kar0ling

Just rip off all the packaging and leave it behind – that’ll teach them! Or not. In many cases, leaving plastic wrapping in the store is an exercise in futility that simply irritates staff who have no power to do anything to effect change. However, the impulse to do *something* to change the system is to be applauded, and advice to simply shop somewhere with better policies doesn’t ultimately help. One or two people opting out and using a specialized low waste supplier is good but not as effective as those one or two people lobbying mainstream suppliers to make less-waste practices that will now affect everyone whether they care or not. The advice to “just ask for them not to give you a bag next time” is nice, but sometimes the employee is so quick on the draw tossing your stuff into unnecessary plastic (while you’re getting out your wallet to expedite the transaction) that you miss the window of opportunity. Instead, let’s advocate for employee behaviour to change: P...

“Moderator dropped from green forum over NDP concerns” The headline caught my eye. I wonder what that’s all about? There’s always a back story. When there’s an outrageous headline, it’s generally best to read the article – and read between the lines. Sensational headlines never tell the whole story, and rarely does the full article either. What I read said the NDP objected to one of the moderators (one *of*, mind you – not the sole) on the panel because she had written critical columns about the party leader. Now I can’t bring to mind those columns, so I can’t say in what way she was critical, but given they were published in the local newspaper, a reputable journalistic entity, I can’t imagine they were unrestrained personal attacks. Editors don’t want to be threatened with a libel suit. So when did it become unacceptable to critique politicians? On the other hand, another headline points to the problem of unrestrained opining: “Threats, abuse move from online to real w...