring them into a store. Habits are not easy to form. And I'll be thought rude to run to my car after dumping groceries on the checkout line rather than using the provided bags.) It doesn't really matter who you blame in this case, because the solution is the same either way: stop allowing stores to offer free plastic bags. And if anyone would accuse my of rationalizing my inefficiencies, then that is just one more reason why you cannot trust individuals to make the right choices.
- justaguyhere 8y ago
  That was just an example. India recently stopped plastic bags in stores, and most shops don't have bags that you can buy (plastic or otherwise). You have to bring your own bags, or you can carry your stuff in your hands :P It is so painful that people don't forget bags while grocery shopping.

jdietrich 8y ago

>We can keep a handful of cloth bags handy, when we go grocery shopping. That probably doesn't help. A cotton bag requires about 130x more resources to produce than a standard HDPE carrier bag. If you re-use a plastic bag three times, you'd need to use your cotton bag nearly 400 times to break even. The cotton bag is likely to wear out substantially sooner than that. The plastic bag can be disposed of responsibly by recycling, incineration or as a container for non-recyclable domestic waste. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/291023/scho0711buan-e-e.pdf https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...

Retra 8y ago

Isn't that hypocritical though? You want to assign blame to me for not bringing cloth bags, yet you want to coddle me for making that mistake by offering me free plastic bags when I forget? Perhaps I would be more incentivized to bring cloth bags if I had to suffer some for not doing so. Make me buy some at the register, run to my car to retrieve them, or make multiple trips. (Point in fact, I have cloth bags in my car, but I have not once remembered to bring them into a store. Habits are not easy to form. And I'll be thought rude to run to my car after dumping groceries on the checkout line rather than using the provided bags.) It doesn't really matter who you blame in this case, because the solution is the same either way: stop allowing stores to offer free plastic bags. And if anyone would accuse my of rationalizing my inefficiencies, then that is just one more reason why you cannot trust individuals to make the right choices.

justaguyhere 8y ago
That was just an example. India recently stopped plastic bags in stores, and most shops don't have bags that you can buy (plastic or otherwise). You have to bring your own bags, or you can carry your stuff in your hands :P It is so painful that people don't forget bags while grocery shopping.