Saturday, June 14, 2008

The plastic bag thing

I should have known we were in for trouble a few weeks ago. We walked into the dining hall and were confronted with a huge representation of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" constructed entirely out of plastic bags. It was cleverly and faithfully done, and astonishingly ugly. But I thought it was just art.

No, no, no! This week the other shoe dropped. The kibbutz now wants to charge us for every plastic bag taken from the shops, and the members approved this by more than a two-to-one margin.

Now here's my problem: plastic bags are useful. They keep food fresh, they keep the onions away from the peaches, and they are irreplaceable for the disposal of garbage. If ecology is really the problem, the kibbutz can pry open its collective wallet and buy the bio-degradable kind. But no. Instead, they pass the bag tax, further taxing my already stressed budget. It's unforgivable.

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