What is it about that store that is so attractive that people want to go there specifically to spend time? Is it about satisfying some hunter-gatherer instinct by loading items into a shopping cart without any kind of challenge? The tenth of every month is the owner’s payday. I could think of a dozen other places to spend time after a workday, such as grilling corn at the cottage or enjoying sour beers on a terrace. Read S-Benefit Card. If you do not have an S-Benefit Card, press the “No S-Benefit Card” button.
I must say I also don’t understand those people who go to spend time at the health center right at eight in the morning, when I myself would want to avoid going there and would rather use Omaolo or a doctor chat. I’m sure it’s nice to exchange news while waiting on the bench, but it’s nicer elsewhere.
Next time, I might realize right at the checkout that, oh shoot, I forgot the quark. I’ll apologize and start wandering off toward the cold storage at the back of the store looking lost. I’ll stop at the shelves for a while to deliberate between the quark tubs until I pick the cheapest one on the shelf.
Then I’ll head back to the checkout. Naturally, I’ll pay for my groceries with a badly crumpled bottle return receipt and a large pile of coins.
Next, I’ll go to pack my groceries, but I’ll realize I forgot a plastic bag. I’ll try to whine and see if I can get one for free. When the already severely pissed-off cashier refuses, I’ll ask for half a dozen of those small transparent bags that you can get for free. I’ll pack my groceries and take the stuff to the car.
At this point, I’ll realize I need to poop, so I’ll return to the store’s restroom to leave a little parting gift—skid marks included, of course.
These two factors are likely neutral for Kesko, or in some cases even beneficial. For the retailer’s profitability, however, they are obviously detrimental.
That statistic shows that Europeans are also dumping far too much plastic into the oceans. Unfortunately, it is being done even more extensively elsewhere. However, Asians likely don’t have a very significant impact on the plastic situation in the Baltic Sea or the Mediterranean (excluding Mediterranean countries that are part of Asia). If only we could at least keep our own backyard in order, but we can’t.
There are certainly all kinds of people, and I understand that some only see the downsides of grocery trips, especially if they don’t enjoy shopping or, for example, trying new foods. Then there are those of us who enjoy being able to peacefully browse the offerings of the produce section and pick out the best-looking seasonal products, or like to scan the shelves for new arrivals or inspiration for our own kitchens. Or perhaps eye a relaxing evening drink from the store’s sour beer selection To each their own pleasure; however, enjoyable things are rarely done with efficiency as the top priority (unless that pleasure stems specifically from a sense of efficiency).
When traveling abroad, I like to visit local grocery stores just because of the different selection. It works as a form of small-scale “bubble tourism” too!
So your perspective is that as long as a single piece of plastic waste from Europe ends up in the sea, any restrictions on individual freedom and business can be justified based on that, regardless of their actual effectiveness?
Europe’s contribution to the global ocean plastic waste problem is negligible, and the madness surrounding straws, bottle caps, etc., has a further negligible impact on the generation of plastic waste in Europe. These measures do not solve any real problem, and no sensible person has ever thought they would. Their only purpose is, like a religious act of penance, to demonstrate a readiness for suffering and thereby redeem the original sin of being human.
Perhaps you are overinterpreting a bit, but as I see it, it makes more sense to try to take care of this planet rather than investing money in, say, colonizing Mars. That is foolish if anything. And I do think it is sensible to restrict or guide individual actions/choices if they do not understand how to make environmentally sound choices themselves. The use of plastic is just one, but a very significant issue—the oceans are, after all, an extremely important ecosystem from the perspective of both human well-being and the economy. Nor does plastic exactly promote the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. I assume that as a civilized person, you understand that even you will not survive on this planet without functioning ecosystems. Every cent “sacrificed” to preserve them is important. At the same time, it would obviously be important to promote solutions to the plastic problem on a global scale as well.
Yeah, totalitarianism based on arbitrariness and gut feelings is definitely the best way to “take care of this planet.” Let’s go with that.
There is absolutely no problem with using plastic when the used plastic is recycled or burned for energy. But when people, in their hatred for humanity and progress, feel the need to experience guilt over every development that increases well-being, they’d rather ban everything just because they feel like it—even though it’s crystal clear that it achieves no measurable benefit. And those who don’t want to participate in this LARP are forced to comply under the threat of violence. It sure is great to be a Good Person and on the side of goodness against the wicked!
I wondered back during the COVID times when Citymarket used to give specific instructions to people: “please only spend as much time in the store as is necessary for shopping.” Those announcements should honestly still be in use, and they could put some sort of pen in the corner of the parking lot where people could go to have their “friend meets” and chat about the day’s news. They should also put a motor on the shopping carts that would automatically start pulling after 10 seconds of standing still, or at least one that would straighten out a cart left sideways in the aisle while the driver stares at a potato like it’s their first time ever encountering such a product.
These are not mutually exclusive options. NASA’s Ernst Stuhlinger wrote what I think is a wonderful letter in 1970 to Sister Mary Jucunda when she had inquired why he was planning to send a spacecraft to Mars while there were starving children in the world:
But then again, there are still other locations in Finland where ferries could be replaced by bridges, and the cost wouldn’t be as high as the Hailuoto project. Aren’t there small ferry routes in places like Kemijärvi and Saimaa.. And I suppose several spots in Åland as well,
At least our Citymarket and a few K-Supermarkets have this kind of “pen” right inside the store since they have an in-store cafe … at least they’re out of the way of intensive shopping…
I may have expressed myself poorly, but my intention wasn’t to claim that the problem isn’t even larger elsewhere, but rather that there are plenty of problems in Europe as well.
That 0.6% is an absolutely massive amount in absolute terms. It’s too high.
To each their own pleasure; however, enjoyable things are rarely done with efficiency as the top priority (unless that pleasure stems specifically from a sense of efficiency).
… at least they’re out of the way of intensive shopping…