Mystic Muse's Magnificent Masquerade Random Banter #225

[Bartmanhomer]

What, really? Why? Plastic bags are horrible for the environment.

Peelee, please explain why plastic bags are horrible for the environment.

[Anonymouswizard]

Mith will be spared when the revolution comes.

But what will you do when the revolution comes full circle?

What, really? Why? Plastic bags are horrible for the environment.

Hints: autism, dislike of change, autistic people tend to dislike change...


In short, plastic bags are bad because they take the emerge lifetime of a Dragon to begin to biodegrade.

[Peelee]

But what will you do when the revolution comes full circle?

Be the first against the wall, I suppose.

Hints: autism, dislike of change, autistic people tend to dislike change...

True, I didn't think about that at all. Would reusable cotton/cloth bags be useful, then? There's the initial change, but once it's settled in its not just a type, it's the exact same one.

[Bartmanhomer]

But what will you do when the revolution comes full circle?



Hints: autism, dislike of change, autistic people tend to dislike change...


In short, plastic bags are bad because they take the emerge lifetime of a Dragon to begin to biodegrade.

It's true I don't like change. Anyway, I almost finished with my homebrew D&D 3.5 deity. I'm adding my deity bio, personality, traits, friends/enemies and that will be it. I finally made this accomplishment and I'm happy.

[Aotrs Commander]

They really ought to do what they did when I were a lad and just have a chunk of the shop front with a load of (scrap) cardboard boxes to use, which ought to dramatically reduce the amount of bags required, period (especially for the big supermarkets where basically everyone is coming in their cars anyway).



And don't give me any rubbish about how that should violate health and safety nowadays, I don't recall there being a massive endemic of card-board box related injuries and deaths. If it REALLY is an issue, you a) mandate ALL the companies have to make the card boxes so they can't be dangerous (?), like they apparently used to be, b) anyone (who is not seriously actually physically disabled, for whom allowance should be made in any walk) who is incapable of using a cardboard box without harming themselves shouldn't be doing anything of any kind ever anyway and c) the people who will delberately try to do it for the sole purpose of lawsuits for money should be summarily disembowled and staked out as an example not to take the frackin' urine along with everyone else who tries that in any walk of life.

No, that is not an overreaction, I'm a necromancer, death is just where I START.

[Peelee]

They really ought to do what they did when I were a lad and just have a chunk of the shop front with a load of (scrap) cardboard boxes to use

Ah, the Costco model, as we call it here in the States.

[Mystic Muse]

Peelee, please explain why plastic bags are horrible for the environment.

It takes a plastic bag 10-20 years to photodegrade. They do NOT biodegrade. Nothing in a plastic bag is useful, or reused by the environment. They just break down into smaller and smaller pieces over time, which can cause its own issues, like being swallowed by animals, or ending up in our own drinking water.

If you eat meat, plastic could contaminate the animals you're eating as well.

[Peelee]

It takes a plastic bag 10-20 years to photodegrade. They do NOT biodegrade. Nothing in a plastic bag is useful, or reused by the environment. They just break down into smaller and smaller pieces over time, which can cause its own issues, like being swallowed by animals, or ending up in our own drinking water.

If you eat meat, plastic could contaminate the animals you're eating as well.

I'd use a more definitive word than "could." The funnest part of the article was where the researcher said "oh, these are almost certainly grossly underestimating how much it is."

And that's only focusing on people's diets.

[Aotrs Commander]

Ah, the Costco model, as we call it here in the States.

I dunno why they stopped over here, but it just sort of petered out in what must have been the early 80s; I very much remember going to Finefair (that's one for the other old British fogies) and being young enough to want to play in the cardboard boxes. (I mean, you're never too old, but you know what I mean.)

...

Mum gets loo paper from a place that makes it out of 100% recyclables - it's bamboo or something - (called "Who gives a crap,"). I do give the ladies an gentlemen credit for the packaging, as it explictly says "re-use box to make spaceship," which clearly shows they are ladies of gentleman of both great wisdom but also phenominal good taste.

[Fyraltari]

Am I the only one who brings their own bags* when grocery shopping? Those things are reusable you know?

