Plastic Bags

Image by Flickr user Brainless Angel, made available under Creative Commons

My lunchtime reading today was an article from the Guardian's G2 on the way that Plastic Bags have been 'adopted' by some as "environmental enemy no. 1", and their usage has been a focus for many campaigns.

Certainly if you go to Sainsbury's, there are no carrier bags on the tills by default.

A quote that was mentioned was by James Lovelock caught me eye:

"rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic"

There are probably quite a few "deckchairs" which students could identify with reference to climate change, or environmental campaigning, and perhaps produce a small display piece which suggests why the particular act or bete-noire they have identified is actually just a small part of a much bigger picture.

This idea was also flagged up recently in my nearest large town. A huge new paper mill has just opened to the west of King's Lynn, on the banks of the Great Ouse. It has been the largest construction project outside of the Olympics for some months now.
This brief letter was printed in the local paper: the "Lynn News" this week:

"We religiously turn off our TV standby buttons each night; change to energy-efficient lightbulbs, the countryside is being covered by wind turbine farms. Then what do we discover ? The enormous paper mill is using enough electricity to power a large city of more than 350 000 inhabitants ! Enough said"