Plastic grocery bags

[Neuling]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

Yes in the U.S. not only do we have the right to get plastic bags but we also have the right to litter streets with them. When was the last time you saw a reusable bag on a roadway or sidewalk?

And yes "Group think" is another way of saying consensus or democratic process. You call it "group think" as a way to denigrate it b/c you don't like the outcome, but no one like all the laws in any free society. Get over it.

I wonder if people who say such things have ever lived in a country such as Germany, I mean as a part of German society (not as GIs or tourists who of course are outside society). If they had, they would know people there are just as individualistic and different from each other as Americans are.

The fact that on average Germans are indeed more environmentally aware and progressive than Americans does not have to do with group thinking. If one calls that group thinking, one might refer to the lack of such awareness among Americans as group thinking as well.

[PacificFlights]

On plastic bags, many countries outside the US have always had a fair number of people who used reusable bags. They just did it that way and plastic bags was really a new thing so going back to the traditional cloth or mesh bags wasn't that hard. Also in many European countires, they take a bit more pride in how their country looks. How many times have you traveled in Germany and seen someone just pickup a piece of discarded newspaper blowing by them and throw it in the trash? In the US, they will do that two step dance so the paper don't wrap around their legs but could care less about it being litter and let it just keep blowing on by.

Germany (of all the countries we go to) makes it very easy for us to discard out recyclable material when we arrive. if a person has to pass 30 garbage cans to find that one recycling bin, it's going in the trash. But if recycling bins outnumber trash bins, I'm going to recycle as much as possible.

I think it comes down to pride, the US is proud of many things, but certainkly not of litter. Littering and trash on the streets of the US is almost as american as apple pie. Thats what needs to change.

[Neuling]

Maybe Americans have inherited the garbage thing from the Brits. I remember that there was a lot of trash on British sidewalks...

[nei]

Carrying reusable is really not that difficult. I usually just leave them in my car trunk, so I always have them when I go shopping. Sometimes I bring them on foot, but often when I'm shopping on foot I'm buying as much so I can carry it buy hand. I hate when stores ask if I want a bag for one item.

I'm a bit messy and don't like to throw things out, so not using plastic bags makes me home a bit less messy.

Plastic bags do not decompose (most of the time) and have piled up on the surface of our oceans. Some marine animals eat plastic by mistake. Your freedom to avoid a minor inconvenience hurts others and makes the planet a worse place.