"Paper, plastic, and drama"
I read an opinion piece in the Seattle Times by Jerry Large that perfectly demonstrates the unwillingness of the average person to learn new ways of every day behavior. Here are the key points and my suggestions/opinions for his “argument”.
In the case of Seattle’s effort to get rid of disposable paper and plastic grocery bags, there are many, one of which is that dog owners may have to pay for the plastic they use to scoop up what their pets are returning to nature.
There are now biodegradable pet waste bags that likely will not be taxed.
As customers try to stuff more into fewer bags, his members have to lift heavier loads. And if some shoppers bring unsanitary bags with them, clerks will have to touch them.
Clerks touch grocery carts, baskets, door handles, and other unsanitary items at the grocery stores all day long. Perhaps they should have hand sanitizer at their stations?
Worse, I show up at PCC with Safeway bags in the trunk. Carrying a PCC bag into Safeway is no biggie, but the other way around is socially embarrassing. Someone might think I buy white bread and produce that isn’t organic.
“Oh no! Someone might think that I’m too low on the socioeconomic ladder to shop at PCC based on brand name of the reusable bag that I am using!” No one cares what the brand name of your bag is, as long as you use one.
There’s a Whole Foods near work. I’d sometimes pick up lunch there, so I bought one of their reusable bags, but I always leave the office without it, which means I can’t buy lunch at Whole Foods.
If you’re buying so much at one time for lunch that you can’t carry it back to the office (one loooooooong block away from Whole Foods), then something else is likely wrong. There’s no shame in carrying a few items by hand in case you forget your bag. I’ve done it, I see others doing it all the time. Just carry the receipt with you as you leave the store in case a clerk wants to verify that you paid for your purchase. It’s easy.
As quotes in the article: “People will learn how to bring their own bags in the same way we learned to buckle our seat belts and the way we will soon learn to drive without talking on a cellphone.”
I only read one legitimate complaint in that op piece. The one about the workers carrying more weight. I could see the groceries having to start putting maximum weight limits and the like per bag, which means you would have to purchase more reusable bags even if you have the room in the one bag. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, just that that was the only legit complaint out of all of them. We all need to start changing in small ways if anything big is ever going to change.
Boo-hoo, dog owners.
I just did a rough calculation, and a standard plastic grocery bag can hold a volume of ~600 cubic inches, and still be tied shut (via the handle loops).
How about using an appropriately-sized bag for dogshit, huh?
Isn’t that, in fact, the first ‘r’ of "reduce, reuse, recycle"?
Is it that hard for people to pay 99c for an additional reusable bag? I’ll be honest, I tend to grab a few plastic bags every now and then, they’re good for cleaning out cat boxes and picking up dog poo around my neighbourhood. Yes, you read right, sometimes when I’m out walking my dog, in addition to the appropriately-sized bags I carry with me to pick up after him, I carry around a few extra bags to pick up dog turd some thoughtless, lazy, piece of shit, owner neglected to pick up.
I also pick up the dog turds in my neighborhood that useless owners leave behind. It’s either that or step on them myself when I am following my dog, and honestly, who likes to step in dog shit on a 90+ degree day?
Makes me wonder where the worst areas are in Seattle. To me the newer areas around South Lake Union seem full of dog crap. It always seems like it’s the little dog owners that don’t want to pick it up, like because it’s little it won’t make a difference or something. Whenever I see them not picking it up I just walk up with my 125 lbs Bullmastiff and ask if they meant to leave it and magically they seem to care about picking up the poop!
I’m on Capitol Hill and I see more than my fair share of it. I’ve even offered to toss plastic bags off my balcony to people I’ve seen walking away from the poop.
[...] A kindred spirit expertly shuts down a whole lot of irrational whining. [Seattle Metblogs] [...]
Good grief. That piece reminds me of the people who oppose wind power because they think turbines are ugly. How whiny can you get?