The Environment Secretary is to consider the banning of plastic straws. Pubs and so on will be forced to use paper ones instead. Apparently it is better to kill trees these days than to use inanimate feedstocks like oil and gas – things the environmentalists tell us we’ve too much of already.
However, this is to fail Chesterton’s Fence – for why do we use plastic straws in the first place? This isn’t something we know ourselves but given that people do use them we’re really very certain that there is a rational reason for their use. Until we know what that is, and whether it still applies, we should not be going around banning things.
Chesterton’s Fence comes from the late, great, GK of course. The point being that if you’re out and about and come across a fence then before you try to decide whether to get rid of the fence or not you’ve got to understand why? Why didn’t someone put the fence there, why a fence at all? Only once you’ve understood the original reason can you consider whether it’s still a valid one for the fence’s existence.
So, why do people use plastic straws? As above, we don’t know. We can postulate but we’ve no evidence. Perhaps they’re cheaper than paper ones? Meaning that banning them makes all drinkers poorer? Perhaps there’s less energy usage, fewer CO2 emissions? The point though isn’t that we know, but that we’re certain that the Environment Secretary doesn’t either. That it hasn’t even crossed the politician’s mind to find out either. And yet that is the important thing to be doing.
There really is some reason that people use plastic straws. Until we work out what it is, then whether it’s still a valid one, we cannot go about banning their use. For doing that is not just to fail Chesterton’s Fence it’s ignorant.
I recall the paper straws used in the 1950s.
They were treated with wax, I think, and went soft quickly. The end in your mouth flattened. You could no longer suck through it.
Plastic straws were better.
Ban straws, perhaps. But don’t claim the old ones were better.
Hmm, what and who’s problem is an Environment Secretary intended to solve?
Tricky, seems easier to just brain them with some two by four.
The picture explains why we have plastic straws…
As MB says, the paper ones were shite. The plastic ones are available in multiple shapes and colours and actually work like straws – not that I ever use straws…
This is just the slippery slope caused by the ‘success’ of the plastic bag ban – which came to Cyprus in January but is being ‘phased in’ (ignored)….
But, hey, it sends a signal!
Incredible the speed at which the straw ban has spread around the world. I had never heard of straws being an enviroment bogeyman, yet last week I saw a handwritten poster in rural Mexico with the same talking points (number manufactured, number of dead sea animals etc) used in the UK.
The cynic in me suspects a centrally coordinated campaign.
The power of junk environmentalist TV
Substitute “straws” for “bags” and you’ve hijacked one of my blog’s central bugbears – complete with references to Chesterton’s Fence. Let’s get this straight, Timmy boy: I plagiarise you, not the other way around!
Why straws? Americans use them because they put so much stupid ice in their drinks that you can’t sip them properly from the rim of the glass. In countries which don’t worship ice you aren’t in need of a straw at all.
There is a story floating around the internet that this entire farce is based, ultimately, on a school report done by a nine year old.
It may not be true, but it is true enough.
F**k ’em. Remember that virtually all the plastic waste in the ocean comes from a very small number of rivers that happen to all be in the Third World.
@So Much For Subtlety
Correct:
https://qz.com/1004589/80-of-plastic-in-the-ocean-can-be-traced-back-to-asias-rivers-led-by-china-indonesia-myanmar-a-study-by-netherland-based-the-ocean-cleanup-found/
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/nov/05/terrawatch-the-rivers-taking-plastic-to-the-oceans
and the Fraud Gove, Gov’t & BBC still use as evidence:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-017-08321-2?utm_source=TWT_NatureNews&sf175729918=1
The picture explains why we have plastic straws…
As MB says, the paper ones were shite. The plastic ones are available in multiple shapes and colours and actually work like straws – not that I ever use straws…
This is just the slippery slope caused by the ‘success’ of the plastic bag ban – which came to Cyprus in January but is being ‘phased in’ (ignored)….
I recall the paper straws used in the 1950s.
They were treated with wax, I think, and went soft quickly. The end in your mouth flattened. You could no longer suck through it.
Plastic straws were better.
Ban straws, perhaps. But don’t claim the old ones were better.
Incredible the speed at which the straw ban has spread around the world. I had never heard of straws being an enviroment bogeyman, yet last week I saw a handwritten poster in rural Mexico with the same talking points (number manufactured, number of dead sea animals etc) used in the UK.
The cynic in me suspects a centrally coordinated campaign.
Hmm, what and who’s problem is an Environment Secretary intended to solve?
Tricky, seems easier to just brain them with some two by four.
Substitute “straws” for “bags” and you’ve hijacked one of my blog’s central bugbears – complete with references to Chesterton’s Fence. Let’s get this straight, Timmy boy: I plagiarise you, not the other way around!
But, hey, it sends a signal!
There is a story floating around the internet that this entire farce is based, ultimately, on a school report done by a nine year old.
It may not be true, but it is true enough.
F**k ’em. Remember that virtually all the plastic waste in the ocean comes from a very small number of rivers that happen to all be in the Third World.
Why straws? Americans use them because they put so much stupid ice in their drinks that you can’t sip them properly from the rim of the glass. In countries which don’t worship ice you aren’t in need of a straw at all.
@So Much For Subtlety
Correct:
https://qz.com/1004589/80-of-plastic-in-the-ocean-can-be-traced-back-to-asias-rivers-led-by-china-indonesia-myanmar-a-study-by-netherland-based-the-ocean-cleanup-found/
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/nov/05/terrawatch-the-rivers-taking-plastic-to-the-oceans
and the Fraud Gove, Gov’t & BBC still use as evidence:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-017-08321-2?utm_source=TWT_NatureNews&sf175729918=1
The power of junk environmentalist TV