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After WWII, the US government instituted and encouraged a ultra consumer society to boost their depressed economy and it worked. Now overconsuming (throw away your old stuff instead of fixing it and buy new) is normalized.
@Sand&Salt - I really admire your practices. Basically reuse reuse reuse. Which also promotes reduce because you don't need to consume a new item when you reuse. My parents do pretty much what you do because they come from the old school and never ever wastes anything. I wish the world would do more of this.
I try my very best to reuse and reduce. If I don't truly need it, I won't buy it. If I can fix it with minimal costs I will at least try. My buddy is the complete opposite, if something breaks... he says he has no time to fix it and uses it as an excuse to buy something brand new and shiny to replace it. That is the problem with this damn world IMHO.
There was a big increase in packaging in Australia as companies tried to export to Japan and apparently that market required it. So we all ended up with everything over packaged.
But some of the so called biodegradable products are apparently not quite as they are advertised. It is such a minefield.
And many people here were using their own keeper cups for takeaway coffee. When the pandemic hit, coffee shops would not fill them.
Here the op shops are extremely popular these days, it is good to see all the clothes and books etc being resold.
I realize facts often ruin a good discussion of envronmental issues, but keep in mind--
The "throw away consumerism based economy" does more good for more people than harm. It provides more jobs, cheaper goods and a higher standard of living.
Whie the increased packaging trend over the last 50 yrs seems like a waste when evlauated only on its surface, it allows for less breakage in shipping, more security from tampering, easier loading/unloading and thus, lower labor costs and prices, higher demand, more jobs... and around and around again.
There is no "land fill problem." That idea was started by a Nixon era bureaucrat trying to ensure his own job. This country consists of 10,000,000 sq miles of area and over the next century only 1000 sq mi will be used for dumps-- and then returned to useful life as recreational areas when full...The only "problem" is that the dumps near large metro areas are being filled and those areas now need to drive their refuse farther and farther to dump it. It's a local problem of logisitics, not one of the environment in general.
Plastic is not a problem-- It is made from what would otherwise be a waste product of petroleum cracking/refining. Even if we foolishly stop using petroleum as fuel, we still need it as a source of chemicals and material, so it will still be pumped.... Conservation includes not wasting anything-- even oil.
Cardboard and paper packaging is made from 100% recyclable wood. No natural forests are being destroyed (anymore) to provide it. The trees used are grown as crops witha 30 yr life cycle, rather than the one year cycle we associate with most farming. Same difference. An "artificial forest" of crop trees is better than no forest at all.
I realize facts often ruin a good discussion of envronmental issues, but keep in mind--
The "throw away consumerism based economy" does more good for more people than harm. It provides more jobs, cheaper goods and a higher standard of living.
Whie the increased packaging trend over the last 50 yrs seems like a waste when evlauated only on its surface, it allows for less breakage in shipping, more security from tampering, easier loading/unloading and thus, lower labor costs and prices, higher demand, more jobs... and around and around again.
There is no "land fill problem." That idea was started by a Nixon era bureaucrat trying to ensure his own job. This country consists of 10,000,000 sq miles of area and over the next century only 1000 sq mi will be used for dumps-- and then returned to useful life as recreational areas when full...The only "problem" is that the dumps near large metro areas are being filled and those areas now need to drive their refuse farther and farther to dump it. It's a local problem of logisitics, not one of the environment in general.
Plastic is not a problem-- It is made from what would otherwise be a waste product of petroleum cracking/refining. Even if we foolishly stop using petroleum as fuel, we still need it as a source of chemicals and material, so it will still be pumped.... Conservation includes not wasting anything-- even oil.
Cardboard and paper packaging is made from 100% recyclable wood. No natural forests are being destroyed (anymore) to provide it. The trees used are grown as crops witha 30 yr life cycle, rather than the one year cycle we associate with most farming. Same difference. An "artificial forest" of crop trees is better than no forest at all.
Wow, just wow.
All of your points ignore everything that we're doing wrong to this planet.
Landfills are not a problem? It's kinda like how we use to think... throwing garbage, effluent into the oceans is not a problem because it's so damn expansive. The very principal of making over 260 million tons of garbage (that's just the USA) every year and just "burying it" is the solution is ridiculous. If you think that all the leaching of all that into our earth, water table, etc won't impact us in the future, then you are naive. It's just simply not a sustainable practice.
Plastic is not a problem? Jeez, I won't even touch that one.
Nobody here says that packaging isn't necessary, it's just that the vast majority of manufacturers are too lazy to do better packaging practices. How many items are "super" packaged up just to make them look more attractive (marketing).
If you actually care about the earth and our future generations, then you have to stop being so self centered and stop rationizing our destructive habits.
I hated it when burgers and hot sandwiches came in styrofoam containers. The heat from the food would cause condensation inside the styrofoam and the food would get wet.
All of your points ignore everything that we're doing wrong to this planet.
Landfills are not a problem? It's kinda like how we use to think... throwing garbage, effluent into the oceans is not a problem because it's so damn expansive. The very principal of making over 260 million tons of garbage (that's just the USA) every year and just "burying it" is the solution is ridiculous. If you think that all the leaching of all that into our earth, water table, etc won't impact us in the future, then you are naive. It's just simply not a sustainable practice.
Plastic is not a problem? Jeez, I won't even touch that one.
Nobody here says that packaging isn't necessary, it's just that the vast majority of manufacturers are too lazy to do better packaging practices. How many items are "super" packaged up just to make them look more attractive (marketing).
If you actually care about the earth and our future generations, then you have to stop being so self centered and stop rationizing our destructive habits.
You've expressed all the standard arguments....but that's the point of my post-- those are not true.
We learned long ago that throwing virgins into the volcano doesn;t help and that clear cutting forests is bad and that just burying garbage in holes in the ground has its problems...so we don't do any of those things anymore.
Landfills have been highly regulated for decades. They don't leach chemicals into the soil, contaminate ground water or air anymore. They are required to have a plan to return the area to useful life as recreational parks or natural habitat once they are filled....As stated above, they don't take up much space.
Plastic is made from oil waste products (Vinyl, as in PVC, ethane/acetlylene as in Polyethlene), etc)....The cardinal directive in conservation is "The Three R's"-- Re-cycle- Re-use and Re-purpose.... Doesn't it make sense to use those waste products? What would we do with them if not turn them into plastic?.. Put them in a dump or burn them?...Once turned into useful plastic, they can be re-cycled (we can argue about the economic wisdom of that)....Making plastic instead of just dumping the material as waste makes good ecological sense.... Wishing we didn't have petro-waste is an exercise in immature thinking.
Packaging reduces breakage in shipping. That means less waste. The packaging itself can be re-cycled if chosen properly. ...We should learn as we go along. Even fools learn from their mistakes.
Single use plastic bags finally banned here in NSW today.
Though not sure how we will get on if garbage bin liners are banned. When I was a child people would wrap the daily rubbish in sheets of newspaper before placing the bundles in the bin. Now people have so few newspapers another way will need to be found.
Do you still have paper grocery bags? That's what we always used for trash.
When I visited South America, many restaurants don't have plastic or foam utensils or wares. You sit down at this little diner and everything is reusable stuff. They give you a cloth towel to wipe your mouth with and no paper napkins.
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