This is a graph of what people think will help with climate change versus the actual impacts.
By skewing perceptions so massively, I think the war on plastic packaging has been a disaster.
Graph via linkedin.com/pulse/what-red…
By skewing perceptions so massively, I think the war on plastic packaging has been a disaster.
Graph via linkedin.com/pulse/what-red…
I’m also pretty sure there was a study which showed that people only have a limited capacity for action on environmental issues, so getting them to focus on really ineffective stuff like plastic bags is wasting that goodwill for no carbon benefit. But I can’t find it right now!
It’s similar to self-licensing, of which Wikipedia has some nice examples related to energy use: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-lice…
This seems relevant…getting perspective on these issues is a nightmare
In response to the lots of people who have (correctly!) pointed out that the main reason to ditch plastic bags is not climate change—yes, but I think results like this show that people conflate the two!
Also, even if you take the non-climate aspects of plastic bags into account somehow, I’d guess that a year’s plastic bag use is still vastly less significant for the environment than not eating meat for a year. If anyone’s got any quantitative comparisons I’d be very interested!
Maybe I’m wrong though… If nanoplastics do have a significant effect on proteins, they could be a massive deal.
So much news on this stuff at the moment!
So much news on this stuff at the moment!
I like this optimistic take, but I worry that people don’t have infinite goodwill, and not using plastic bags is far easier than eg giving up meat. Still, change is possible—let’s direct it as effectively as we can!
The fierce debate beneath this thread is why I love carbon taxes—if we just make bad behaviours expensive, then it sidesteps all the (admittedly fascinating) complexity of whether people care enough/if reusable alternatives are ACTUALLY better etc.
It doesn’t solve everything (including, obviously, plastic pollution itself!) but the amount of effort and brainpower is absolves us of needing is amazing.
