Plasticizing

Food around here needs to be planned in advance due to obvious dietary reasons. There’s always spinach and salad ingredients available for those nights when I just don’t have the time or energy to cook. Unfortunately, Spicy Nacho Doritos are also typically found around here.

Since global warming, cooling, and/or climate change is the new hot topic (lol), companies have certainly jumped on every opportunity to make more money. If they’re not pushing the latest trend on their packaging or advertisements, they’ll be missing out on sales. I get it and don’t necessarily have a problem with it. However, the part I do have a problem with is when it affects me in the physical world.

Everyone I know in this area is all up in arms over the use of plastic now. Before it was the current political race, it was vaccines, masks, gut biome, healthy fats, blockchain, wearables, streaming platforms, the metaverse, gig work, and cloud computing. You get the idea. Well, now it’s plastic and carbon.

The local Safeway started cutting back on the packaging for their spinach and mixed lettuce. They clearly have brilliant execs over there because they were able to turn a negative into a positive. The lid might as well say, “We’re saving material costs and pretending we care about the climate while you’ll pay the same price to feel an incredibly short dopamine hit and wander around the store happily purchasing other products like me!”

Of course, I’ll still buy these products because I’m stupid and a creature of habit. But as soon as I get home, they’re transferred into one or two giant Ziploc bags, bringing the net plastic usage to well over 200%. We’re all just part of this consumer feedback loop, so why fight it? Now I need a plastic Ziploc dispenser and a plastic storage organizer for the fridge. “Don’t ask questions. Just consume product and then get excited for next product.”