Actually, Lazy's comment about kids is very interesting to me. A lot of people I know who think that Global Warming is a vast anti-American conspiracy engineered by the UN, happen to have kids...
I agree, but I have three kids... hmmm....must rationalize...
My oldest is earning his degree in BioChem. He has already done work with the USDA testing bio-fuel production processes. Maybe he will go on to develop processes to reduce pollution, far in excess of what he has added as an individual? How did that sound? Do I get a carbon credit?
I thought about this, would agree with you, and almost didn't post that, but here's why I did:
1. The sheer number of plastic bags used is phenomenal. Every time you buy something you get one, and every time you buy groceries you get several.
2. You're not giving up anything or sacrificing when you use your own. It's much better with cloth bags, but people just don't realize it.
I thought about that - no definitive answer, but sometimes I wonder, if you did a real 'cradle-to-grave' analysis of those tote bags, would they really be that much better than plastic film? I don't have one handy to weigh (they are in DWs car), but I would guess there is about 100x the 'stuff' in one tote vs a film bag. Cotton as a crop is an environmental disaster. They have to get washed (water and soap wasted, the soap came in packaging...), and eventually wear out, or get stained, and are tossed or lost. Probably still better, but I wonder how much - it's probably mice nuts compared to just about anything.
But my real point was that there seems to be so much more focus on the bag, rather than the packaging of the products *in* the bag.
If 'we' (as a society) were really interested in this, I could see where packaging could be taxed. Give different packaging materials a 'score' based on their energy consumption and recycle-ability, multiplied by it's weight. That would give the manufacturers some incentive to provide more environmentally friendly packaging. Give credits for effective in-store recycling, etc. As Dylan said, 'money doesn't talk, it SCREAMS'.
-ERD50