Editor:
Got back into town last night and picked up the latest Journal. I looked at the cover, and started laughing. “The fine art and terrifying task of carrying groceries from market to home” (Oct. 11).
You must have very little to write about if you are doing cover stories about shopping bags. In all my years of going to the grocery, I don’t think I’ve ever once been “terrified.” Not even by rising prices. Maybe you should’ve held this one until your Halloween issue!
I’m sure that the article will be interesting and insightful, but not as edgy as you’re trying to make it.
Russ Cole, Arcata
This article appears in Project Censored 2012.
Turn up the bass, Russ!
If “terrifying” is not a word you would consider applying to “paper vs. plastic” at the grocery store, consider reading “Plastic Ocean” by Capt. Charles Moore to get good and scared. In great detail, based upon years of research, he describes what is happening to our rivers and streams, beaches, offshore waters and mid- and far-ocean waters from plastics pollution. Marine mammals, fishes and birds are suffering and dying by the score. He states that in 2010 CalTrans spends $16 million a year to remove just plastic bags from roadways! “Current estimates put worldwide plastic production at 300 MILLION TONS A YEAR.” I’d say it could be the most ubiquitous, and harmful, substance on the earth, petroleum based to boot. Even if Capt. Moore is half right, the numbers are staggering. At some point we humans will become “plasticized” by virtue of ingesting food from creatures with plastic absorbed to their cellular level. Worthwhile read if you are interested in the bigger picture of plastics in today’s world.