*Generally with a backpack too.

[DataNinja]

Am I the only one who brings their own bags* when grocery shopping? Those things are reusable you know?

Nope, I do as well. ...most of the time. I always kick myself whenever I forget because it's worse for the environment... and also just so much more inconvenient. I need my bag space for stuff like milk, thanks.

[Aotrs Commander]

Am I the only one who brings their own bags* when grocery shopping? Those things are reusable you know?

*Generally with a backpack too.

I have five foldable bags permenantly stored on-hand in my coat for when I have to go shopping. (Before that was a necessity, it didn't matter, since we re-used the plastic bags for other things anyway (now we just have to buy them special-like for the same jobs).) Optimally, we will also have other, larger, bags when shopping is required as well (i.e. for larger loads than one-Bleakbane-easily-portable.)

This sort of preparation is atypical of most people, however.

[BisectedBrioche]

Am I the only one who brings their own bags* when grocery shopping? Those things are reusable you know?

*Generally with a backpack too.

From my experience as a cashier, people leave them at home or in the car a lot.

I just keep a foldable bag in my bag. That way I have at least one bag I don't forget.

[Thufir]

They really ought to do what they did when I were a lad and just have a chunk of the shop front with a load of (scrap) cardboard boxes to use, which ought to dramatically reduce the amount of bags required, period (especially for the big supermarkets where basically everyone is coming in their cars anyway).

Pretty sure my local Sainsbury's still does that, but I very rarely see the boxes used. Just occasionally when someone's buying a lot of alcohol they'll grab a box for all the bottles. Though obviously I'm only there when I'm shopping so I don't know how representative that is of the general amount of use.

Am I the only one who brings their own bags* when grocery shopping? Those things are reusable you know?

Nope, we have an extensive collection of old plastic bags (and a few canvas bags) stored in the cupboard under the stairs so we basically never need new ones. It always seemed weird to me that more people don't do that. Of course it also always seemed weird to me when my university housemates would go shopping and come back with a random selection of ingredients and no plan of what to use them for, rather than making a shopping list in advance and only buying what was needed, but I guess that's also a thing people do?

[Bartmanhomer]

It takes a plastic bag 10-20 years to photodegrade. They do NOT biodegrade. Nothing in a plastic bag is useful or reused by the environment. They just break down into smaller and smaller pieces over time, which can cause its own issues, like being swallowed by animals, or ending up in our own drinking water.

If you eat meat, plastic could contaminate the animals you're eating as well.

Oh well, that makes sense.

[Rawhide]

Peelee, please explain why plastic bags are horrible for the environment.

If I may enquire, which country and social environment are you in where you have not heard just how terrible the standard plastic shopping bags are for the environment? There's a massive push on to change the harmful shopping bag worldwide.

[Aedilred]

I do not mourn the passing of the free plastic bag. Shops here are now obliged to charge for them, which is fine. The problem is that they now often do not offer the old-style lightweight bag at all, only heavier-duty "bags for life" etc. which (a) gives them licence to charge more and (b) is worse, per bag, for the environment.

I know we're supposed to re-use bags, but you don't always have one. Or the one you have turns out not to be big enough. At which point your only real option is to buy a bag that's much worse for the environment than the free bag you would have got previously (or not to buy the thing you entered the shop to buy, which, let's face it, isn't going to happen).

Following the introduction of the mandatory charge, use of disposable bags dropped dramatically, which was good, but I think now people have got used to the idea of paying for them they just accept it as a cost of shopping, and more recent reports have shown that the switch to larger, heavier bags is eroding whatever progress was made. So good job, retailers.

I don't know why shops here don't offer paper bags more frequently. They don't stand up to rain, it's true, but as a disposable option for people who are only getting a bag because they were caught short, it seems a superior option.

[Bartmanhomer]

But I want my plastic bags...Oh, the humanity.

[Mystic Muse]

Job searching is the freaking worst.

Especially when you don't get any feedback.

I'm not sure which is worse, the responses that are just "We have decided to take a different direction at this time" or no response at all.

Applied for three more tonight.

