Plastic Has a Big Carbon Footprint – But That Isn't the Whole Story | Hacker News Reader

Plastic Has a Big Carbon Footprint – But That Isn't the Whole Story

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17 pointsUltramanoid8 comments

One thing that irks me is SF city rushing to enact laws and code of varying types to address perceived wrongs. But they rush to it. They want to signal that they are thoughtful and progressive. So they often grab at shiny things without understanding the full impact. Oh, someone at UC Davis did a study which showed something we agree with, let’s go with it! These are hi-viz, low impact measures. Often they are counterproductive. Like the ban on straws. As if that’s the biggest threat that must be addressed with utmost urgency. Housing problem: oh, rent control!

The straw ban might be "small beans", but I can't think of a reasonable argument that it's counterproductive. Let's refocus: you sound hostile to any perceived threats to profit, which are unfortunately some of the most direct paths to reducing our impact on the Earth.

This article seems to directly contradict other articles that say cotton bag production is equivalent of 7000 plastic bags in terms of greenhouse gases

I havent heard 7000. I'm not sure where you got the direct contradiction?

Here's one saying 131 uses [1].

Cotton isnt actually all that green though. And as the article points out plastic bags can be very light weight so aren't that bad. If I were choosing a boogie man, plastic bags wouldn't be top of the list. But I wouldn't be using a reusable cotton bag either.

[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...

Edit: This is actually linked to from the article.

A re-usable bag is always better IMO, as it does not generate trash, while single use plastic bags are often disgarded right away

In the cotton bag example, I believe the 2 big factors that make them not great is water usage, and chemicals for bleaching etc. Is bleach getting pumped into a river better or worse than a plastic bag that gets ingested by an animal? I wouldn't say the chemicals aren't trash either.

Plus in these situations im reminded of before I had a car, I'd walk to the shops, and not wanting to lug around a load of reusable bags I got disposables and walked home. What's the better option there? Car and reusable bags, or walk and disposables?

Having said all that I'd agree with you.

> Plus in these situations im reminded of before I had a car, I'd walk to the shops, and not wanting to lug around a load of reusable bags I got disposables and walked home. What's the better option there? Car and reusable bags, or walk and disposables?

The better option is that you don't get the choice and you just deal with taking bags with you. "Lugging bags around" is a bit over the top, don't you think? Even the massive IKEA style bags fit in a back pocket.

I used to just bring a big military style backpack to the shop.

Easy way to half the footprint of anything: use it twice. Not very hard and more effective than many other suggested alternatives.

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