[image by fensterbme]

Coming back from a run I turned on to my block to see a woman throw plastic bottles and bags into the recycling bin — while slowly cleaning out her SUV — with the engine running, of course.

A lil semi-relevant quote from Umbra:

You’re driving down the street and your eye is caught by a plastic bag snared in a tree. “Gross!” you think, “Some jerk has been littering again! Those plastic bags are a wasteful, American consumerist eyesore! Turtles are going to die!” Guess what? That flapping plastic bag is a distraction from the much more important, yet all-too-often overlooked fact that you are driving. Driving a particulate-spewing, gas-devouring, pavement-loving machine. And that is the role of the paper/plastic debate for far too many casual environmentalists: an eye-catching distraction from far more threatening concerns.

Which is to say if you can’t ditch the SUV, at least turn the fucking engine off while you clean it out — and thanks for recycling, I think. (and also please take your own bags to the grocery store cuz turtles are cool)

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