Using COVID-19 to wage war on reusable grocery bags
heated.world
Conservative interests are teaming up to bring back the single-use plastic bag, using scientifically questionable claims that reusable bags spread coronavirus.
"I’ll also be sending out written transcripts of the podcast interviews as soon as possible after they air, for those of you who prefer reading things over listening to things."
One thing I think you could have mentioned, too, is that (climate aside) walking back plastic bag bans because of an elevated risk of infection only lures shoppers into a false sense of safety. The more that these useless news stories pop up about how people can reduce their chance of infection in marginal or completely nil ways, the closer people fall into the pit of complacency. There’s a reason the CDC’s guidelines are and always have been short and simple. What we don’t want are people being lulled into thinking their shopping run was somehow more safe and sterile because they ditched their reusable bags. There’s a potentially massive and immediate human cost to these corporations capitalizing on a crisis.
Hello! I live in Maine in a small town that passed a single-use plastic bag ban. My local Hannaford grocery now has plastic bags again. This data is SUPER HELPFUL for when it's the right moment to come back to this conversation.
I was very skeptical when coffee chains started refusing personal cups or mugs. I wonder if they made the decision simply from misinformation, pressure from lobbying groups or just as a precaution because they didn't know better.
Whoops, correction needed here: Energy in Depth is a front group formed by the Independent Petroleum Association of America and FTI Consulting, not the American Petroleum Institute https://www.desmogblog.com/energy-in-depth
I was annoyed at at least one headline writer here in Massachusetts. Made it sound like those liberal loonies in Cambridge were ruing the day . . . Thank you for science-ing this, Emily! You restored my mood somewhat.
This is very timely and informative, shows the need to be solving for more than one crisis at a time. That's hard.
I was a trendsetter at the grocery this week with a mask and gloves, and in a kind of knee jerk decision, I didn't take my bags. Seemed like a risk factor. When I arrived at the store, I realized that it was insignificant compared to all far more likely transmission going on. Use them, wash them, or just don't touch them for 3 to 4 days. Are you really going to shop more than that right now?
Want to say a big thank you for this part:
"I’ll also be sending out written transcripts of the podcast interviews as soon as possible after they air, for those of you who prefer reading things over listening to things."
One thing I think you could have mentioned, too, is that (climate aside) walking back plastic bag bans because of an elevated risk of infection only lures shoppers into a false sense of safety. The more that these useless news stories pop up about how people can reduce their chance of infection in marginal or completely nil ways, the closer people fall into the pit of complacency. There’s a reason the CDC’s guidelines are and always have been short and simple. What we don’t want are people being lulled into thinking their shopping run was somehow more safe and sterile because they ditched their reusable bags. There’s a potentially massive and immediate human cost to these corporations capitalizing on a crisis.
Hello! I live in Maine in a small town that passed a single-use plastic bag ban. My local Hannaford grocery now has plastic bags again. This data is SUPER HELPFUL for when it's the right moment to come back to this conversation.
I saw a Boston Globe article (https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/03/27/opinion/back-to-the-future-moment-plastic-bags/) that appears to be sourced by the plastics industry. "The Coronavirus has shown us the error of our ways'. Full article hidden behind a firewall, but I read enough to get the gist. Grr!
I was very skeptical when coffee chains started refusing personal cups or mugs. I wonder if they made the decision simply from misinformation, pressure from lobbying groups or just as a precaution because they didn't know better.
Whoops, correction needed here: Energy in Depth is a front group formed by the Independent Petroleum Association of America and FTI Consulting, not the American Petroleum Institute https://www.desmogblog.com/energy-in-depth
I was annoyed at at least one headline writer here in Massachusetts. Made it sound like those liberal loonies in Cambridge were ruing the day . . . Thank you for science-ing this, Emily! You restored my mood somewhat.
This is very timely and informative, shows the need to be solving for more than one crisis at a time. That's hard.
I was a trendsetter at the grocery this week with a mask and gloves, and in a kind of knee jerk decision, I didn't take my bags. Seemed like a risk factor. When I arrived at the store, I realized that it was insignificant compared to all far more likely transmission going on. Use them, wash them, or just don't touch them for 3 to 4 days. Are you really going to shop more than that right now?
Our grocery store is discouraging reusable bags by prohibiting their staff from filling them or handling them in any way.