The other day I was in a
supermarket, standing at checkout and watching what others bought.
Most customers, when asked if they want a plastic bag, nodded and
usually even ordered more than one. It was 10 cents per bag.
Students, pensioners, socialists and fascists – no one hesitated to
pay a little extra.
So, here's the question: What's the point of charging 10 cents for a plastic bag? Supposedly
it's a 'green' thing, trying to convince people to save the planet.
But no one cares about 10 cents, so it's not working, is it? If you
want to make a difference, dear politician and supermarket owner,
charge one Euro per bag. Or even better, two or three. If people had to pay that sort of money for a single bag, you'd bound to see a
miracle: within a few weeks, everyone would suddenly remember to bring
a reusable bag from home. Problem solved.
Another question: Is it
essential for a happy life to have cheap flights? Yes, it's nice if
relatively poor people can afford a weekend trip to Lisbon, too, but
is it necessary? No, it's not. And so why is kerosene not taxed? In
Europe, no airline pays tax for the fuel they use, but, even worse,
every train operator does. Perhaps not the best strategy to promote
environmentally friendly travelling...
People are stupid,
unfortunately we can't change that. We are selfish and short-sighted
beings, and very slow learners. That's just the way it is. However, can you really trust seven billion monkeys to
make the needed changes so they don't destroy the planet they live
on? I'm all for individual responsibility and grassroots action,
but...we are monkeys. Some are kind and some are clever, but even the
kindest and most intelligent ones are still facing the limitations of their stupid and selfish nature. Mind you, I wouldn't be surprised if
some real monkeys out there would feel offended by this comparison, because I don't think real monkeys would cut down the forest they
live in. So let's forget monkeys. We're actually much inferior.
More like brainless bacteria.
Now, how can you make sure
that the human bacteria doesn't eat up its home? You need a dictator!
A good, green dictator. Someone who decides that, from today, bags
are 3 Euros each. 5 cents go to the Supermarket, 2.95 Euros to
reforestation and ocean cleaning projects. Flights will be at least five times more expensive than the same journey by train. And like this
with everything else. Cheap meat? Nope. Cheap clothes? Nope. Cheap
plastic plates? You've guessed it.
Of course one could argue that rich people wouldn't be affected by this green dictatorship.
No matter the price, there'd be still many who'd be able to pay for
10 bags on each shopping tour, fly around the globe for weekend trips, eat
meat and fill their wardrobes until they burst. It's a problem –
lack of fairness always is. So maybe it would be better to simply ban
all of these things. I don't know. But any first step is better than
no step.
The real problem, however,
would be to find a perfect dictator. Remember, humans are brainless
bacteria who voluntarily vote people like Donald Trump and, soon to
come, Boris Johnson as their leaders. Sure, not all are that bad, but
if we look honestly at the situation, there simply might not be a
perfect dictator amongst us. So now what?
Well, I'm afraid, we're
screwed. All we can do is shake our heads and hope that friendly aliens will come and rescue us.
