environment
Bagless
Despite having long been lukewarm on banning plastic bags (because I like getting free stuff, and use all the ones I get, unlike most people), I am nevertheless happy to see Garrett taking action (maybe) on this issue.
I just want to say that he needs to do it properly (in consultation with the states) and ban plastic bags totally. The logic of the ban is that plastic bags are a serious environmental menace. If this is the case, they must be banned outright. Allowing small shops to use them is allowing environmental devastation on a lesser scale. Introducing a levy is a nonsense, since this is not an area of consumer choice, but an identified absolute evil. Unlike with CO2 emissions, which are to be ‘reduced’,* plastic bags in the environment need abolition.
Now, I’d like to see this action extended to ban a lot more plastic packaging on the same logic. I’m not optimistic, but on the other hand Garrett will have set something of a precedent for government action against crazed consumerism.
*Although meaningful reductions entail severe sanctions, e.g. my personal favourite measure, severely legislatively restricting car use.
Climate Institute's New Campaign
Probably the coolest child in the world.
HE HAS A LITTLE HOWARD TRACKSUIT! and a little ex-private-school-man ‘casual’ outfit with moleskins and a blue rolled up shirt and little RM Williams boots!
Bad example
AUSTRALIA’S car industry has vowed to fight any moves to impose compulsory greenhouse gas emissions standards for new vehicles, despite such rules already applying in the United States and China.
…
“As (General Motors) boss Bob Lutz has described it, that’s like trying to solve the nation’s obesity problem by saying that the clothing manufacturers are no longer allowed to manufacture larger sizes.”
(The Age)
Perhaps an emissions target for new cars is like the government trying to solve obesity by reducing the amount of fat and sugar that food producers put in their food…