If I hear "Just doing my bit for the environment" one more time then I'm going to flip.

[WlknCntrdiction]

Every so often when a customer comes to my till I normally open a bag for them so that they can pack their shopping quickly, and hopefully get them out the shop before they irritate me too much(people in Luton are fucking demented and annoying),but every once in a while I will be opening a bag for someone and they will whip out(seemingly from nowhere)a bag thats seen better days or one of those "economical" bags that supposedly could withstand the fires of hell or something and they come up with the same line(or a variation of it)every damn time, "Just trying to do my bit for the environment mate". I honestly want to grab one of the dividers and clap those people round the head with it. My reply is always the same too, "We won't be around long enough to see the full effect of global warming".

Now I might be coming across as a cynic and an ignorant fool(and maybe I am)but I'm also a realist too. There's no denying that if we all recycled, etc that we'd have a better environment and what not but them people who chime in with that line make me feel like I'm not fucking doing my part for the environment, they make me feel like they are so much better at "protecting" the environment than I am with their super powered re-usable shopping bag, huzzah. I bet I do more recycling than most of those people anyway, our 2 green bins at the end of the week are always full and sometimes I find it hard to put stuff out because they're already full when I really need them, god I wish the binmen came twice a week

Most of the people who come in and use this line are pretty ancient, ok ancient is the wrong word but they are pretty old, so the chances of them seeing the full effects of global warming at its worst are slim to none(unless they ironically get killed by a tsunami or some kind of natural disaster caused by global warming), plus I'm sure OAPs have more to worry about than re-using bags over and over. I even doubt that global warming will be at its worst when I'm old.

I don't even know the point I'm trying to get at, it just plain annoys me to no end. I'm probably going to get flamed *prepares flame barracks* but that is just my two cents on the matter.

What do you think?
I now leave discussion to you guys

 

[Singing Gremlin]

Well, the environment isn't solely the environment because you haven't popped your clogs yet. It may well delay global warming long enough for a few more generations to live happy lives and surely that's a cause worth doing something (even if a very small something) for. I can't really see why you're getting so annoyed about other people doing something that isn't inherently selfish, efficient or not.

 

[bunkymag]

Re-usable bags are a good thing. Not much effort, less plastic use = good.

However I can understand you getting pissed. I probably would too if I were a checkout-chick.

 

[WlknCntrdiction]

I probably would too if I were a checkout-chick.

Except I'm a guy lol

surely that's a cause worth doing something for.

I do do something, I already said I recycle.

 

[tooktook]

See the South Park episode "Smug Alert"

 

[Saskwach]

What do you think?

I think, firstly, when global warming will hit the fan, if at all, is a matter of debate. Some predictions project that by the time we're middle-aged GW will be well and truly doing its thing.
Secondly, I think that just because you, or the person who's using these bags, or both, won't live long enough to see global warming is a pretty poor excuse not to care. Oh, I don't care if my children (or, since you've previously stated you aren't interested in having any, others' children) live through it so long as my life is a little easier.
Thirdly, I think you posted this because you resent that others might just be doing more of a "bit for the environment" than you are. That's ok, so long as you realise this and don't try explaining it away. I often get this rage too, but I'd never pretend that it's rational.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

It's funny where people's willingness ends. A gigantic portion of methane gas being produced is from an overpopulation of cattle (yup, the old fashioned way), yet even less people who are willing to, god forbid, get a little exercise instead of driving everywhere, are willing to eat less or no beef.

 

[Conqueror Kenny]

Yes reusable bags are good but not as good as everyone thinks. Plastic bags are still being produced en masse and the fact they are not being used doesn't mean that they will stop making them. I get your frustration as well, those people that think they are better than you because they are 'green' annoy the hell out of me, I just want to bleed them dry.

 

[WlknCntrdiction]

I don't resent people for "being green", I do enough as it is for the environment, just don't go rubbing it in my face like you're doing anything more than me to help the environment, they may very well do more than me for the environment but that doesn't make you better than me, it's not like you're single handedly going to stop global warming by yourself.

or, since you've previously stated you aren't interested in having any, others' children

I'm actually surprised someone remembered that tbh.