I'm just looking for full time at a decent wage, so I can get out of my current dead-end job. This shouldn't be so hard.

[LaZodiac]

You can do it Mystic! I'm cheering you on!

[Bartmanhomer]

You can do it Mystic! I'm cheering you on!

Me too. In other GITP news, I finally finished my homebrew D&D 3.5 deity. It took a long time and effort to make my very own D&D deity but I'm glad it's done.

[Peelee]

Job searching is the freaking worst.

Especially when you don't get any feedback.

I'm not sure which is worse, the responses that are just "We have decided to take a different direction at this time" or no response at all.

Applied for three more tonight.

I'm just looking for full time at a decent wage, so I can get out of my current dead-end job. This shouldn't be so hard.

This advice is better for when you already have money coming in and aren't in sure straits, but if you see jobs that look good but you don't fit all the criteria? Apply anyway. You only need to get lucky once.

[Bartmanhomer]

If I may enquire, which country and social environment are you in where you have not heard just how terrible the standard plastic shopping bags are for the environment? There's a massive push on to change the harmful shopping bag worldwide.

Well, I live in New York, New York the USA and please forgive me if I was living under a rock.

[Teddy]

I always bring my own textile tote bags when I go shopping. They are frankly a bit too small, but because I live alone and am fairly decent at Packing Tetris, it works out in the end anyway. One bag has permanent residence in my backpack for whenever I want to run a quick errant after work, and I keep the rest easily available at home for when I need to do a bit more shopping at once.

For me, the concept of not bringing your own bags to do grocery shopping is quite foreign, as I grew up with my parents always bringing dedicated textile grocery bagsfor it.

[DataNinja]

am fairly decent at Packing Tetris

Do you hum one of the Tetris themes to yourself as you pack?

[factotum]

I do not mourn the passing of the free plastic bag. Shops here are now obliged to charge for them, which is fine. The problem is that they now often do not offer the old-style lightweight bag at all, only heavier-duty "bags for life" etc. which (a) gives them licence to charge more and (b) is worse, per bag, for the environment.

Some places are introducing heavy-duty paper bags instead, so there's always those. When I'm doing my weekly grocery shop I use the cardboard box my lawnmower came in, though, I find it easier than packing it into several bags.

[Peelee]

Do you hum one of the Tetris themes to yourself as you pack?

Korobeiniki!

[Tvtyrant]

Job searching is the freaking worst.

Especially when you don't get any feedback.

I'm not sure which is worse, the responses that are just "We have decided to take a different direction at this time" or no response at all.

Applied for three more tonight.

I'm just looking for full time at a decent wage, so I can get out of my current dead-end job. This shouldn't be so hard.

In my experience decent jobs are much more likely to come through networking than through job applications. The two career level jobs I have gotten have been from positions that never got posted anywhere, one through a friend and one through a family member.

This latest job hunt I went through a seasonal warehouse job and a temporary warehouse job in two months (and after 50+ applications) and then got a decent job through a family member. Hit up people not job sites.

[Aotrs Commander]

Frickin' A.

From the sounds of it, there is a very real chance the wargames convention in May might be cancelled due to the frickin' Corona virus, due to one means or another. The folks there are waiting until the April 2nd to determine whether or not to go ahead (whether the government bands meeting of more than a certain number of people like apparently France has, or whether the hysteria drummed up by the media continues to panic people to the point almost no-one would show up (and thus do the traders).



People panic-buying paracetamol and hand-soap (to the delight of profiteering scalpers charghing extortionate prices to take advantage of the vulnerable, apparently)... Frack's sake, it's as dangerous as the worst strains of flu (which come more regularly) - which is bad, yes, but don't seem to generate the same level of unbrideled terror - but it's not the frelling T-virus or something.

Ye gods, I shudder to think about the panic that would follow something as virulent as the Black Death. Presumably they'd already be napalm-striking any infected area and deploying nukes...

[The Fury]

Well, I live in New York, New York the USA and please forgive me if I was living under a rock.

Do grocery stores not charge extra for bags in NYC? I mean, a lot of stores did that in Oregon before it became an actual rule throughout the state.