so massachusetts is gonna ban plastic bags by 2018. god why can’t they just leave us alone. we’re the richest generation in history but government is determined to impoverish us in any way they can manage.
want a lightbulb that doesn’t make your house look like a parking garage stairwell and isn’t a biohazard if it breaks? fuck you. get the curly cue bulb
want a toilet that actually flushes things down on the first try without flooding your bathroom? fuck you get a plunger
want to a car that can survive 3 mile an hour collision without crumpling like a sprite can? fuck you. enjoy your CAFE standards, pleb.
and now we can’t even get a fucking shopping bag. We’re all gonna be reduced to carrying around burlap sacks with us at all times like our great great great grandparents once did.
only the latest casualty in the war against everything reasonable and decent
The greatest part (the really greatest part) is the part where a lifetime supply of polyethylene plastic bags[1] is actually less CO2 than a lifetime supply of canvas bags.
This is because people buy exactly as many plastic bags as they need, but buy more canvas bags than they need because every so often they run to a store without the bag and must purchase a new one. Over a lifetime, those additional bags, despite being reusable, end up adding up to more than plastic bags would.
This is my statist face: 😝 😝 😝
[1] double-use: Carry groceries home once, then use as a garbage bag once
Counterpoint: plastic bags are actually really bad.
“But I’m an ancap and I actually like pollution because it makes liberals mad!”
I don’t give a shit.
Assholes throwing plastic bags in nature sure is bad, but that’s true for a lot of goods, it’s not the bag’s fault.
EDIT: Also you should know by now that “because it makes group x mad” is literally never why I want something :’(
No, the bags are inherently bad. We produce a ridiculous excess of them and they barely or never rot. What you’re talking about is a very simplistic analysis that can be changed by cultural shifts.
I remember a time when we carried around bags made of rope - they’re ridiculously reusable, cheap and can be carried with you everywhere, which they were for economics reasons.
People buy dedicated trash bags. People take extra free bags from any supermarket that gives them out. People use way more plastic bags that they actually need.