When I was growing up, the 5-cent return was in every state (every one I ever went to anyway). It was an economic thing back then, not forced on companies by laws and regulations. It only started to change by state later, when plastic came in and some states started putting return deposits into legislation and some didn't.
It used to be that way in the U.S. too, with glass bottles. You would get 5-cents back when you returned empties to the stores. Then they were washed and reused.
Plastic is cheap, light, and sanitary. Going back to the old ways is going to mean some sacrifices. And people really hate making those (especially the "higher cost" bit). Not to mention that there would be a huge political push-back from the petrochemical industry (and they're an INSANELY powerful lobby).
No, we used to return all our bottles back then too (I think it was a 5-cent refund for most of them), or at least find some use for them. Every flower vase in grandma's house started out life as a product of the Coca-Cola Company. That was back when bottles were made to be reused, and made to last. The glass was so thick you could really do some damage with one in a bar fight.
I imagine cleaning it is the much bigger problem. I've often wondered as I tossed soda bottles in the bin just how they deal with getting the soda residue out of each bottle. And that's just soda. Imagine the REALLY nasty stuff that must come in on some of that plastic (like medical waste). I would say that we should make it a requirement that you had to rinse out recyclables before putting them in the bin, but let's face it, that would only lead to people just tossing it in the trash. Probably better to just go back to metal and glass, and pay the extra money.
I saw that 60 Minutes report (and other similar one they did on the dump kids of Brazil). It's sad how many people in this world live in (and off of) the toxic trash dumps of wealthier people. It's hardly uncommon in the third world, sadly.
I remember when I was a kid, my grandmother still burned most of her trash (and was very efficient about not producing trash), since she lived in the country and didn't have city trash pickup. She hated to deal with plastic, though, since even she wasn't crash enough to burn that and so many more things were coming in plastic containers (this was back when you could still find most stuff in glass and paper containers).
I think we would be better off going back to more glass and paper. But that's going to mean paying more and accepting more illness and less shelf/refrigerator time for a lot of perishables.
I like how you've clearly defined "environment movement" to only count the people who are actually rabid lunatics
I wish it were just the rabid lunatics (it was at one time). An underlying anti-human bent has long since slipped into the mainstream of the movement, and the mainstream of environmental science in general.
Why on earth should you care about appeasing the environment movement??
Who the hell do you think is behind the wheel of the global warming movement? Like it or not, they're the ones driving, steering, guiding, and cajoling. The mainstream is just following.
there were some mass extinction events due to climate changes
And by "some," you of course mean the VAST, VAST MAJORITY. Anything humanity has done has been a drop in the bucket compared to what Mother Nature can do when she wants to. Just ask anything left from the Permian period. Oh wait, you can't.
The good news is that governments don't have to do a lot. Increase taxes on fossil fuel, lower taxes on income, fund basic research and other promising but currently unprofitable research into energy saving and energy production and distribution.
If you think for a second that will appease the human-hating environment movement, you're deluded. Nothing short of humanity committing mass suicide will ever make them happy.
Now, go ahead and mod me down into oblivion. But anyone who has ever dealt with a rabid member of that sect knows it's true. They blame humanity for EVERY ill in the world. They'll probably eventually find a way to retroactively blame us for the vast majority of earth extinctions that occured before we even existed.
Yes, because we humans are not animals, and are not part of the natural ecosystem of earth. And we are responsible for every extinction and every problem that the earth has ever had or will ever have. So we humans should just all commit suicide so that beautiful Mother Earth can thrive without our poisonous presence. Since you are clearly her most noble guardian, how about you go first, my hero?
Not on launch day. But at $100 cheaper and Sony management that's at least capable of opening their mouths without immediately sticking their fucking feet in them, I'm a lot more optimistic about their chances in this next gen than Microsoft's. And I say that as a loyal Xbox1 and 360 fan.
No the problem is that we humans have killed off all their natural predators and don't have the balls to man-up and replace them. We have the same problem with deer in the area. People have stopped hunting deer, we've killed off all the wolves (because we tend not to like the idea of them attacking our kids and pets and shit)--and so they overpopulated and start becoming a nuisance.
That was back when there were still neighborhood grocery stores--before zoning, the suburbs, and the giant mega-marts. There was still one or two stores doing it in my hometown when I was a kid (my grandmother said they *all* delivered at one time). They got ran out of business when the big chains started coming in.
You won't think Canada Geese are so much of a goddamned treasure when you live in an area where they stay year-round, grow to flocks of hundreds, poison every waterway in sight, and leave a carpet of goose-shit everywhere. They're a fucking nuisance in a LOT of places, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act desperately needs to be amended to make it legal to kill the fucking things. They have WAY overpopulated in large portions of North America.
You're making a LOT of big assumptions there, depending GREATLY on where you live:
Free electricity to fuel the Tesla
Not unless you live in a city where Tesla is providing free chargers. I don't, and I'm pretty sure my power company won't just give it to me for free if I tell them I'm a Tesla owner.
$5/gallon for gasoline
More like $3.50 here.
Cost of maintenance for both cars is similar
Wow, that is a BIG assumption right there. Pretty sure a Tesla dealership is going to charge considerably more for maintenance than a local garage. And very few local garages around here can work on Teslas.
The Tesla battery lasts for 10 years + 150,000 miles
You ever had a cellphone battery last for 10 years without degrading?
Slashdot Mirror
The last time I was there, there was a rich community of wannabe rap artists, con artists, and pimping artists.
Do you even need to ask? This is Activision we're talking about here. They should rename themselves "EA Light."
When I was growing up, the 5-cent return was in every state (every one I ever went to anyway). It was an economic thing back then, not forced on companies by laws and regulations. It only started to change by state later, when plastic came in and some states started putting return deposits into legislation and some didn't.
