Recently CBS news reported that Frito-Lay is discontinuing its production of biodegrable bag for packaing Sun Chips. Even Stephen Colbert aired a comment satirizing the “noise pollution” created by these bags.(http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/361306/october-06-2010/tiny-triumphs---environmentalist-ear-pollution)
On a more serious note, in the article “The Death of the Biodegradable Bag” the author, a student from Yale, offers his reactions to the discontinuation of the bag. Immediately, the author says that he isn’t very optimistic. In fact, he feels that “our species isn’t worth saving” because we can’t be bothered by a ‘green’ bag that makes noise. The Frito-Lay bag caused what news channels call “noise pollution”. This particular issue connects to problems about the wind turbines being too loud and residents in the area bringing a lawsuit against the organization behind the turbines. American’s can’t handle a little bit of “noise pollution” for the sake of the only world we’ve got.
I enjoyed reading this article because it was not only witty, but true in a painful way. This article made me laugh because of how the information was presented, but also disgusted. Many people would laugh at both the article and clip and think “not me.” That’s not the case. We’ve had this bag in my house before, and I didn’t like it at all. It was a nice concept, a good step forward, but it was very loud, especially when someone went for a midnight snack. However, having my opinion satirized and written about has made me think about it. It’s disgusting. A major company took a gamble by using these biodegradable bags, which probably cost more to manufacture, and the American consumers said that they wouldn’t stand for the noise, and changed there consumer patterns. Not only does the hollowness of most of America, and even myself, disgust me, it’s the fact that the world wants to be like us. Most of the world is striving to have our standard of living, the affluent lifestyles we live. What these countries don’t see is the “affluenza”, the doing away with a green innovation because of “noise pollution.” And everyone wants to be like us.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patrick-vergara/the-death-of-the-biodegra_b_753660.html
You and I must think alike--I am talking about this in class today!
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ReplyDeleteI think Rachel is absolutely correct. What is wrong with our society that we would be so selfish, so backwards to reject a minor disturbance in our "consumer experience" for the Earth that gives us our existence? I think the backlash against Sun Chips biodegradable bag reveals disturbing truths about our country and society. It is unbelievable that Americans believe we can continue down this same path. What is even harder to believe is that they would want to! How degrading to be labeled as CONSUMER? Really? That is my purpose in the world? Not to give, love, serve, or educate, but to consume? Something has to change. Fast.
ReplyDeleteI believe that if we can save the enviroment by a small amount of noise, then I think we need to learn to make small sacrifices. This article was very relevant to me because Sun Chips are a part of mostly all American household, and we faced the issue of the "noise pollution" in my house as well. The article exhibits how self-centered Americans have become because we are not able to handle a small amount of noise to protect the environment. If we continue living in such a selfish manner, then we may not have this Earth for not only the future generations but our generation as well. This article provides a small aspect of how we fail to embrace our environment, and it shows that we must have damaged it with all of the malicious activities we do on it for our personal benefits. Honestly, I feel that Americans are educated about the fact that we are harming the Earth, but no one wants to take the initiative to protect it, which leads to us deterioting the environment.This article serves as a wake-up call to society because it shows every American that each person has to play their role to protect the environment, and small sacrifices must be made in order to make sure we are able to preserve the Earth.
ReplyDeleteI think that this article was so interesting. For years now, many people complained because the world wasn't "going green" and said it was because people could'nt take the small steps. It is very ironic to me that people are complaing about this wonderful new step towards greener packaging in foods. I was really excited when I first heard about these new bags, and I hope that all bags will be biodegradable one day. This complaint about noise of the bag is a real relection of part of our society that needs to be addressed. Our society as a whiole needs to sacrifice the simple pleasures of having a quite plastic bag to eat from and then we can move forward to having a cleaner planet to live in.
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