Music Banter - The Environmental Watchdog MasterThread

Music Banter (https://www.musicbanter.com/)

- Current Events, Philosophy, & Religion (https://www.musicbanter.com/current-events-philosophy-religion/)

- - The Environmental Watchdog MasterThread (https://www.musicbanter.com/current-events-philosophy-religion/89143-environmental-watchdog-masterthread.html)

Nobody uses plastic bags here anymore since the Govt brought in the tax on them, making the shops have to charge for them. Now almost everyone has bought one usually recyclable cloth bag which they bring when they go shopping, and occasionally you might need to buy one or two more, but mostly you bring your own bags. Small, flimsy plastic bags are still available but they're pretty useless for anything more than a few small items and most people don't bother: I've seen people walking out of Tescos holding a bunch of shopping in their arms. Seems to have worked for us anyway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by elphenor (Post 1830316)

Really sticking it to the socialists by letting the Wal-Mart bags fly free

We've certainly seen a decrease in the amount of plastic bags just dumped on the ground since the system was initiated anyway, so it's been good for the environment. Not sure you can mock that to be honest.

A few technical concerns that bother me about a wider rollout of green technology. Battery storage for rooftop solar would be a problem at end of life disposal. Not sure where they're at as far as recyclability but it's something that needs addressing before we wind up with toxic stockpiles.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland (Post 1830225)

Gotta love this climate change skeptic (easy there, actual skeptics, not denialists) resource
Global Warming and Climate Change Myths

^ Yes, this site has an impressive quantity of facts and figures, and from what I saw does a good job of debunking the arguments raised by denialists. It does too good a job, really - I came away depressed after 10 mins.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rostasi (Post 1830265)

I live in the 9th largest city in the US. We had a system implemented that encouraged you to bring your own shopping bag along when you bought groceries. You could get a plastic bag if you needed one, but it cost you 5 cents. It didn't last long because all it took was some raging right-wing asshole who thought that the "gubment just has to get into everythang..." along with a bag manufacturer to sue the city. We also had our not just physically crippled governor cry that it was the end of "our free-market model" and that we were being "California-ized" (as if that were a bad thing). During that short five months, we raised a half-million dollars for environmental groups. Not anymore. Cocksuckers.

^ That's a shame. One step forward, then immediately back again! In the UK I think that the money collected in bag charges also goes to environmental causes, precisely to difuse allegations that it's all a government scam. How frustrating that the logic of that detail didn't win over your fellow citizens - plus of course the common sense of having a cleaner city. :(

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen (Post 1830344)

^ Good point. Never thought of that, so I don't have an answer to hand I'm afraid.

Speaking of environmental issues I'm not sure if the situation in Northern Australia has made much news overseas but the idiot government here is looking to bankroll a massive new coal mine and shipping port right in the middle of the already struggling Great Barrier Reef.

Quote:

"Is this the worst mistake that Australia could make?"

^ Yeah, I haven't seen anything about this news story anywhere.

It sounds like double bad news ; screw up the Reef some more and release a bunch of CO2. At least there seems to be some well-coordinated protesting going on.
Perhaps you'll keep us posted on how this story plays out in the coming months...

Basically the freaking morons torpedoed any green incentive schemes that had been put in place and decided that coal was the way of the future. Even as China moves away from coal and the bottom is dropping out of the industry they are determined to stay the course. They had a choice of putting Australia at the forefront of green technology or tying the country to a dying industry and they chose the latter.

Sorry for the whinge it's just so frustrating.

Yes, it sucks when decision-makers are so fixated on the model of last century's energy solutions when there is so much evidence to show that it's no longer the best way forward.

I have to skim through those threads to make sure old me didn't say anything stupid lol.

So to add to the plastic bag discussion. The tax placed on those ends up affecting the poor so much more. Also I would hate to put meats in a cloth bag. The spread of bacteria is a definite issue.

Quote:

Originally Posted by djchameleon (Post 1830453)

I have to skim through those threads to make sure old me didn't say anything stupid lol.

:laughing:

Quote:

So to add to the plastic bag discussion. The tax placed on those ends up affecting the poor so much more. Also I would hate to put meats in a cloth bag. The spread of bacteria is a definite issue.

^ I think the idea is to avoid paying the extra, dj, by going back to the old system of shoppers setting out with their own re-usable bags. That's how it was done, by rich and poor alike, from the dawn of civilization until about 1965. Historically, the one-use carrier bag is a very recently acquired bad habit.
(Also, in the UK, you can still get free carrier bags for meat, fish and other produce like that; they are exempt from the charge.)