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These are thoughts I've had for a long time. I think about writing something but never do it. Today has another trigger point in the news, so I'm pushing through and writing something. McDonalds is announcing that they are ditching their McFlurry spoons for a "more sustainable option." From the article, "This small change will help reduce single-use plastic waste in restaurants – while giving customers the same delicious McFlurry they know and love," McDonald's said. "That's a win-win in our book."
Many years ago, Rush had insight to what these companies are really doing. Companies are always trying to reduce costs and increase profits. What the green movement gives them is cover for these monetary decisions. The company reduces supply costs, says that they're really looking out for the environment, and it is a win-win. Material costs go down and they get plaudits from environmental groups. Will the decision make a noticeable difference to the environment? Doesn't matter. The company can say that they are doing something, all the while shaving pennies off the unit price of production.
The frustrating part is how structurally weak products have become. One planned post-starter I had was a couple years ago when I was checking out at the grocery store. I bought something, maybe eggs, and the cashier warned me as she scanned them that the manufacturer had changed packaging and I needed to be careful handling it so it wouldn't break on me and spill the contents. Another place I noticed changes is in two-liter bottles. It used to be I could pour a glass of the beverage with one hand. Now, the bottle will bend under the weight of the contents and I've had a thumb pinched between the lip and bottle as it bends in two. Plastic bags rip more easily. Paper grocery sacks are thinner and tear frequently when I unload the car.
I had planned to write something in May on the topic. I live in Albuquerque and my house is around 5,300 feet of elevation. My daughter had an end-of-year camping event for her American Heritage Girls group on the east side of the mountains. The campsite was around 7,200 feet. When I left for work Monday morning, I noticed this partially filled water bottle left in my truck. The thin-walled bottle was affected by a slight 2,000-foot change in elevation. It was enough to push in the sides. Notice the thin cap as well. Look greenies, we're saving the environment.
I don't begrudge companies making a profit. That's what they're there for. That, and to provide a service that the customer wants. What I don't like is the appeal to environmentalists when they are really cutting production costs. Rush wanted conservationists to start claiming the color blue to differentiate themselves from the greens. He said that since the earth's surface is 75% water, there's more blue, and therefore we could claim to care more about the earth. It never caught on.
Discussion (64)
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Small annoyance along the lines of this post, I've recently noticed that the plastic of the storage baggies I use for refrigerating leftovers or opened deli packages, for example, has become noticeably lighter and thinner, and it tears more easily.
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Scam is correct word. Like any good scam, a few people are making money at the expense of others. I don't think bamboo spoons are a big money maker for McDonalds, but the environmental industrial complex makes money. My pet peeve these days is thin/fake straws. If you squeeze them wrong or suck too hard, they fail. Fake straws are a scam! The true irony is that in America all the waste ends up in hermetically sealed waste dumps where the biodegradable stuff *never* degrades.
ps. the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is also a scam. In reality is a few truckloads of glitter like plastic bits. If there was really a pile of garbage the size of Texas, surely it would have been photographed by now. As it is, we have more pictures of Bigfoot than the GPGP.
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The ice cream machine is broken. Again.
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The Green scam is bigger and ongoing, but the lockdown/Covid excuse was (is) just as bad. Restaurants started offering extremely restricted service, changed their menus, etc., all in the name of Covid bs. We felt sorry for them, rallied around and patronized them in a show of support so they wouldn’t go under.
Now it’s two years later and almost every restaurant I go to has stuck with all the restrictions. Why? Because they make a lot more money if they offer less for the same dollar, of course.
My favorite honey-tonk burger joint down the street was the best place for a burger and beer, watch the game and see your friends. And a short walk from my sailboat in the marina. During the lockdown it switched to to-go only, so you had to take your burger and onion rings in a styrofoam clamshell. Wow is it ever NOT the same experience.
After the lockdown, the owner discovered that by closing down his dishwasher and getting rid of the waitresses, he was making more money than he ever had before. So you still go in, order from the bar, then take your plastic bag containing styrofoam boxes and beer in a solo cup over to a table and unbox it all. Yuck. There goes my favorite roadhouse.
But he’s making money, so I guess some people don’t mind. At least with the “Green” crap they can pretend they are saving the planet or whatever. What a total scam.
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