Excesses

A quick comment on the amount of plastic and other packaging. This is something I find easy to whine and bitch about. Well, honestly, what don't I find easy to whine and bitch about? This picture, for example, is of a box of green tea cakes I purchased at the airport. A box wrapped in cellophane containing a bunch of miniature boxes that contain little plastic bags containing aluminum-lined paper containing the actual item I purchased. They were good, thanks for asking, but this is irrelevant.

The point is, that aside from this, there is so much unnecessary packaging or at least so I thought. At first I thought there was a definite overuse of plastic bags here in southeast Asia. And while I still find this generally to be the case, it could be worse. Everything could be processed and wrapped and sealed in multiple containers just like at the grocery store. Take Trader Joe's for example. King of overpackaging. I'm not bashing, just stating the obvious.

So, when I lament the fact I am getting fresh produce in plastic bag or 100 grams of cashews in a plastic bag or some street food wrapped in plastic - what the hell else are they to do? No bag for me. Just drop those cashews right into my mouth. It may not always be necessary, but it is often convenient and there just isn't another real viable alternative. Not here anyway. Well, at least not a blatantly obvious viable alternative. Sure there are, you say and I agree that for me, there is. I could reuse the bag, but I'm not going to forgo the fresh produce or the street food or the cashews. Never!

This is going nowhere. Thanks for taking notice. Instead of lamenting the overuse of plastic and excess packaging over here, I will instead direct some attention to the land of excess: the United States. The size of our automobiles, the size of our homes, the amount of gasoline we use, the amount of fast food we eat, the portion sizes, the size of our waists, everything in excess! Is it all necessary?