

Plastic bags are good for you - acheron
http://reason.com/archives/2015/09/01/plastic-bags-are-good-for-you

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liamcardenas
Although I am partial to this argument, I did not walk away from this article
thinking that plastic bags are good. However, it did make a case for why they
are "less bad" than most people think.

Key points:

\- Plastic bags a technologically marvelous and poor people can use them to
carry many groceries

\- Plastic bags make up only 0.6% of visible litter, and plastic grocery bags
are but a subset of that -- other studies with higher numbers have unreliable
methodologies.

\- As David Santillo, a senior biologist with Greenpeace, told The Times of
London, "It's very unlikely that many animals are killed by plastic bags. The
evidence shows just the opposite. We are not going to solve the problem of
waste by focusing on plastic bags. With larger mammals it's fishing gear
that's the big problem. On a global basis plastic bags aren't an issue."

\- Most plastic bags are made with natural gas, and not oil (and even if it
were oil, 100 billion bags would be less oil than American consumes in one
day)

\- Ultimately, the amount (in tons) of reusable bags thrown in landfills every
year is greater than that of plastic bags.

\- Reusable bags can be unsanitary and have led to an outbreak of norovirus
(and I assume other incidents as well, although no other figures were
provided)

I do think this is sufficient evidence to oppose bans on plastic bags
(although -- as I said before -- I am biased). In order to make something
illegal, a very strong case should be made against it. Banning plastic bags
would have virtually no effect on liter, global warming, landfills, or animals
life. That being said, I wish there were more of a comparison with paper bags,
so we could determine which one is truly the best.

~~~
PantaloonFlames
The takeaway is that there is no magic solution. Consumption implies impact,
whether you use paper or plastic. Unless you shop at a farm, there's still a
bunch of packaging in your grocery haul outside of the carrying bag - the box
containing the froot loops, the bag containing the organic beet chips, the
foam plate and plastic wrap that contains your free-range chicken. Therefore
be thoughtful about what you consume.

tl/dr: Re-use your paper bags. Ride your bike to the grocery.

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HarryHirsch
Why is it that environmental conservation is anathema to the right wing?
_Laisser faire_ , social conservatism, individual freedom, these are concepts
that traditionally go with the Right, but the environment is orthogonal to all
these.

~~~
bko
Obviously Reason is a libertarian publication, but the article argues that
plastic bags are not bad for the environment, considering the alternatives.

The overall opposition by libertarian/conservative groups is that conservation
policies require centralized control and action. You can both accept the
possibility of global catastrophe based on environmental damages, but you also
fear the centralized control that is required to even try and manage the
potential crises. Also, many are skeptical of the political process as an
effective means to solve big problems.

