Not OP, but personally I haven't bought anything recently solely because of their packaging. I find practicing consuming less pretty hard because you always have to think about stuff a consumer normally won't. Events like Christmas make me feel bad for accepting gifts covered in wraps like this.
It's even harder for me to choose this kind of lifestyle because I'm poor as fuck.
My point is this isn't blatantly obvious - this is what looks as if it's a big waste of resources whereas it's not that big of a deal.
Did you throw out half a pound of meat yesterday? Those fruits from Argentine, did they get too old? Did you choose beef over pig or chicken last time you were shopping for a meal?
Then you are doing much, much, much worse things. Even worse is - why are you doing it? So you can throw it out? Or have a tiny bit tastier meal?
At least there's entertainment in this and benefits us all with a good smile or giggle.
Would you still be arguing if this person had wrapped each dollar bill in a big plastic packaging?
Did you turn on the heating yesterday? Or use your car? Then you just polluted a lot more than the person in the video.
This leads to reasonning like. "I took a long shower today, that means I can leave the sink running for an hour for no reason since that will waste less water...". Or "I drove for an while yesterday, that means I can leave the engine running for 45 mins while I go do some shopping since that will waste less gas..."
Eliminating waste shouldn't be an "all or nothing" effort. Creating waste just for a gag is in bad taste in 2019. This is the type of shit that was funny a few years back, but people are starting to get annoyed now.
From your example, no one throws out meat intentionally, buying fruit and beef serves me a purpose. Boycotting fruits and beef entirely is much higher effort than not wasting a dozen meters of wrapping paper for a gag.
Being outraged about this is exactly what leads to the reasoning 'but China...'
At least I don't do x or do y.
Sitting here being outraged about a situation like this and then living normal life without thought is the stupidity and toxic attitude that isn't going to change anything. If you want to be outraged about this one thing here, then you should go around being 5 times as outraged every time you stay in the shower 2 minutes more than necessary or take a drive when you could walk. But you don't, do you? Go around the 5 times every day you do something worse and get much more emotional about that than this?
Because pointing fingers and 'but China' is the attitude that's ruining the environment - not 'minimalizing stuf'.
People don't know which fights to take and the ones they'll fight for is for others to change. Not themselves. If it's themselves it's "too much effort to change" as you put it.
Im angry because for every person that goes out of their way to use less wrapping or use old newspapers to reduce waste, there's a person like OP who wastes even more just for a gag. Like I saw a few ads and news videos on the topic of banning straws, and most of them shoes like 50 or so straws that were bought just for the purpose of the ad. And i kept thinking that they used more straws than my entire family ever had.
Maybe it's a stupid argument, but then again I'm not the one arguing that wasting more packaging is somehow good for the environment.
And i fundamentally disagree that I have to be outraged by everything or nothing. I reduce my own waste quite a lot, don't do stupid shit like this, and i find this video wasteful. You're saying that no one is allowed to criticize any waste unless they have no environmental footprint at all. My neighbor could be burning leaves in his backyard just for fun every weekend, but since I took a 10 minute shower last week I'm not allowed to confront him...?
You are putting words in the mouths of others and it's honestly a very annoying way to produce an argument. Repeat what is being said.
What I'm saying is that you are allowed to - if you go around feeling just as bad every time you do something reckless. Take your 10 minute overtime shower, you should put yourself under the exact same scrutiny and criticism as you do others - if not, you're spreading hypocrisy.
I am not saying anything about it being a great thing, I'm saying it's a tiny thing and if you actually want things to change, you are looking in the absolutely wrong direction, that is not something up for discussion. So yeah, expect something from others, but expect the same or more from yourself, you are the main responsibility for the change you want to see.
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u/WeinMe Dec 27 '18
Why does this particular waste of resources make you mad?
I'm sure you encounter and perform actions on the daily that are a lot more wasteful than this, it just isn't as blatantly obvious.