Is choking the planet worth the convenience of a plastic bag?
To the editor: Within the numerous Faust legends, Dr. Faustus is an outdated scholar who made a demonic pact to promote his soul in change for limitless data and the sensual pleasures of youth. Thus, the proverbial Faustian discount, which may be characterised as doing one thing for current achieve with out contemplating its future penalties. (“California’s plastic bag ban is failing. Right here’s why,” Aug. 24)
It appears that evidently humanity made a Faustian discount with a chemical demon referred to as plastic. Is the injury that demon has inflicted on our planet definitely worth the comfort?
All we have to persuade us that plastic is sort of a monstrous serpent that may proceed to strangle us, is to look at photographs that present placid streams clogged by plastic waste and exquisite marine life choked by the tons of plastic within the oceans.
As his demise approached, Dr. Faustus tried to construct an excellent society to justify his existence, however his plan failed. However, he’s rescued from everlasting damnation by a choir of angels who communicate the motto, “He who exerts himself in fixed striving, him we will save.”
To save lots of our Earth from extreme plastic, we should exert ourselves in fixed striving to rid our habitat of that abomination.
David Quintero, Monrovia
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To the editor: Listed here are two causes the state’s ban on single-use plastic grocery baggage is failing.
First, apart from a handful of ardent environmentalists, nobody residing in Los Angeles offers a darn about plastic baggage. Making an attempt to manage them is simply one other imposition by the Legislature on our enjoyment of life.
Second, we’re simply plain uninterested in going to the grocery retailer and spending $293 for a basket filled with meals, solely to search out that we want yet one more bag along with the 5 reusable ones we introduced, and the cashier asks us, “Would you want one other bag for 10 cents?”
For 10 cents, the atmosphere can go to hell.
Robert M. Rosenthal, Burbank
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To the editor: We must always know by now that it’s ineffective and unfair to rely fully on shoppers to unravel our fossil gas air pollution issues. That is true in so many realms, together with vehicle and air journey, residence home equipment and, as reporter Jessica Roy reminds us, single-use plastics.
For years we have now been anticipated to hold reusable water bottles, reject plastic straws and recycle our plastic baggage. Now Roy demonstrates that recycling single-use plastic is actually simply wishful considering.
Hasn’t the time come to maneuver upstream and assault the issue at its supply, the manufacturing? A federal value on carbon would improve the price of single-use plastics by making their uncooked supplies costlier, discouraging their proliferation.
Or, California might merely ban plastic baggage outright.
Peggy Painton, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Retailers should cease robotically shoving each buy right into a plastic bag, whether or not the client needs it or not. I inevitably need to say, “I don’t want a bag” because the cashier is packing up an merchandise I’m going to place in my automobile or devour inside minutes.
And now I need to say this to a different service supplier, the Los Angeles Instances: I don’t want a bag for my newspaper.
Day-after-day, my paper is available in a tiny, non-reusable plastic bag that’s destined for the landfill. I’d prefer to see The Instances set a greater instance.
Mary Jack, Venice
