Fwd: Skeptoid: The Trashy Secret of Plastic Bag Bans

Ecology: Keep'emPeeled! 

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From: Skeptoid Companion Email <noreply@skeptoid.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2020, 15:23
Subject: Skeptoid: The Trashy Secret of Plastic Bag Bans
To: Johnny Zhivago <zvagoman@gmail.com>

The weekly companion email provided with each new episode of the Skeptoid podcast

Skeptoid #711: THE TRASHY SECRET OF PLASTIC BAG BANS All around the world, bans on plastic carryout bags are being passed faster than you can keep track, especially in western countries like the United States where environmental sentiment is most prolific. The idea behind the bans is simple and self-evident: a reduction in waste and litter, and a corresponding reduction in associated environmental impacts like greenhouse gases. At first glance, it seems like a perfectly rational step. Shoppers will turn to lower-impact options like reusable bags or easily-recyclable paper bags. The environment will benefit. Or will it? For it turns out that, from end-to-end, virtually every single belief that informs these bans is based on misinformation; and as a result, bans on plastic carryout bags do more harm than good. Most people have heard this claim, and many have dismissed it as pro-industry propaganda. Today we're going to look at the underlying data and uncover the real facts. by Brian Dunning Read | Listen

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WONDER OF THE WEEK Incredible how gullible even science news can be An uninteresting frame of FLIR footage that TTSA says is interesting Today's Wonder of the Week illustrates my wonder at how gullible even science news can be. For a long time, former rock musician Tom Delonge's UFO film production company To The Stars Academy -- an evolution of Skinwalker Ranch and later the dubious Pentagon $22 million UFO program -- has been blanketing the world media with press releases claiming that the US Navy says UFOs are real and it has the evidence. Note the important difference. The US Navy actually says no such thing and expresses little interest in UFOs; To The Stars simply says the US Navy believes in them. Nevertheless their press releases get parroted by the world media nearly every time they come around. This week just blew my stack because it was picked up as the "top science story of the week" by Live Science, an organization which should definitely know better. Read more. Contributed by Brian Dunning.

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