EDITORIAL: Going green a complex act
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Updated: July 03, 2009 9:21 AM
As we all try to do our part for the environment, often the most visible target of our zeal to go green is the ever-present plastic bag.
Some want them banned. Others want them to be biodegradable.
Still others simply play along when businesses charge for them – like it were some sort of environmental sinner’s tax.
In response, the masses have embraced the concept of the reusable bag like it was a revolutionary idea.
Entrepreneurial types are elevating the cloth shopping bag to the level of fashion accessory.
Going green is never that simple.
A recent study commissioned by the plastics industry found 40 per cent of reusable bags tested had mould and some had coliforms and bacteria.
We’re so used to throwing out bags after one use we’re forgetting to use basic hygiene to keep our reusable bags clean, of particular importance when used to carry groceries.
But what of plastic?
If we don’t reuse plastic shopping bags to hold wet garbage or other purposes, does that mean we’re to buy new plastic bags for those applications?
Is that really in the spirit of going green? Not if one approaches the issue with the same mindset that existed before the push to cloth bags.
To change the behaviour of the masses, the average person needs to be given a clear path to follow.
Being environmentally friendly is a combination of many steps, not just one in isolation. And the problem, of course, is there isn’t often a clear path.
As shown by the recent shift to embrace nuclear power as “clean energy,” yesterday’s pariah often can become today’s saviour.
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