Comments on: Paper or plastic? http://postapocology.com/blog/2008/02/17/paper-or-plastic/ Advancing PostApocology Studies in Climate Chaos, Peak Resources, Plague/Virus, Species Collapse, Biome Breach, Recovery, and more. Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:30:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Janet http://postapocology.com/blog/2008/02/17/paper-or-plastic/#comment-20 Janet Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:53:47 +0000 http://postapocology.com/blog/2008/02/17/paper-or-plastic/#comment-20 The other day I was at the grocery store without my canvas sack. I asked the cashier for paper and then got distracted. When I turned back to my cart I saw that I had, indeed, been given paper bags -- each one neatly inserted into a plastic bag. I said, more sharply than I intended, "I asked for PAPER! JUST paper!" The cashier - a fiftyish woman -- looked confused. She said, "But... but... they're much stronger this way!" She looked upset. I gently asked if she'd ever heard anything about these bags being an environmental problem. She said she didn't know nothin' about that but folks like the handles. "Easier to carry" she pointed out. I said I like not feeling guilty about plastic-choked rivers and landfills more. She looked exasperated because there were about ten impatient shoppers lined up behind me. She muttered, "So you want me to take them all out?" To my shame I said no, grabbed my evil bags and left feeling angry, mostly with myself. I should have quietly stepped out of line and removed the plastic bags myself but I didn't think of that until later. WHY? I don't know. Maybe because it was easier not to I guess. This shit is depressing as hell. The other day I was at the grocery store without my canvas sack. I asked the cashier for paper and then got distracted. When I turned back to my cart I saw that I had, indeed, been given paper bags — each one neatly inserted into a plastic bag. I said, more sharply than I intended, “I asked for PAPER! JUST paper!” The cashier - a fiftyish woman — looked confused. She said, “But… but… they’re much stronger this way!” She looked upset. I gently asked if she’d ever heard anything about these bags being an environmental problem. She said she didn’t know nothin’ about that but folks like the handles. “Easier to carry” she pointed out. I said I like not feeling guilty about plastic-choked rivers and landfills more. She looked exasperated because there were about ten impatient shoppers lined up behind me. She muttered, “So you want me to take them all out?” To my shame I said no, grabbed my evil bags and left feeling angry, mostly with myself. I should have quietly stepped out of line and removed the plastic bags myself but I didn’t think of that until later. WHY? I don’t know. Maybe because it was easier not to I guess.

This shit is depressing as hell.

]]> By: Mike http://postapocology.com/blog/2008/02/17/paper-or-plastic/#comment-13 Mike Sun, 17 Feb 2008 19:22:17 +0000 http://postapocology.com/blog/2008/02/17/paper-or-plastic/#comment-13 Wax paper used to work just fine, too -- like the turkey I get at the deli at the Safeway, always comes in a plastic bag with a <b>plastic slider</b> that will never biodegrade.... I'm going to have to start requesting butcher's paper instead. The more I wake up to what we're doing, the more I realize that it's the millions-of-actions that can be changed -- meaning, the little, wasteful, stupid, needless uses of plastic could shift, with a wee push from us humans. I think of each bit of plastic ending up in that Eighth Continent of trash floating in the Pacific. ... Wax paper used to work just fine, too — like the turkey I get at the deli at the Safeway, always comes in a plastic bag with a plastic slider that will never biodegrade…. I’m going to have to start requesting butcher’s paper instead.

The more I wake up to what we’re doing, the more I realize that it’s the millions-of-actions that can be changed — meaning, the little, wasteful, stupid, needless uses of plastic could shift, with a wee push from us humans. I think of each bit of plastic ending up in that Eighth Continent of trash floating in the Pacific. …

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