Single-Use Plastic Bags: Was it Ever a Good Idea?


Did you ever walk through the supermarket and think, "OK, so all of the people selling stuff can use single-use plastic. Like all the wrapped meat and vegetables. But the people buying stuff have to lug along bulky multi-use hessian bags, or, if they are just dropping in to buy a few items after work, have to juggle milk, bread and toilet rolls as they walk back to the car. Or buy a special bag. And who, exactly, is benefiting from this? The supermarkets, of course. They save all that money providing plastic bags while virtue signalling that they are saving the planet. Whoever came up with that idea knew they were on to a winner.

Just as some EU countries may now wonder, given the devastating economic effects of Covid-19,  whether to follow Poland in backing out of their 2050 emissions targets for reducing emissions, Covid-19 is starting to wind back the plastic-bag decision in various places in the US, and undoubtedly other places will follow. Read more.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
Making the Most Out of Other People’s Misery This is Sam McGlennon. Lets’ face it, he looks like a nice guy: honest, decent, well educated, undoubtedly with good intentions. Maybe that’s how he managed to land the ideal job. He describes himself as a “ climate risk and resilience advisor, as well as a sustainable supply chain expert, for NZ businesses and governments”. Sounds very cool, very now. I mean, advising governments , plural. Wow. Of course this might not be a real job. I mean, I write stuff, and it’s just possible that people from businesses and governments read it, so I guess I could say I advise businesses and governments. But cynicism aside, the best part of Sam’s job, what makes it ideal, is that he gets to take smug satisfaction out of the misery of millions of people who have lost their jobs and whose businesses have gone bust. How cool is that! You see Sam is a New Zealand greenie, but he represents the views of many environmentalists around the wo
Read more
Just When You Thought Greta Thunberg Ruled the World, a Voice of Reason Joe Nalven, a former associate director of the Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias at San Diego State University, writing in the Times of San Diego , takes a careful, measured look at the climate change debate, and argues for the unpopular idea that both sides need to continue to be heard if we are to take effective action. Read more.
Read more
Image
  Yet Another Good Reason for Cancelling Robots As posted on Breitbart: "Facebook users who watched a video from a British newspaper showing black men received an automated prompt from the social media platform  asking  if they wanted to “keep seeing videos about Primates,” according to the  New York Times. " This embarrassing incident just shows how completely inept artificial intelligence is, yet it's rapidly taking over the world, in everything from internet searches to approving bank loans. "Down with the robots", I say. Isaac Asimov saw all this coming back in the 1940s, and Dr Smith had the right idea in the 1960s.  Read more . Harry Wiren
Read more