I agree with you 100%. So tired of constantly collecting items I can’t recycle at home and than mailing them to Terracycle. It makes me question my intentions as mailing also requires lots of recourses.
Pointless climate theater is infuriating, because for one segment it reinforces the idea that all you have do is pack up your rabe wrapper, drive it to the post office, where it gets put on another truck, and driven or flown to a distant destination, to get "recycled." Net carbon output of this pointless gesture is probably through the roof.
But it also gives fodder to the "it's all corporations' fault" contingent that OVER-states the minimal impact of our individual actions. This is an all-hands-on-deck sitch, people.
Economists have long pointed out that carrots and sticks are often just matters of phrasing. For climate solutions and lots of other good stuff, baking the right choice into the equation makes perfect sense. E.g. automatically signing up an all of a city's residents for a municipal aggregation program for clean energy (while allowing an opt out) makes a whole lot more sense than requiring people to affirmatively sign up.
My city saw this not that long ago when it banned single use plastic bags and required retailers to start charging 5 cents a bag. While the "you'll never take my gas stove alive" crowd predictably clutched its pearls over this latest Assault on Our Liberties, of course, it has worked quite well. But here's the funny thing: Most retailers were already giving customers a 5 cent DISCOUNT for bringing their own bags. What's the difference? Absolutely none. All phrasing. 5 cent discount for Thing A = 5 cent cost for Not Thing A. As General Douglas MacArthur famously said, "we are not retreating - we are advancing in the opposite direction."
I agree with you 100%. So tired of constantly collecting items I can’t recycle at home and than mailing them to Terracycle. It makes me question my intentions as mailing also requires lots of recourses.
Pointless climate theater is infuriating, because for one segment it reinforces the idea that all you have do is pack up your rabe wrapper, drive it to the post office, where it gets put on another truck, and driven or flown to a distant destination, to get "recycled." Net carbon output of this pointless gesture is probably through the roof.
But it also gives fodder to the "it's all corporations' fault" contingent that OVER-states the minimal impact of our individual actions. This is an all-hands-on-deck sitch, people.
Economists have long pointed out that carrots and sticks are often just matters of phrasing. For climate solutions and lots of other good stuff, baking the right choice into the equation makes perfect sense. E.g. automatically signing up an all of a city's residents for a municipal aggregation program for clean energy (while allowing an opt out) makes a whole lot more sense than requiring people to affirmatively sign up.
My city saw this not that long ago when it banned single use plastic bags and required retailers to start charging 5 cents a bag. While the "you'll never take my gas stove alive" crowd predictably clutched its pearls over this latest Assault on Our Liberties, of course, it has worked quite well. But here's the funny thing: Most retailers were already giving customers a 5 cent DISCOUNT for bringing their own bags. What's the difference? Absolutely none. All phrasing. 5 cent discount for Thing A = 5 cent cost for Not Thing A. As General Douglas MacArthur famously said, "we are not retreating - we are advancing in the opposite direction."
And why does Broccoli Rabe even need a wrapper?
Same thing Pepsi does by using one of the most prestigious sports tournament's advertising reach - "please recycle"