Plastic Bags are good for the environment – WHAT???

I woke up this morning – a lovely Sunday in Hong Kong – to the reveiw of Sunday papers on SKY news. I am horrified that the comments in the review of The Independent invited a commentary slagging off environmental movements and drives in favour of plastic bags (article below). One needs to admit that the consolidation of approach and agreement on terms and terminology as well as clear (NON CONFUSING) guidelines for consumers is becoming imperative to drive the combat against climate change. There is just too much confusion – cotton is good,…. cotton is bad………plastic is good………plastic is bad…. !! This reminds us about the bebate on butter and margarine, the debate on olive oil and others, the debate on carb diets vs protein diets, the debate on……………

What a confusing world we are cerating as we all claim to have a voice. That is fair and democratic, I dare say, but like anything in life we have to look at the bigger and whole and complete picture.

If we say plastic is good …. and we opnly look at the post consumer portion of the life cycle of plastic bags, then we are in totally the right place to make this statement. The bag from plastic can be re-used, and if it is in a reasonable micron to sustain a load (thick enough not to tear when you re-use it or tear on the way from the supermarket), then by all means we are re-using eliminating the use of new/additional bags and we can console ourselves that we are considering climate change and we are reducing consumption and we are doing good.

If we look at the entitre life cycle as to how many exploratory drilling there is around the world to find more oil resources and we do live in a surreal world and we do not walk around with an eye mask, then yes, we would realise that our consumption is killing us. The pollution we create by avoiding the garbage and refuse we create and avoiding the deterioration in air quality and the increased consumption of bottled water due to just not good enough natural clean drinkable water – then we have to admit, we are not doing enough to secure ‘enough’ for the future. We care about the stock market not performing and we care about our investments………….. what would we do with all the financial gains if we do not have the luxury of the environment we take for granted?

The Independent correspondent should maybe look further than just comparing cotton and plastic. There are quite a few alternatives securing decomposition of ‘oxo’ or ‘bio’ replacements of plastics that are not dependent on cotton. Cotton we know for a long long time is not the friendly fibre it is made out to be. Again, if those ‘expert voices’ who speaks out in the crowd only look at the certification of the raw material of cotton, they are ‘singing out loud’ in favour of cotton. If we look a little further and at the bigger picture of the total life cycle of cotton – we need to educate and consolidate our education of the consumer, or we will have to take accountability for not having enough clean water and air in the near future.

We do not have to instill fear about climate change – one just has to open one’s eyes and be realistic about what we are all contributing towards poluting and trashing what we take for granted – air and water and land…

So, for those in their own surreal world who choose to walk around with eye-masks …. please wake up as we have a problem……

Just when I was surprised by the findings from Oxford that 2002 flooding did link to climate change – we take a few steps back again as we want plastic bags back in our life and even state on national media ‘why does M&S charge 50 pence for a plastic carrier bag?’

Link to The Independent article: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/plastic-fantastic-carrier-bags-not-ecovillains-after-all-2220129.html. Read today’s horrific article on Plastic Fantastic! Carrier bags ‘not eco-villains after all’!