It’s time for thinking people to go on a single-use-plastic strike and refuse to accept it at stores. Choose products in no/or biodegradable packaging, leave plastics at the cash, write store owners (you can write Loblaws head office here), also write political representatives. This is madness.  A ban on single-use plastics is needed.  To quote Dr. Suess:

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not”

Producers will adapt quickly when they are no longer able to dump toxic packaging on the public. The motto for packaging needs to be “you make it, you own it.”

For important perspective, see some vivid graphics in Drowning in plastic:  visualizing the world’s addiction to plastic bottles.  This is the very definition of unsustainable.  When we individuals do nothing to force the change, we are complicit:

Around the world, almost 1 million plastic bottles are purchased every minute. As the environmental impact of that tide of plastic becomes a growing political issue, major packaged goods sellers and retailers are under pressure to cut the flow of the single-use bottles and containers that are clogging the world’s waterways.

Plastic production has surged in the last 50 years, leading to widespread use of inexpensive disposable products that are having a devastating effect on the environment. Images of plastic debris-strewn beaches and dead animals with stomachs full of plastic have sparked outrage.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles are commonly used for soft drinks and mineral water, but can also be used in other household or personal care products. Data from Euromonitor International, shows that more than 480 billion of these bottles were sold last year alone. That’s almost 1 million every minute, as shown in the animation at the top of this page. The illustrations below show what that pile of plastic would look like if it was collected over a longer period of time.

Contrary to what the Porsche CEO says below, sustainability does require some compromise: 8 billion people on earth need to manage and share finite resources more efficiently and with less waste than when there were just 3 or 5 billion people.

The move toward electric power is a key part of this transition.  As usual, expensive early models are how all new technology spreads from early adopters to mainstream. Tesla’s lead in this area has prompted all the other major auto companies to focus their attention and resources now on catch up.  In just one decade, legacy automakers have gone from dismissing EV’s as a fad, to proclaiming that the turning point to EVs has arrived.   Here is a direct video link.

Hand in hand with this transition is a massive investment cycle requiring billions in capital expenditures to fund this next big shift in energy and transportation.

Shareholders who have grown accustomed to quick compensation in the form of dividends and share buybacks that boost rapid earnings growth and share prices are likely to be sorely disappointed. This transition is not a quick and easy turnaround, and traditionally fat profits on pick-up trucks and SUVs will be under pressure as automakers work to roll out EV versions of their most popular brands.  See An all-American pickup fight is revving up:

“Pickup trucks accounted for 33% of U.S. sales at GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler in the second quarter, according to Wards Intelligence, up from 30% for the same period last year. They probably generate a much bigger share of profits

…Tesla’s truck project will likely keep pressure on the Detroit Three to invest billions of dollars in electrifying their pickups. This is a fight that will only get more expensive for investors in the years ahead.”

This is not great for owners, especially highly levered ones, but it’s essential progress toward restoring affordability and investment value in residential real estate. Mean reversion is a process.   Further price declines are likely in the months ahead.

Another sign Metro Vancouver’s once-hot housing market is cooling off can be seen in new data from Royal LePage, which shows a massive drop in the price per square-foot for condos. Here is a direct video link.