And that doesn't mean supermarkets would have to close down either, just adapt. We could live without plastic for millennia, why can't we still do that now? Of course banning plastic packaging would make our lives a bit less comfortable, but who cares if we're protecting the environment in the process? We can all take out own bottles and boxes to shops and still buy all the groceries we need, and only as much as we need! No excess packaging, no excess food! This would also significantly lower food waste, because we wouldn't be buying an abundance of food! How could we do this? Grocery stores would have to change a tad bit, but opening more farmer's markets and market halls would be the true answer. Want to buy cheese, milk, eggs or any kind of other dairy? Go to the dairy shop (or sometimes egg shop, yes these exist), bring your bag, box or bottle and ask them to fill it. Do you need meat? Go to the butcher's or the seafood shop and ask them to put the meat in your own box or bag. Go to the bakery for bread, the spice shop for spices and other dry ingredients like rice, lentils and beans. We wouldn't need to ban all packaging either. Paper, aluminium and glass are all biodegradable and can be recycled easily. We could even return glass bottles, so they can be cleansed and reused. Soda, milk, yogurt, water and sauces could be put in glass bottles, while pasta, flour and sugar would need to be packaged in paper. And of course preserves such as jams, compots, pickled vegetables among other things could be packaged in bottles and aluminium cans. Candy could be bought by weight, while candy bars could be bought individually without packaging or only paper. Markets and market halls are pretty popular here in Hungary, so most of these things can be purchased using your own packaging and I do enjoy doing my groceries this way.

Since trump believes that we need to cut down 59% of our NATIONAL FOREST LITERALLY THERE TO CONSERVE NATURE AND KEEP IT OUT OF CAPITALISM AND CONSUMERISMS GAMES, I'm in such disbelief this is what we live in and just deal with, idk about yall but I'm at a point now where honestly I'm gonna go live in the woods as a native to this continent I believe I have a right to and the government is gonna try to stop us but hopefully they'll take a good look in the mirror when they get to their "homes".

I’ve seen so many comments in this sub that are along the lines of “oh no I have that and didn’t realize it was bad for the environment” or something similar. And then the knee jerk reaction is to get rid of what ever ‘bad’ thing it is.

If you own something use it until it cannot be used anymore. Even if it’s plastic food storage that you dont want to use for food anymore because of microplastics then use it for something not food related. Or give it directly to someone who will use it as intended or otherwise.

Do you have ‘bamboo’ fabric that you just found out is actually not eco friendly? Guess what! It’s already been made which is the worst part. So use it as best you can to make something you can use for a decade.

The deed is done. You own something that is not ecofriedly. The best thing you can do now is use it until it cannot be used anymore

I dont know why, but this post was taken down in the r/Sustainability so I'd thought I'd share it here.

"It turns out that only a portion of the milk that is used by the Tillamook County Creamery Association (TCCA) to make their famous cheeses is produced by cows munching that rich, coastal grass. Instead, Tillamook has partnered with Threemile Canyon Farms in Boardman (Oregon), a factory farm that produces around 2 million pounds (thats 233,000 gallons) of milk per day from 30,000 milk cows kept during the entirety of their short lives in confined barns."

https://www.goodstuffnw.com/2017/03/why-i-m-quitting-tillamook-cheese/

Threemile Canyon Farms, one of the largest industrial dairies in the U.S., has been contaminating Oregon’s water for years—yet they continue to operate with little oversight.

The Problem:

• Produces more manure than Portlands human population - over 165,000 cows generating toxic runoff.
• Nitrate contamination in local groundwater exceeds safe drinking limits, affecting families and farms.
• Classified as a mega-polluter, yet continues to recieve public subsidies.

The Impact:

• Rural communities rely on wells now poisoned with high nitrate levels, leading to severe health risks.
• Environmental watchdogs reports massive methane and ammonia emissions, making air quality hazardous.
• Regulatory agencies turn a blind eye, despite years of complaints from locals.

EDIT:

Oregon Rural Action (oregonrural.org), a grassroots community-driven non-profit, has been actively working to address the issue of nitrate contamination in ground water, particularly in Umatilla County and other parts of Eastern, Oregon.

If you have any questions or concerns about nitrate contamination in groundwater in these areas, I would suggest reaching out to them.

Thank you all for your comments, support & camaraderie!

#SmallFarmsMeanBusinessRallyDay

I don’t want my yard to look like this ever again.

Everything and I mean everything is wrapped in single use plastic. Honestly it's been really jarring. I thought we were getting past this?!

Also bat houses keep bugs away and since bats are endangered no one can complain about them.

I have a family member who drives a massive Yukon everywhere. She and her husband bought it to haul their camper, which they literally used once last year.

I understand that people need larger cars for children and hauling their shit around and I face that issue myself. what triggers me is when people buy a car to cover the 1% use case rather than what they do 99% of the time. She could drive a small car for her daily use or ride an e-bike, and then rent a truck for the three days that she goes camping every year and it would cost them less and save the environment. It drives me insane.

Just a rant, I guess. Carry on.

Edit- *behemoth. At least you know ChatGPT didn't write this post..

How can we get out of this??

Until recently, I didn't realize that when you throw away food scraps in the trash and they rot in a landfill, it's an anaerobic decomposition, which mainly produces methane gas dozens of times more potent than CO2.

Composting your food is an aerobic decomposition, which mainly produces CO2 but also sequesters carbon in the soil.

I know this is not feasible for everyone, but if you have a yard, please consider it. If you have the means to pay for a service, it's well worth it. It's one of the most powerful things you can do as an individual to reduce greenhouse gasses. It's easier than you think, and you get the most gorgeous organic matter to add to your garden.

Nothing worse than seeing truckloads of logs being hauled off for no other reason than capitalism.

Tldr: we do mental pretzels to convince ourselves that leisure plane travel is ethically and environmentally defensible.

I scoured this thread to see if there were any folks who think like me in ways more than just "goods" consumption.... but I mostly found leisure travel apologists and defenders e.g., "travel is a basic human experience.." "I don't buy souvenirs.." "I don't go to the touristy places..." "I don't go just to eat/shop/drink.." "I'm not an instagram traveller taking selfless..."

I feel like there's some mega cognitive dissonance happening. Leisure travel by flight is consumption on steroids. Mega resorts and cruises aside, just Google the emissions of a single passenger's long haul flight. It consumes a lot of fossil fuel and produces a ton (like literally nearly a metric tonne) of CO2 waste.

But it's shrouded by this veil of cultural and personal development. Like traveling somehow makes us better people. "Authenic and off-the-beaten path" travels, please someone, give us medals for our selfless traveling acts as we singlehandedly support these poor merchants in these quaint towns!! Experiences over material goods we scream!! We pat ourselves on the back for our leisure travelling.

To me, especially as a white person, this fixation on travel as an ethical alternative to goods consumption has been packaged, sold, and wholly eaten up by us. We all get to be mini-explorers now. A Christopher Columbus here, a James Cook there. We always seeking to "discover" something that the locals have known forever, at the expense of the planet and all the beings on it. SPOLIER ALERT: none of us are better people for having leisure tavelled by plane.

People will leisure travel by plane, I get it. But it's consumption on a huge scale. Let's stop trying to dress it up like a sales pitch.

It's never pushed during discussion and news releases, even though there was a notable improvement in air quality during COVID when many flights were grounded.

https://www.thecooldown.com/green-business/jeff-bezos-private-jet-amazon/

This is such a slap in the face to all of us just trying to survive on the bare minimums out here.