Posted on 03/08/2008 1:48:05 PM PST by Sub-Driver
Plastic Bags Evil? Think Again, Some Scientists Say
Saturday , March 08, 2008
Scientists and environmentalists have attacked a global campaign to ban plastic bags that they say is based on flawed science and exaggerated claims.
The widely stated accusation that the bags kill 100,000 animals and a million seabirds every year are false, experts have told The Times of London. They pose only a minimal threat to most marine species, including seals, whales, dolphins and seabirds.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced last month that he would force supermarkets to charge for the bags, saying that they were “one of the most visible symbols of environmental waste.”
Retailers and some pressure groups, including the Campaign to Protect Rural England, threw their support behind him, and similar movements have spread across the United States.
But scientists, politicians and marine experts attacked the British government for joining a “bandwagon” based on poor science.
“The Government is irresponsible to jump on a bandwagon that has no base in scientific evidence," said Lord Taverne, the chairman of Sense about Science. "This is one of many examples where you get bad science leading to bad decisions which are counter-productive. Attacking plastic bags makes people feel good but it doesn’t achieve anything.”
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
What about a subaru legacy, an ipod, crocs, birkenstocks, doc martens, old navy, hollister, tommy hilfiger, malcom X hats, dreadlocks, elton john glasses, rastafarian/bob marley hats, lowrider jeans, micheal jordan shoes, vans(shoes), converse all-stars, guess clothes?
I actually towed it to the dealer when I traded it in on my first Ford pickup, back in the day.
It's trendiness that repulses me.
Some of those products might be just fine, maybe even excellent (I do own a shuffle, although it's broken). Trendiness and the holier-than-though marketing really turn me off.
I saw a stupid story on the BBC about how they are starting to charge green fees for plastic bags at some stores. It always amazes me the targets that the left wish to fight. Let us fight global warming which is ambiguous but not fight global terrorism which is demonstrated on a regular basis. Let us not fight crime because we all know criminals are the result of a hard luck life but instead fight plastic bags. Let us not fight educational ignorance and failure but instead fight the incandescent bulb and send our gullible children out to encourage people to replace their harmless light bulbs with ones filled with mercury gas.
The left is a faithless misanthropic monster bent on busy bodying the rest of us till no end. They are the first to rush out with unproven or end of the world claims only to be rebuked by nature/the hand of God when the hurricanes and warming do no materialize.
So now the fools who called the alarm for warming and see it everywhere are emboldened. Facts and details are only import to those who wish to be correct. Those who are driven by feelings and an internalized hatred of their very humanity should confiscate a plastic bag and stick their head in it. It would solve their problem and the rest of us could live happier lives for it.
Our grocery store recycles the plastic bags.
I’ve compromised; I bought a few of the cloth bags to take to the store with me. They’re nice and sturdy, and I get a 5 cent credit for each bag.
” Years ago ma would send me to the store with a grocery cart “
I hope you kept taking it back to the same store.
You know , they never missed it.
What will my Walmart Grocery Store use? They don’t even have paper bags.
I like paper in plastic - it is stronger and I use them as trash bags later.
We have a little farm and burn stuff including my old files, five years old and older. My son who is a big environment person wanted to give us grief about the burn thing but we talked about landfill, the energy expended for the truck to pick up the files and shred them etc etc and he ended up agreeing that a small fire in the Kansas countryside probably created a smaller “carbon footprint.”
Being a city dweller, I dont have an incinerator. I do use paper bags to lightfires in my wood stove - but that's only two or three nights a week during the winter.
I use the plastic bags for garbage bags on my boat and if I've got too many, they recycle nicely.
My basic problem is Government and Environment Weenies making decisions for me. Think I'll start taking some of used WholeFoods bags to the store to re-use them again. They'll probably refuse to fill them. Idiots....LOL
Where I shop there are three options, bring your own bags, or one can buy either paper bags @.05 each, or large heavy plastic bags for a dime.
I take my own bags, both paper and plastic.
So you never wear the same clothes twice either?
What silly thinking. Do you think that the grocery bag will do, hide some eeeevil bacteria where the washing machine can’t get it out?
While not as convenient, cloth bags make sense in the long run. I’ve switched except when I forget mine. The bags live under the front seat in a plastic box now. If nothing leaks, and it was dry taking in the groceries, the bags just go back in the box. Otherwise it’s a trip through the washer, then back in the car.
I use the cloth bags as well. Not for the environment but because my Swiss blood won’t let me waste anything! I swear it’s a compulsion.
I would think enviros would love plastic bags if they are landfilled. They are made from oil and their carbon is not released into the atmosphere.
>> saying that they were “one of the most visible symbols of environmental waste.”
Got me. I always thought it was politicians.
Well, don't carry your germs and roaches in the same bag as your groceries.
Thanks for the ping.
Lol, I kinda like the paper bags LJ. I have used them for wrapping things to mail and even some nice gift shops now use brown paper and colorful ribbons to gift wrap.
Paper, plastic, it all burns in my incinerator. You should only burn used tires at night though, otherwise that thick cloud of black smoke will bring every envirowienie for miles to protest and leave garbage all over the place.
Carbon isn’t a pollutant.
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