2049 replies to this topic

[Nparker]

...I just got trained up on always having a few cloth bags in the trunk...

And there's the rub. You can easily carry reusable bags with you in your car pretty much all the time. I don't own a car, and always walk to make most of my purchases. I am pretty sure this results in a smaller carbon footprint. Nevertheless, I am expected to carry reusable bags with me at all times. This one-size-fits-all approach to environmentalism is a crock.

[DustMagnet]

And there's the rub. You can easily carry reusable bags with you in your car pretty much all the time. I don't own a car, and always walk to make most of my purchases. I am pretty sure this results in a smaller carbon footprint. Nevertheless, I am expected to carry reusable bags with me at all times. This one-size-fits-all approach to environmentalism is a crock.

When I am cycling and I know I am going to pick up something I take a 32l daypack.  Or the bike my wife rides has a rack for panniers, so we use them.

You could just keep one of these clipped to your belt(loop).  It's like an electric or hybrid car - you might get back the capital cost in the saving from not buying 5 or 10 cent bags over the lifetime of the pack.  But probably not.

[Nparker]

..You could just keep one of these clipped to your belt(loop)...

Believe it or not I don't wear the same pair of pants every day, which maybe surprises those who ride the same bike or drive the same car each day. My point is, because of Victoria's "save the earth policy" I have to remember to take some sort of reusable bag with me EVERY time I leave home just in case I might make a purchase somewhere in the CoV.

[DustMagnet]

Believe it or not I don't wear the same pair of pants every day, which maybe surprises those who ride the same bike or drive the same car each day. My point is, because of Victoria's "save the earth policy" I have to remember to take some sort of reusable bag with me EVERY time I leave home just in case I might make a purchase somewhere in the CoV.

Do you take your wallet everytime you leave the house?  Does it transfer from one pair of pants to another?

 

You're right about this not being one size fits all. The perfect is the enemy of the good after all.

Edited by DustMagnet, 02 May 2018 - 03:14 PM.

[Nparker]

Do you take your wallet everytime you leave the house?  Does it transfer from one pair of pants to another?

How many sturdy, reusable grocery bags do you suppose will fit in a man's standard size wallet?

[DustMagnet]

How many sturdy, reusable grocery bags do you suppose will fit in a man's standard size wallet?

None.

 

The point is that you take your wallet with you regardless of what you're wearing.  You could do the same with a packable dayback such as I linked.

 

And just on the off chance that your next objection is, "How many things do I have to carry every time I leave the house?".  Keys, phone, wallet, pack.  Four.  Unless you can use your phone to pay (e.g. Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay) and the store accepts tap and you are buying less than $100, then three perhaps.  Maybe you have a keypad lock at home and don't really need to take keys.  Could get it down to two possibly.

Edited by DustMagnet, 02 May 2018 - 03:38 PM.

[VicHockeyFan]

I think what OP means is you load your pants with keys, money, wallets. Now also load your pants each day with bags.

[Nparker]

...The point is that you take your wallet with you regardless of what you're wearing.  You could do the same with a packable dayback such as I linked.

Will a pack-able day pack fit in my wallet or attach to my key chain? Those are the only 2 things I take with me whenever I leave the house. They are small and fit inside my clothing (jeans, jacket pocket etc.). Carrying some sort of "pack" with me is the antithesis of convenient.

[Nparker]

...Now also load your pants each day with bags.

Yeah that's not going to happen, not even if parachute pants somehow came back into fashion. And cargo shorts aren't exactly suitable for my work.

[DustMagnet]

I think what OP means is you load your pants with keys, money, wallets. Now also load your pants each day with bags.

I know, it used to be just wallet and keys and now it's phone, wallet and keys.  And bags.  And umbrella?

How about a daypack you could put everything into - phone, wallet, keys and purchases or collapsible shopping bags for purchases that exceed the pack.  Now nothing is in your pockets, and the pack is transferable to any outfit.

[VicHockeyFan]

Go keyless, fir sure.

[DustMagnet]

Will a pack-able day pack fit in my wallet or attach to my key chain? Those are the only 2 things I take with me whenever I leave the house. They are small and fit inside my clothing (jeans, jacket pocket etc.). Carrying some sort of "pack" with me is the antithesis of convenient.

 

Well there's a small snag.  Not everything can cater to this aspect.

[Nparker]

I know, it used to be just wallet and keys and now it's phone, wallet and keys...

Phone rarely comes with me. As I said keys and wallet fit into most clothing. Bags do not.

Well there's a small snag.  Not everything can cater to this aspect [convenience]

My point is it is much easier to drive a car and carry bags with you. But as a pedestrian it is not nearly as easy even though my environmental impact is minuscule compared to a car owner. Who is actually helping the "protect" the environment more?

[VicHockeyFan]

Maybe there are pants where the bottom zips off and becomes bags. Essentially if you exercise this option you walk home in shorts.

[DustMagnet]

Phone rarely comes with me. As I said keys and wallet fit into most clothing. Bags do not.

My point is it is much easier to drive a car and carry bags with you. But as a pedestrian it is not nearly as easy even though my environmental impact is minuscule compared to a car owner. Who is actually helping the "protect" the environment more?

 

I feel that I have demonstrated a few options that are quite easy for pedestrians (well, they have been easy for me as a pedestrian).  I have not however demonstrated any options that do not require change.

 

Protecting the environment is multifaceted.  Just because you walk doesn't make plastic pollution go away.  Just because you are environmentally responsible with regards to plastics doesn't make plastic pollution go away.  You can't trade off your pedestrian environment card like some sort of bizarre carbon credit purchase (where it's OK to pollute as long as you pay for it.)

[sdwright.vic]

How many sturdy, reusable grocery bags do you suppose will fit in a man's standard size wallet?

I very rarely need my wallet anymore either. My phone does it all except my drivers license and my bus pass.

[DustMagnet]

Maybe there are pants where the bottom zips off and becomes bags. Essentially if you exercise this option you walk home in shorts.

And if you leave the house in shorts... 

Edited by DustMagnet, 02 May 2018 - 04:19 PM.

[Nparker]

...You can't trade off your pedestrian environment card like some sort of bizarre carbon credit purchase

Actually, I really feel that I can. My childless, car-less, (relatively) small home lifestyle is practically environmentally pristine by North American standards. As for so-called "single-use" plastic bags, the majority of those that come into my home are re-used for non-recyclable, non-compostable garbage. I make no apologies for the way I live nor the impact I have on the earth.

[VicHockeyFan]

Maybe there are pants where the bottom zips off and becomes bags. Essentially if you exercise this option you walk home in shorts.

 

[Nparker]

Maybe there are pants where the bottom zips off and becomes bags...

If the only way to ensure the earth survives into the future is to consider the above as wearable fashion, then the human race is better left to extinction.