Todd Wynn writes on his Facebook page:
I am beginning to wonder if the whole world has gone mad and economic logic has just been thrown out the window as irrelevant…..
I distinctly remember when plastic bags were introduced in Oregon grocery stores. I was six or seven years old and I remember my parents and all of my friends’ parents being appalled. In fact, I …
The article he cites goes on to argue why both plastic bags and paper bags are bad for the environment, so naturally the conclusion is that Oregon residents should just grab their groceries in arms, or get one of the new petri dish bags.
George Carlin really sums up this argument well:
And while we are on the subject of environmentalism and Oregon, how’s that “save the spotted owl” thing working out for ya?
Now they’ve gone down the path of “we have to kill the owls to save the owls” since nothing else has worked.
Indeed, maybe the whole world has gone mad. Though, I think it mainly the world that views it through green colored glasses.
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how’s that “save the spotted owl” thing working out for ya?
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They obviously need to build more KMarts…..
…since it’s been proven that spotted owls prefer to nest behind the K
Washing the reusable bags creates more pollution and consumes more energy than single use bags. Find ways to re-use the singe use bags, that is much more efficent use of resources.
I was hiking a trail in Oregon a couple of years ago when I came to a small campground where we had planned to spend the night.
In the public restroom, on the wall in the location where you would expect find a role of toilet paper, there was a nicely crafted little sign that read: “Due to the shortage of cut timber in this region which can be used in the manufacture of paper products, please catch, and use, a spotted owl for your personal sanitation needs.”
Plastic bags tied to your veggie garden fence will keep deer out of your peas. And paper bags make great mulch.
…[B]arred owls expanded rapidly because they adapt well to mixed habitat and eat a variety of prey, while spotted owls prefer old-growth to nest and, in most of its range, flying squirrels to eat.
Scott Covert says: “…Find ways to re-use the singe use bags[;] that is much more efficent use of resources.”
I think they can be rolled up and then woven together to make handsome throw rugs. I line my wastebaskets with them and then tie them shut before putting in the trash. They also make great emergency rain hats. Yes, they look totally dorky, but if you’re Green, that’s obviously not a consideration. I’m currently experimenting to see if they can be turned into espadrilles to completely replace Birkenstocks. They’re a little slippery and tend to wear out too fast, but, hey, we’re saving the planet, aren’t we? Aren’t we??
Some decades ago, I made several weighted bent-rod frames to hold the plastic grocery bags open as waste receptacles. My mother-in-law used hers until she died, and we and our daughter each still have ours, in the cabinet under the sink. When full, just tie the loops together and discard appropriately, and then fit another!
How many times can a bag made of recycled paper be recycled again? I figure three more times before it ends up as cattle feed or in a landfill (or in Combos “Nacho Cheese” filling)? And how many times can a plastic bag (a by-product from hydrocarbon refining) get recycled into new bags before it gets turned into car upholstery or whatnot? I’m guessing at least 20 times, possibly more—like those evil Styrofoam clam shell containers (70 times). So which one’s the environmentally responsible one again?
Talking of plastic bags…
“Plastic bags less damaging to environment
Plastic bags may not be as bad for the environment as previously assumed, and may in fact be better than their “eco friendly” alternatives, government research suggests.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/8336693/Plastic-bags-less-damaging-to-environment.html
I remember when they came out with the plactis shopping bags and said they were supposed to save the planet by saving “X” million trees/year.
I’m totally serious. Plastic bags were going to save the planet…
Carlin is right and he makes his point very well. Plastic bags are good. My wife saves them for use and they serve a lot of secondary purposes. She also saves paper bags and re uses them. The only problem with these bags is the people who want to eliminate them.
Try using beer cans with a few pebbles in them along the top wire. You’ll hear when they get in the garden and then, POW, venison to go with the veggies…
AND I remember plastic bags’ intro in Oregon they were forced on us by the same green idiots that now want them banned. It was supposed to save trees (those big things that grow like weeds everywhere and are worshiped by some people.)
Thanks
JK
We save plastic grocery bags and use them for cleaning out Smokey’s litter box [the cat’s box, not mine]. They’re perfect for putting the treasure hunt discoveries in. We tie ’em off and they go into the garbage bin. Clean and sanitary, and better than a paper bag.
And paper bags can be dangerous.
Sign of the times. For the past twenty years my husband and I diligently used our plastic grocery bags to collect our kitty’s litter. Great devices. With the introduction of fees for the bags, we’re now using small plastic garbage bags.
Our “carbon footprint” now includes our felines’ (X5) waste disposal. The guilt would be killing us if we actually believed we had a carbon footprint.
I don’t agree with everything George Carlin ever said, he did seem to be right more often than not. He couldn’t be more right in this case.
Already watched that on Utube a while ago. Cracks me up every time.
> The article he cites goes on to argue why both plastic bags and paper bags are bad for the environment….
I’m lost. Which article says paper bags are bad? The BlueOregon piece by Jon Isaacs promotes an anti-plastic-bag bill but speaks favorably of paper bags.
@ur momisugly HeckSpawn says:
February 25, 2011 at 1:20 pm
Try using beer cans with a few pebbles in them along the top wire. You’ll hear when they get in the garden and then, POW, venison to go with the veggies…
No need. I just put out some corn, and sit on the porch for 20 min. Haven’t missed in 10 years.
@ur momisugly jim karlock says:
February 25, 2011 at 1:35 pm
AND I remember plastic bags’ intro in Oregon they were forced on us by the same green idiots that now want them banned. It was supposed to save trees (those big things that grow like weeds everywhere and are worshiped by some people.)
Thanks
JK
Some trees are weeds. I spend a lot of time and money every year cutting them down so I can continue to use my 1/4 mile driveway thru the woods, among other things. Some, I cut up for my hobby. I guess that means I’ll be going to ecohell eventually. 🙁 😉
Every dog Owner should carry a used plastic bag, but evidently they don’t around my area at least.
Plastic bags were supposed save the planet by saving paper and trees, margarine was supposed to save our health from evil butter, low fat everything was supposed to save us from ourselves, carob was supposed to save us from the health ravages of chocolate, soy was supposed to replace the cruelty of eating meat, bottled water was supposed to save us from the dangers of tap water, and now high gas prices are supposed to save us from rising temperatures which, like everything I’ve listed, is actually a GOOD thing…
We have farmed trees for generations, butter is natural and delicious, fat has been a mainstay of our diet for millennia, chocolate is a wonderful healthful antioxidant, meat is an important part of our diet, our tap water is fine and never harmed a soul and countless archeological studies have shown cooling to be a terrible source of misery due to increases in crop failures while warming tends to produce more consistent yields…
There must be a “chicken little” corollary to Murphy’s Law – that the richer and more powerful a nation is the more the population fears losing everything to some imagined weakness so that nowadays the sky is CONSTANTLY falling and every little decision can “harm” or “help” the earth…
He said ban ‘single use plastic bags’ but many, maybe nearly all people, reuse plastic bags to line small trash cans at home or office. A paper bag is ineffective at that kind of reuse (they’re quadrangular for starters).
Carlin is a national treasure. Language and all.
The plastic bag banning has been promoted by big grocery chains like Fred Meyer – this is simply a tax on poor people since they can now charge for the bags they used to give away for free.
I am not kidding. new town, new park near new green buildings a library and city hall, they have rolls of plastic bags to catch animal poo.
I am opposed to reusing bags for groceries. They cross contaminate food from previous trips to the market and different foods in your current grocery order. Reusing bags are dirty. Just as dirty as airport gropers not changing gloves.