The inmates are running the asylum.

[MMM]

comply with what? can you explain..

State of Quintano Roo rules (might even be legislation or regulations) about plastic products. No more plastic bags for groceries, plastic utensils, cups, plates etc. Initially they were including trash bags but someone figured that was self defeating. It has made a pretty good dent in trash dropped everywhere.

 

[RobPNW]

Hello,

Welcome to Mexico lol.

Take care.

The logic in the US isn't a hell of a lot better. When I was a kid, you were the devil if you used a paper grocery bag because you were killing the trees and destroying the planet, and they made you use plastic. Now plastic is banned a lot of places and they're using those tree hating paper bags again. Remember when they were trying to mandate getting rid of regular light bulbs and making use use the stupid squiggly one. You know, the ones that all had mercury in them and ended up in every landfill? Lastly, the same people screaming bloody murder about an imminent ice age when I was a kid, then said the planet was going to be an inferno. Now they just call it "climate change" so it has an ambiguous name that can mean anything depending on whatever happens to work at the time. Don't get me wrong, I love the environment and love diving and want to see it clean and healthy, but some of the people out there never got a degree in common sense and don't instill a lot of confidence from me. Sorry if that pissed anyone off. Rant font off...

 

[lexvil]

They called it global warming, because that is what it is but the average person who can’t see beyond an am radio dial saw the temperature drop in winter so that same person disbelieved the science using gold fish logic. Some places got even colder than ever, ditto head saw that as proof the global warming was a hoax, despite the science having predicted that very thing, of course since science can’t be explained on a big letter bumper sticker it can’t be true. Paper bags were made from rain Forrest trees leading to …

 

[judydivescoz]

I remember the paper bags at the grocery store being replaced by plastic simply because plastic was cheaper. It was all about profit not trees. Living in Cozumel it’s fine using reusable shopping bags and not being able to stock up on Ziplocks at the grocery store. I would much rather concentrate on the problem of where to have cocktails and dinner.

 

[drk5036]

Paper bags are more ecofriendly because trees are part of the "short carbon cycle". Cutting down trees, making them into paper bags, then burning the bags does NOT cause global warming. The CO2 produced goes back into growing new trees that can be farmed economically. A good thing!

Plastics need to be consumed carefully because they're part of the "long carbon cycle"...digging hydrocarbons out of the ground, to make goods, that when burned contribute CO2 that cannot be reabsorbed or put back into its original state. That doesn't mean all plastics are bad, and their extremely low price has been revolutionary in the medical field, because reuse of medical devices can spread disease. It's hard to make any statement about single use plastics other than them being bad however (and I have a PhD in Polymer Science and Engineering).

My answer to the problem would be to sell them, but slap a big fat carbon tax on them. Use that money to invest in carbon sequestration technology and implementation.

 

[RobPNW]

I think there's plenty of denial on both sides frankly. There are people who think there's nothing to worry about and it's all a hoax. There are also people who insist that everything is getting worse by the day and the world is going to come to an end. And there are people who are too young to know any better, that never heard of every car burning lead, every block in places like Pittsburgh having a smoke stack spewing out toxins, companies dumping in the rivers and lakes, Indians on commercials crying about litter on the road, and never experiencing actual smog. In many ways the environment is the cleanest it's been in my lifetime. Other ways not. And then there are those that think having the strictest regulations on Earth will magically fix everything, when in reality, jobs and production will seek the most profitable source in countries that don't give a damn and increase net global pollution. Full disclosure, I recycle, I car pool, I walk when I can, my next vehicle will likely be an EV and I've done cleanup dives. But as is true of nearly every debate in existence, reality is usually somewhere between the extremes.

 

[deepsea21]

Jeez, don't you remember, the turtles are dying because plastic straws!!!!! All consumer plastics are bad.
Has nothing to do with the massive number of a 'ghost' abandoned fishing nets

That is the dirty big secret no government and very few environmentalists want to talk about. The vast majority of plastic trash in the ocean is lost and discarded commercial fishing gear. All should watch the Netflix funded original documentary ‘Seaspiracy’. What an eye-opener. “Dolphin safe” canned tuna and seafood? Certified sustainable seafood? LOL! No such things.

 

[Okcdiver2]

Before we continue... - The Lily

www.thelily.com

Could be worse
I think it was a few years ago they banned single use plastics. The only difference I see Is I now have plenty of reusable grocery bags because I always forget to bring them.
It's a overwhelming challenge to recycle and reduce plastic use.

 

[ChuckP]

State of Quintano Roo rules (might even be legislation or regulations) about plastic products. No more plastic bags for groceries, plastic utensils, cups, plates etc. Initially they were including trash bags but someone figured that was self defeating. It has made a pretty good dent in trash dropped everywhere.

Someone told me the trash bags are biodegradable here now... I sorta wonder about all the sauce baggies on any takeout food and all the other plastic packaging but I guess the squiggly line has to start somewhere.

PASA refuses to pick up my garbage because it is in paper cement bags - I have to go buy some plastic bags instead - very little makes sense here.

 

[deepsea21]

very little makes sense here.

That’s an understatement. I’d go so far as to say almost nothing makes sense here.