Thursday, June 25, 2015

And Still More Environmental Epic Fail

And Still More Environmental Epic Fail | Power Line:
"...First, all those places like universities (natch) that are banning bottled water because there are too many plastic bottles in the waste stream? 
It isn’t working. 
(By the way, the bottled water craze was partly set off by environmentalists to begin with—from their unfounded warnings about “dangerous” U.S. tap water that isn’t dangerous at all. 
But hey—we gotta have something in those direct mail letters. . .) 
The American Journal of Public Health (it’s peer-reviewed!) has just published a study entitled The Unintended Consequences of Changes in Beverage Options and the Removal of Bottled Water on a University Campus.” 
It’s behind a paywall, but the full abstract is available, and I haven’t had this good a HEH! moment since, well. . . since this morning:
  1. We investigated how the removal of bottled water along with a minimum healthy beverage requirement affected the purchasing behavior, healthiness of beverage choices, and consumption of calories and added sugars of university campus consumers.
  2. With shipment data as a proxy, we estimated bottled beverage consumption over 3 consecutive semesters: baseline (spring 2012), when a 30% healthy beverage ratio was enacted (fall 2012), and when bottled water was removed (spring 2013) at the University of Vermont. We assessed changes in number and type of beverages and per capita calories, total sugars, and added sugars shipped.
  3. Per capita shipments of bottles, calories, sugars, and added sugars increased significantly when bottled water was removed. Shipments of healthy beverages declined significantly, whereas shipments of less healthy beverages increased significantly. As bottled water sales dropped to zero, sales of sugar-free beverages and sugar-sweetened beverages increased.
  4. The bottled water ban did not reduce the number of bottles entering the waste stream from the university campus, the ultimate goal of the ban. With the removal of bottled water, consumers increased their consumption of less healthy bottled beverages.
So heh! 
Look do-gooders: if bottled water could survive Lewis Black (10 minute video, language warning) it will survive your stupid interventions.
But wait, there’s more!
You’ve heard we’re banning trans-fat in America? 
This comes as a relief: it means we’ve finally found a trans-something that liberals don’t approve of. For those of us who present as Hefto-Americans and self-identify as members of the trans-fat community, this seems like blatant bigotry. 
But guess what mom: banning trans-fat is bad for the environment, too! 
Time magazine reported last week:
The Ban Will Likely Lead to an Increase in Palm Oil Cultivation...

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