Green is the Scene

I was at JC Penney the other day buying a frame. Exciting, right? Well, anyway, I noticed on the plastic bag the woman gave me there was a little notation on the bag that said "Recycle at a JC Penney near you" or something to that effect. In a rare instance of unprovoked audacity on my part, I asked the woman what that meant, knowing in good conscience that that kind of plastic is not recyclable. She said that they will reuse the bags for future purchases. I then blurted out would they would cut down on the amount of bags they produce then? She said she didn't think so. And I was just baffled. That's not recycling at all. The same amount of plastic is being produced, and therefore nothing is changing. So...why promote the fallacy that they are recycling? Oh, right, because "being green" is trendy. 

Well, normally, it would be distressing to see something like being eco-friendly fall the way of Chinese slippers and Beanie Babies, but then I tried making a metaphor. Realistically, even though the rapid climate changes and depleting ozone are apparent, we still have no concrete evidence it's caused by an access of fossil fuels, although it's probably the best explanation we have as of now. So, if it is our consumer ways that are trashing the planet, that's never going to stop, even if it becomes unpopular. 

So, think of it this way: you see someone running from a lion. You think it looks cool, so you start running from the lion too. Before you know it, everyone is running from lions. After a while, though, you're going to get tired and want to stop. But the lions won't. So, even though you may not want to do it anymore, if you want to save your hide,  you'll keep running for your life. Lest the lions tear you to pieces...