Reusable iced tea/coffee cups are kind of a new thing. While portable coffee mugs have been around a while and therefore come in all different sorts of materials (stainless, porcelain etc..) iced drink cups come in one form: plastic. They pretty much all look like that, give or take the color or size.
I'm not the biggest fan of cheap plastic that will (generally) end up being a waste of money because whatever you buy almost instantaneously breaks. But, I wanted to try one of these out. Plastic is plastic, and a fancy designer label will buy you the same thing as something cheaper, so I got this one at Walmart. All it cost me was $1.97. That's less than an iced coffee at Colorado Coffee by more than 50 cents. That's essentially how much they charge you for the throw away cup they give you. And while they probably overcharge by quite a lot, the price I paid at Walmart seems wrong.....
I didn't intend to go there.... Being a smart consumer the best choice would have been to go to a local store and buy something more expensive, but generally the same as what I bought. Couldn't think of a store, so I went to Whole Foods (which, debatably, is the next best thing) weirdly, they didn't have what I was looking for. So, I tried Target, but ultimately got mildly lost on North Academy Blvd. and turned into the Walmart I just happened to pass.
Essentially my choice to shop at Walmart was unethical. In one of the Naess readings from last night (the one about self realization) I found a quote I really liked. "We're here to embrace, rather than conquer the world," said by Patsy Hallen. Walmart is the perfect example of the opposite. To me, it's humanity conquering the world in the worst way possible. With so much excess, you barely even think about the choices you're making, all you think about is how cheap everything is.
As I was buying the cup, I was starting to think I was doing more harm than good by making this purchase. But, I bought it anyway. The true testament to its worthwhileness will be to see how long it holds up. If I manage to keep it for a few months, then I could be potentially saving dozens of one use iced cups. Though they are composted (apparently, and I plan to look into that more) waste is waste. And having one less thing to throw away is good, though it's something small, it is something.
Celine,
ReplyDeleteInteresting posts, with good detail. I like the way you recount your decision making process regarding the reusable cup in the second post, and how you critically think through the choice to buy such a cup, and ultimately, buy it at Walmart. I think some would say that Walmart actually does Americans a great service by providing inexpensive goods to many Americans who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford them, but I think you're right that low prices are an inducement to buy, to consume. Denis Hayes noted in his talk tonight that we're in a difficult situation: we have a global economy whose stability is predicated on the overconsumption of Americans, and our predilection to buy things then throw them out a couple years later to start fresh. The challenge he pointed out is that we can't easily just stop the whole thing in its tracks, unless we're ready for some serious economic problems. The solution would be to figure out how to transition to a different kind of economy, but alas he didn't offer too much by way of suggestions there. I look forward to your future posts; I liked the connection you made to the Naess reading and the quote from Hallen you used in reflecting on Walmart.
p.s. I also like the photos!
ReplyDelete