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Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Animals / Enviro After All the Process, There's Some Progress

Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 8:07 AM

Definition of quixotic: This man is trying to convince his fellow New Zealanders to give up their house cats, because they have ravaged native bird populations. The problem is, New Zealand is the cat-lovingest country in the whole world, with one of every two households owning at least one cat. Here's an infographic from the same site explaining the problem with cats and the problem with giving up cats. I have no doubt that the right thing for New Zealanders to do would be to give up their cats, but I also have no doubt that that will never happen.

So when I think about how Seattle has moved from this whiny anti-bag-ban editorial from 2008 that basically amounted to a temper tantrum...

I don't want to use a cloth bag. I don't want to carry the bag to the store, and I don't want to limit my shopping to the capacity of my bag.

What if I want to buy more? I can pay the 20 cents, but it is a punishment tax, a city-wagging-its-finger-at-me tax: bad, bad, bad.

I don't want the disapproval and I don't want the people in Shoreline, Edmonds, Redmond, Kirkland, Bellevue, Renton, Kent and Burien laughing at me for being a sap for the greener-than-thou progressives in Seattle. And I don't want the people who did this to have my 20 cents.

...to a city that has successfully banned bags for a half-year, I feel pretty good about us. The narrative is that Seattle gets so bogged down in process that nothing ever happens. But there is progress. There's pretty much always some small amount of progress in Seattle, no matter how the conservatives on the editorial pages whine about it. That's pretty impressive.

(I found Cats Must Go on Clusterflock.org.)

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Comments (17) RSS

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Humanity tried this once before

http://habee.hubpages.com/hub/Cats-and-t…

Posted by dontrelle on January 23, 2013 at 3:43 PM

Bring more than one bag?

Posted by ArtBasketSara on January 23, 2013 at 12:28 PM

Whoops, I meant @2

Posted by lizlemon on January 23, 2013 at 10:52 AM

@7 That's EXACTLY what I said when the ban first went into effect. Although, I find doggie poop bags work great as an alternative when you gotta scoop those turds.

Posted by lizlemon on January 23, 2013 at 10:50 AM

Just keep the kitties indoors and everything will be fine.

Posted by NotYourStrawMan on January 23, 2013 at 10:33 AM

I looooove the Seattle bag ban. Given that disposable plastic bags are the most environmentally friendly way to carry groceries, it serves as a great symbol of the Seattle "progressive" habit of ignoring the facts in favor of the mere appearance of this or that social benefit.

UK Carrier Bag Report

Posted by Mister G on January 23, 2013 at 10:26 AM

but MY outdoor cat only kills invasive species.

Posted by Max Solomon on January 23, 2013 at 9:46 AM

What a whiny little boy Bruce Ramsay is.

So where does he shop? Has he been doing his shopping outside of Seattle where there are no bag laws? Does he even live in Seattle?

Posted by seatackled on January 23, 2013 at 9:38 AM

@4 Damn. Should have seen that coming.

Posted by Sir Vic on January 23, 2013 at 9:26 AM

I remember when this book was called Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.

Posted by Josh Bis

on January 23, 2013 at 9:26 AM

As a cat lover whose cats live indoors, I think the NZ guy would be a lot better off partnering with the local humane society to convince cat owners to keep them indoors.

Posted by wxPDX on January 23, 2013 at 9:20 AM

Fuckin' Kiwis totally ripping off The Oatmeal!

Posted by Cracker Jack on January 23, 2013 at 9:17 AM

Adapt or die. Poor Moa. But on the bright side, people will be extinct someday, too.

Posted by Pope Peabrain on January 23, 2013 at 8:35 AM

i guess the cats out of the bag now

Posted by theophrastus on January 23, 2013 at 8:27 AM

Clearly the answer is to give birds guns.

Posted by tkc on January 23, 2013 at 8:24 AM

As an indoor cat owner and voluntary cloth bag user, I wish I had some plastic bags to scoop out this litter box.

Posted by Ziggity on January 23, 2013 at 8:22 AM

Did you really just compare the keeping of pets to shopping bags? Really, Paul?

Here's the thing about this problem. Like vegans who insist that the only way to bring about all the environmental improvements and health benefits of reducing meat is to completely and utterly remove it from your diet, this guy seems to propose that the only way to address the problems of bird predation by cats is to get rid of cats entirely. It's a position designed to be controversial and likely disguise the man's actual neurotic hatred of cats, and likely will be immediately taken up by people who have similar neurotic hate, who otherwise don't give a shit about the birds.

The solution, of course, can be had without people needing to give up their cats. The best is just to keep them inside. They can be made to stay inside, although it takes training the owners as much as the cats. They can also have bells placed on collars.

Posted by Matt from Denver on January 23, 2013 at 8:16 AM