Sunday, March 19, 2006

Ain't no drag



I hate this.

These are two different trees in my backyard, each with a plastic grocery bag stuck in the branches. I don't know how the fuck I'm going to get them out without renting a cherry picker or something. The one on top has been there for like, three months, and is consequently somewhat shredded. The one on the bottom is brand new. I'd been stewing all winter about what to do about the first one and I looked out the window the other day and was like, "What the fuck?" I hate that these things are all over the place.

When KB and I went to Ireland for our honeymoon, we went to a grocery store in Kinsale to shop for items for a picnic. The checkout girl asked us if we wanted a "sack." We had a number of items, so we said yes. So she added the price of the bag to the total - they charge ten cents a bag over there. And we were sort of surprised and not a little bit indignant - "They charge for bags? For pete's sake!"- in true asshole American fashion, until we thought about it. It certainly helps cut down on the number of bags you use, and if you bring them back to the store and re-use them, they take five cents off your bill for each one.

I wish the U.S. did this. Even more than that, I wish the U.S. would start making biodegradable bags mandatory. Many other countries use biodegradable bags in their grocery stores. Of course, they're slightly more expensive, and God knows we're all about the bottom line here in the United States. Good for the environment? Sure! We'll do it! Oh, wait - it'll cost an extra two cents per bag? Fuck it. No way.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, considering we have a president who still hasn't acknowledged that global warming is real and not a hoax.

Thanks for reading.

2 comments:

Zach said...

They tried to pass a bill here in SF to charge a few cents for every bag used - including paper. There was such an uproar, even here, that it never made it.
But I cringe every time I see one of those damn plastic bags flying in the wind and think of all the unnecessary double-bagging going on in every store.

thptpth said...

Oh, man. If a measure like that can't even succeed in SF, there's no way the rest of country will ever pick up on it. Sigh.