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Lulu KC

(2,547 posts)
6. Thank you! (Prepare for hysterical rant.)
Mon Jul 9, 2018, 12:49 PM
Jul 2018

You have nailed it.
Yesterday realized that at conventional corner grocery store only the organic bananas are wrapped in plastic bags. So I chose between pesticides that are dangerous to the banana handlers or the plastic that is a participant in the overall doom of our planet. This time I chose for the banana handlers, but every time I look at that bunch of bananas on the counter I wish I could figure out an effective way to respond. I know the usual--contact Dole, push it out all over social media, etc. etc. but I really feel helpless against this huge machine of destruction. Then I think, "Why am I eating bananas anyway, Miss Eat Locally?" (Coffee and bananas not local and I'm hooked on both.)
Really. The plastic. What can we do about it?
Costco: Great to its employees. Good prices. Organic produce. Wrapped in plastic.
Grass fed beef at Whole Foods: Wrapped in plastic. For $4 more per pound, get at counter wrapped in paper that is COATED WITH PLASTIC.
Every single piece of cheap clothing I see that is made by slave or close-to-slave worker has tiny plastic bag with extra plastic buttons attached to it by a plastic thread. The clothes don't even last long enough to sew on a button, and how many people still do that? I have a collection that will eventually be landfilled by my children when I die, but am willing to bet that 99.99999999999999% of these are landfilled when they come home, along with the plastic-coated paper tags tethered by more plastic threads.
Pieces of gum: sealed in plastic. OTC pills: sealed in plastic
And yes! To get things out of the plastic that is more secure than a piece of American Tourister luggage requires a hacksaw. These are not Tylenol murders types of products! Everything is like this so it can be shipped and displayed more easily without paying people.
Late Stage Capitalism.
I seize the tiny changes, like Starbucks and the straw news this morning, fully aware that it is not adequate. But I will say that the sight of the ocean pollution seems to be reaching people in a different way.
Thanks for listening.

Washington State has several municipalities than have banned, or are in the process of banning, Aristus Jul 2018 #1
Good. I'm always shocked when I go to see family in other states that they don't yet Sophia4 Jul 2018 #2
Every once in a while, I hear this piece of idiocy from the anti-environment types: Aristus Jul 2018 #4
There are other benefits, though... jmowreader Jul 2018 #7
Right. And the cloth bags can be fun or even beautiful too. Sophia4 Jul 2018 #24
Texas Supreme Court ruled that bag bans are unconstitutional LeftInTX Jul 2018 #19
Good points. Sophia4 Jul 2018 #25
Corrugated plastic is polypropylene. It's Plastic No. 5. jmowreader Jul 2018 #27
The printing is embedded - no sheet LeftInTX Jul 2018 #29
Then reuse them! jmowreader Jul 2018 #30
Biodegradable plastic made from hemp could have solved this problem decades ago. SamKnause Jul 2018 #3
I bought metal straws at Amazon and I ask for NO straw if I go through a drive though window Maraya1969 Jul 2018 #5
You can get straw brushes too for cleaning them. nolabear Jul 2018 #8
I just bought metal straws on Amazon crazycatlady Jul 2018 #14
Thank you! (Prepare for hysterical rant.) Lulu KC Jul 2018 #6
More on my banana/plastic tangent Lulu KC Jul 2018 #10
+1. yonder Jul 2018 #13
I hate it when they wrap produce in tight plastic...it is always the organic stuff.... LeftInTX Jul 2018 #22
Meanwhile, next door in Idaho: yonder Jul 2018 #9
My head is exploding n/t Lulu KC Jul 2018 #11
Texas has a similar law LeftInTX Jul 2018 #23
People want speedy convenience, but there's a lot of built in behaviors procon Jul 2018 #12
I was raided BEFORE plastic-------everything was paper,cellophane,wood,metal, and my virgogal Jul 2018 #15
Sorry that you were raided.... LeftInTX Jul 2018 #21
Sigh---I even thought that I checked it out. virgogal Jul 2018 #28
we have comingled recycle....from what i understand...it is just dumped in a landfil not because dembotoz Jul 2018 #16
Not Here ProfessorGAC Jul 2018 #31
Evolution will help Loki Liesmith Jul 2018 #17
We have re-usable bags that are twenty years old csziggy Jul 2018 #18
Thanks. Terrific idea. Sophia4 Jul 2018 #26
It drives me nuts when I see people put their bananas in a plastic sack. LeftInTX Jul 2018 #20
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