 

[Saskwach]

I don't resent people for "being green", I do enough as it is for the environment, just don't go rubbing it in my face like you're doing anything more than me to help the environment, they may very well do more than me for the environment but that doesn't make you better than me, it's not like you're single handedly going to stop global warming by yourself.

or, since you've previously stated you aren't interested in having any, others' children

I'm actually surprised someone remembered that tbh.

I don't see how "just doing my bit..." translates as "I'm better than you". I also don't think anyone saying it expects they'll single-handedly stop GW, hence the "my bit".

 

[vede]

I'm still irritated by people's mindless following of this idea. People just go for it without any kind of information.

The recycling of plastics actually uses more energy and has more impact on the environment than it would to just make one anew. Pretty much everything is that way. Aluminum, though, is good to recycle. Making raw aluminum is fucking expensive, while recycling it is cheaper.

And then there's the problem of people doing pointless things to help the environment. Someone's going to use the bag, and the bag already exists, so it's already made its tiny, insignificant mark.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

I think it's more of the tone in which they say it, rather than the words. Plus the fact that they say it with no provocation whatsoever.

 

[edinflames]

My reply is always the same too, "We won't be around long enough to see the full effect of global warming".

Wrong.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/exclusive-no-ice-at-the-north-pole-855406.html

OK, not totally wrong, but thats because the "full effect" of climate change won't be seen for hundreds, if not, thousands of years. At which point homo-sapiens will probably be extinct.

Now I might be coming across as a cynic and an ignorant fool

Yes, you sort of are.

That said, I agree with your point about a great many people who opt-in to various pointless measures (such as the 'green' shopping bags, which I hasten to add are merely attempts by very un-eco-friendly corporations to fool the uninformed consumer into thinking that they care) to 'save' the environment adopt a 'holier-than-thou' attitude, which I find more irritating than salt on my scrotum.

The only people with a right to such an attitude are not likely to be found in retail centres.

Edit: I think we're all going to have to learn to live with the fact that 90% of people are thoroughly misinformed.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

my annoyance is with the earth hour crap, i don't participate in it cause i don't need to

all my neighbours turn off their lights for like 1 hour once a month. then they go back to turning every bloody light on in their house. so the good they just did was negated soon after and they always have every single light on in the house

i do a lot of small things here and there

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Total agreement with WlknCntrdiction

Not having a plastic bag for your shopping has about as much effect on the world's resources as spitting in the Sahara to stop it drying out.

And as for Earth hour, switching all that power OFF actually used more power than it saved.

Protecting the Earth is a good idea; but ffs, there's Corporations that are bulldozing MOUNTAINS to get to resources; you not having a plastic bag is like saying "Keep the change" if an item costs $9.9999999

 

[x Flib x]

Doesn't mean we should pollute though. Saving the environment is a joint effort (corny, but it's true).


Some of the logic above suggests that people are simply recycling everything without it being used, which is illogical. IE taking home plastic bags then instantly putting them in the recycling without using them as bags, just taking them home...

 

[smuckersisgood]

I honestly just dont care. If global warming wipes all out, well, so be it. The earth will still be here we might not be, but at this point all i care about is what i can afford to do. Im not going out of my way to do damage to the environment, but im not going out of my way to do anything to protect the environment either. I just do not care.

 

[electric discordian]

Lets also not forget the brilliant situation in England when it was revealed that the alternative to plastic was a lovely hessian sack looking thing, which after some investigation was put together in a sweat shop in china and sent by container ship to Britain where it was driven all around the country in gas guzzling wagons!!

Most of the things humans try to do to counter Gw are actually counter productive and will only delay the end by a few years.

 

[Arntor]

I don't have a problem with anyone trying to preserve our own comfy habitat, but it's only when people start adopting a "holier-than-thou" attitude that I start losing my temper.

I'm on the same page as smuckerisgood, I don't really care but I'm not going to harm the damn planet either. What will that do? Actually, I can't harm the planet at all, because once we've started doing that purposely we've already fucked ourselves over.

What I am willing to do is to find a nice balance to logically safe alternatives that may be beneficial to the environment without becoming a fear-mongering prophet of Environmentalism.

 

[Johnn Johnston]

It's not so much the words, but it's the tone of voice that gets me.