Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Countermeme.


Oh, that FB algorithm...sometimes it shows your nice things, but sometimes it's definitely trying to push you into a fight, just for the heck of it. Don't you think?

I put this together in response to a flippant meme about plastic bags that FB has been showing me repeatedly, from a variety of friends. If you've seen it, you know the one I'm talking about. If you haven't, it's basically grumbling about how since in the store is in plastic, why should we be bothered to use something other than single-use plastic bags to take it home?

It bugged me the first time I saw it, and then with each reappearance I was more and more annoyed. Finally sat down during lunchtime and made this response.

Photo was from Sheepshead Bay on Sunday. Seemed appropriate. 

4 comments:

songbird's crazy world said...

I live in Suffolk County, where we have had to pay a nickel for each single-use plastic bag for several years. We are more than ready for the statewide ban. which takes effect next week. Remembering to take your reusable bag takes little effort.

And the success rate? 80% fewer bags used last year than in the year before the law took effect -- that's over a billion bags a year. And a 42% decrease of plastic bags found by cleanup crews on the Suffolk County shoreline.

Your friend's opinion notwithstanding, the wildlife in Jamaica Bay will be happy with the change in law.

bonnie said...

That's fantastic!

It was actually multiple friends.

I made a concentrated effort a few years back to try to cut down my plastic waste. One of the best things I did was to just start carrying a bookbag. I always have a book or two on me anyways, so it's handy that way, but I had also been in the habit of stopping at the grocery store or the deli on my way home from work to pick up odds and ends. When I wasn't carrying a bag, I would take a plastic bag. When I started working on it, I just started saying no to myself on these impulse buys if I didn't have a bag to put it in. The closest grocery store is 3 blocks from home, and there are 2 bodegas literally on the next block over. If I needed something, there was no reason except laziness for me not to go home, get a bag, and go back out.

Eventually carrying the bookbag got to be a new habit and my plastic bag use went WAY WAY down with just that one thing.

I'm ready for the ban, and YES, I'm sure the creatures of Jamaica Bay are too!

Karen BakingInATornado said...

I didn't see the original meme, I guess our news feeds are very different, but I appreciate your response and it certainly stands alone.

There are difficult steps that have to be taken and I worry more and more about us taking them as I see how much push back there is on the easy steps.

bonnie said...

We're most of us creatures of habit, and if we're comfortable with something (and often even if we're not!) it's hard to change. I do hope we can do better, though.