Walgreens– Help us end Single Use Plastic
2 Comments Published by Seamus Ford June 8th, 2009 in Commentary, Diet/Nutrition/Eating.
Since when does an apple need a wrapper? This picture illustrates just how disconnected from nature we have become. As you walk into a walgreens here in Chicago you are greeted with this display stand. Discounted Twinkies and fruit shrouded in plastic. I couldn’t leave the store without saying something so, I asked a manager what the email address was for customer feedback at Walgreens. He looked a little suspicious of me because I had my camera phone in hand. I assured him that I would not mention his name or the specific location of the store and then asked him why would Walgreens sell fruit wrapped in plastic. He said because there was a concern about keeping the fruit safe.
I then asked him how does a banana get dirty when you don’t eat the peel and that most people would wash an apple before eating it. He paused for a moment, clearly not having previously considered the absurdity of the packaging in front of us. He then said, "I think you are right."
Most people I have met want to do the right thing and when they don’t it is more often because they have given no thought to what the right thing is in that situation. When it comes to plastic, we have not done enough thinking. NOT AT ALL!! We continue to take a soon to be diminishing resource and continue to waste it on disposable uses.
As walgreens to do it’s part to stop this absurdity. If you are reading this post, I request that to copy the url of this page, create a humorous caption for this picture and then go to Walgreens corporate feedback page and let them know what you think.
Walgreens has the power to change just like you and me.
AMEN!
It’s an odd fact that we seem to feel more secure when a thing has packaging surrounding it. It goes far further than just hygiene: when we see something sheathed in plastic, we have the sense that someone was just there looking after us, watching over us, making sure our food was domestic, made city-ready, not wild. It has the same effect as a roaring fire during a snowstorm: it is something like the love of god protecting us. When something is labeled as well as packaged, that sense goes even further: we see a name, a brand, behind the wildness of the item, and it warms our souls. It doesn’t always matter what name, as long as there is a name. Remove the wrapper and the name from the product and our fears return because we are alone with it, facing raw nature, as if naked in the wild. No apple should ever have that much power over us again.