[bane]

The problem is one more unique to being a walker in a city. You're out and about, maybe just walking to the park or something so you brought nothing with you, but the park you like is a 15 minute walk from your apartment.

Near the park there's a great bakery. You see they're having a nice sale on a box of a dozen croissants, and their croissants are the best in the city. So do you:

- Grab a couple boxes, and a reusable bag to carry them in?

- Walk 15 minutes home to get your bag, then 15 minutes back, then 15 minutes back home (45 minutes total) just so you don't pay $3 for a bag?

- Carry around a bag all the time even though you had no intention to buy anything when you left, and use it only a few times over the hundreds of time you leave your apartment?

[latexr]

I’m not the person you asked, but I’d do none of the above. I’d buy the boxes and carry them. They’re presumably perfectly ordinary parallelepipedical cake boxes, perfectly suited for carrying in your hands. There’s no need for a bag.

[Wowfunhappy]

This is certainly an option (as is not buying the pastries), but it gets pretty uncomfortable over a 15 or even 10 minute walk, because you have to keep the boxes level. You can't just hold them by your side.

It's even worse if you have to e.g. jump on a crowded subway.

[latexr]

And now you know for next time: “there’s a great bakery near the park that I like, better come prepared”. You now have two reasons to go there. Take a disposable plastic bag (hint: they are and always were reusable) folded in your pocket.

This not a hypothetical. I learned pretty fast to always bring a mostly empty backpack with me to the park. I pack a couple of beach towels, maybe bring a jacket, and an e-reader. Sometimes I may not lay down on the grass, or not read. Or I may meet with someone and have a towel at the ready for them. But I have multiple options and none of them is a burden.

Carrying an almost empty backpack for a recreational activity takes zero effort, and it can be used to carry groceries on the way back if I want. Each of the things I carry in it is the result of a previous time where I didn’t have it. People in this thread are acting as if this is an intractable problem. It’s not. Every time you’re faced with a problem of this nature think “what could I do to avoid this next time?” then do that.

[Wowfunhappy]

If I had to bring a backpack or purse† everywhere I don't think I'd want to live in a walkable city anymore. It makes the experience of walking substantially less pleasant.

† Or whatever the latest euphemism is for a purse carried by a man

[latexr]

You don’t have to bring it everywhere. I gave you a specific example of somewhere you may want to bring it, and why.

Looks like you’re not willing to endure any inconvenience, however minor, to avoid buying the plastic bag and being a bit friendlier to the environment. That’s your prerogative, but let’s not pretend these “problems” don’t have simple solutions.

[Wowfunhappy]

My feeling is that these laws are mostly advocated for and passed by people who own and drive cars, even as they make life harder mostly for people who don't drive cars. This is despite the fact that driving a car clearly releases orders of magnitude more carbon than some disposable plastic bags.

If more people were willing to give up their cars (or accept something like a 100% extra tax on gasoline to be put towards carbon removal efforts), I would be more open to arguments to give up my plastic bags.

Put another way: I would like legislation which makes walkable, car-free living as easy and painless as possible. Disposable plastic bags make car free living more pleasant, so they shouldn't be banned unless there is a very strong case for significant and meaningful carbon savings.

[bmicraft]

If I don't put something heavy in my 20L backpack I literally don't think it anymore after a minute or two. Even more so with a jacket underneath.

[prmoustache]

really?

[dfxm12]

Carry around a bag all the time

As I was saying, this is not the hassle it seems like it is being made out to be. Setting that aside, a box seems like just as good a vessel to carry as a bag, so in this specific case, I really don't understand the issue. If this place has such good pastries and you know, you can plan ahead and pay full price.

If this really is somehow life changing savings on pastries I mean, yeah, taking some extra time walking won't do any harm.

[ruined]

usually when i'm walking in a city, i'll have a coat with pockets or a small bag with me, containing things like a water bottle, a snack, an extra layer, a book, maybe laptop. it's not hard to fold up a small cloth tote and carry that too.