It used to be that way in the U.S. too, with glass bottles. You would get 5-cents back when you returned empties to the stores. Then they were washed and reused.
Plastic is cheap, light, and sanitary. Going back to the old ways is going to mean some sacrifices. And people really hate making those (especially the "higher cost" bit). Not to mention that there would be a huge political push-back from the petrochemical industry (and they're an INSANELY powerful lobby).
No, we used to return all our bottles back then too (I think it was a 5-cent refund for most of them), or at least find some use for them. Every flower vase in grandma's house started out life as a product of the Coca-Cola Company. That was back when bottles were made to be reused, and made to last. The glass was so thick you could really do some damage with one in a bar fight.
Not in a few hundred thousand years when the aliens attack because they just got a shitload of our crap dumped on them.
I imagine cleaning it is the much bigger problem. I've often wondered as I tossed soda bottles in the bin just how they deal with getting the soda residue out of each bottle. And that's just soda. Imagine the REALLY nasty stuff that must come in on some of that plastic (like medical waste). I would say that we should make it a requirement that you had to rinse out recyclables before putting them in the bin, but let's face it, that would only lead to people just tossing it in the trash. Probably better to just go back to metal and glass, and pay the extra money.
I saw that 60 Minutes report (and other similar one they did on the dump kids of Brazil). It's sad how many people in this world live in (and off of) the toxic trash dumps of wealthier people. It's hardly uncommon in the third world, sadly.
I remember when I was a kid, my grandmother still burned most of her trash (and was very efficient about not producing trash), since she lived in the country and didn't have city trash pickup. She hated to deal with plastic, though, since even she wasn't crash enough to burn that and so many more things were coming in plastic containers (this was back when you could still find most stuff in glass and paper containers).
I think we would be better off going back to more glass and paper. But that's going to mean paying more and accepting more illness and less shelf/refrigerator time for a lot of perishables.
I like how you've clearly defined "environment movement" to only count the people who are actually rabid lunatics
I wish it were just the rabid lunatics (it was at one time). An underlying anti-human bent has long since slipped into the mainstream of the movement, and the mainstream of environmental science in general.
Why on earth should you care about appeasing the environment movement??
Who the hell do you think is behind the wheel of the global warming movement? Like it or not, they're the ones driving, steering, guiding, and cajoling. The mainstream is just following.
there were some mass extinction events due to climate changes
And by "some," you of course mean the VAST, VAST MAJORITY. Anything humanity has done has been a drop in the bucket compared to what Mother Nature can do when she wants to. Just ask anything left from the Permian period. Oh wait, you can't.
The good news is that governments don't have to do a lot. Increase taxes on fossil fuel, lower taxes on income, fund basic research and other promising but currently unprofitable research into energy saving and energy production and distribution.
If you think for a second that will appease the human-hating environment movement, you're deluded. Nothing short of humanity committing mass suicide will ever make them happy.
Now, go ahead and mod me down into oblivion. But anyone who has ever dealt with a rabid member of that sect knows it's true. They blame humanity for EVERY ill in the world. They'll probably eventually find a way to retroactively blame us for the vast majority of earth extinctions that occured before we even existed.
I'm blaming global warming. Everyone seems to blame it for everything else, may as well add this to the list.
He was one of the Dice hucksters brought in after Taco left.
Well, you know what they say: A dumb-as-shit, desperate, gullible millionaire and his money are soon parted.
Yes, because we humans are not animals, and are not part of the natural ecosystem of earth. And we are responsible for every extinction and every problem that the earth has ever had or will ever have. So we humans should just all commit suicide so that beautiful Mother Earth can thrive without our poisonous presence. Since you are clearly her most noble guardian, how about you go first, my hero?
Not on launch day. But at $100 cheaper and Sony management that's at least capable of opening their mouths without immediately sticking their fucking feet in them, I'm a lot more optimistic about their chances in this next gen than Microsoft's. And I say that as a loyal Xbox1 and 360 fan.
No the problem is that we humans have killed off all their natural predators and don't have the balls to man-up and replace them. We have the same problem with deer in the area. People have stopped hunting deer, we've killed off all the wolves (because we tend not to like the idea of them attacking our kids and pets and shit)--and so they overpopulated and start becoming a nuisance.
That was back when there were still neighborhood grocery stores--before zoning, the suburbs, and the giant mega-marts. There was still one or two stores doing it in my hometown when I was a kid (my grandmother said they *all* delivered at one time). They got ran out of business when the big chains started coming in.
We're losing money on every order, but don't worry, we'll make up for it in volume!
You won't think Canada Geese are so much of a goddamned treasure when you live in an area where they stay year-round, grow to flocks of hundreds, poison every waterway in sight, and leave a carpet of goose-shit everywhere. They're a fucking nuisance in a LOT of places, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act desperately needs to be amended to make it legal to kill the fucking things. They have WAY overpopulated in large portions of North America.
You're making a LOT of big assumptions there, depending GREATLY on where you live:
Free electricity to fuel the Tesla
Not unless you live in a city where Tesla is providing free chargers. I don't, and I'm pretty sure my power company won't just give it to me for free if I tell them I'm a Tesla owner.
$5/gallon for gasoline
More like $3.50 here.
Cost of maintenance for both cars is similar
Wow, that is a BIG assumption right there. Pretty sure a Tesla dealership is going to charge considerably more for maintenance than a local garage. And very few local garages around here can work on Teslas.
The Tesla battery lasts for 10 years + 150,000 miles
You ever had a cellphone battery last for 10 years without degrading?
Sorry, but color me skeptical.
In some parts of the U.S., $100K a year barely covers rent and utilities on a decent apartment.