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Next!

And then they came for … the plastic water bottles. Among many, here is the "money" quote:

Chiu's ordinance calls plastic water bottles "bad for the environment," unnecessarily taking up landfill space and causing greenhouse gas emissions when cheap tap water is available. San Francisco city departments have been barred from buying plastic water bottles since 2007.

OK Mr Chiu (and how about the journalist?) … show me the evidence that plastic water bottles are "bad" for the environment. This is not science but religion. If you start from the premise that anything that consumes a resource is harmful to the environment then we are not talking about science here. Furthermore Mr. Chiu (and the journalist) would you like to point out the research on how much landfill space we have, how harmful plastic bottles are once in the landfill, how harmful plastic bottles are to wildlife and water and other environmental amenities? My Eco 238 students will learn. 

Did I mention that my campus has those groovy dispensers on some of their fountains? Not in my department of course, it must be because we want to continue to be "bad" for the environment. Oh, I cannot stop here, try this doozie:

Chiu said he considered other aggressive measures to curb the bottle, including a fee and an outright ban. The proposed ordinance is less severe and is meant to raise awareness about drinking tap water as an alternative, he said.

Raising awareness? That's what all of "E"nvironmentalism has come down to. Authoritarianism once raising awareness has not worked its magic.  Oh, here's another:

"San Francisco has among the best drinking water in country. It's ridiculous that people would go out and spend their now very limited dollars to buy bottled water," said Mae Wu, an attorney with the National Resources Defense Council.

Thanks for telling us how to live our lives Ms. Wu, thank you very much. You know a key part of that sentence? Their dollars. That's right. Do you think it's ridiculous that so many people in San Francisco spend so much of their limited dollars on Giants tickets? Or expensive wine? You know how damaging it is to the environment to continue to allow so much good habitat be used to grow grapes? Do you know how many glass bottles are used to package wine? Do you know how much gas is used to get people to and from PacBell Park? Why not push for a ban of those things? Or perhaps let's rewrite your comment: 

San Francisco has among the best scenery in the world. It is ridiculous that people would go out and spend their now very limited dollars to buy vacations from other places.

I must stop before I pop a vessel. Ask my students how much bottled water I drink by the way.

Here was the last episode in the series.

5 Responses to “Next!”

  1. Speedmaster says:

    >> "This is not science but religion."
     
    +1, that nailed it.

  2. Cedric says:

    Nailed it.  

  3. Brent says:

    Earth first, we'll strip mine the other planets later…

  4. Trey says:

    "San Francisco has among the best drinking water in country"

     
    Yea, thanks to the flooding of a beautiful valley:
     
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetch_Hetchy_Reservoir
     
     
     

  5. […] Liberty / Govt. Chiu’s Water Bottles […]

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