Singular Solutions?

#718/261: Blind Fortitude // Big deal...

Singular Solutions?
Image by David Greaves

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. —Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail

Blind Fortitude

Big deal. Desperate for new income, Chicago's "plastic bag tax" was recently increased from 7 to 10 cents to "bring in an additional $5.1 million annually." To achieve this goal, 85M bags would need to be used. In 2017, after a complete bag ban was deemed impractical, the tax was implemented to discourage their use with the local environmental community cheering it on. Rather than reduce consumption, the tax has enshrined their use by subsidizing their cost (i.e. retailers keep a portion of the tax making them cheap if not free), and by providing an income stream that the City can't do without. I never supported the approach because it failed to provide a viable superior alternative to plastic bags, lacked an educational campaign and a path to ramping up and retiring the initiative after achieving its goal. Simple "solutions" can glimmer with irresistible appeal but are usually ripe with unintended consequences. Nothing operates outside of a web of relationships, however many challenges, like reducing the use of plastic grocery bags, are taken out of context and "solved" with a self-congratulatory, "single bullet" approach. The new presidential administration, with its plethora of quick fixes, is on crash course with this reality. The failure of simplistic, linear "solutions" doesn’t tend to lead to a reassessment, as should have happened with the bag tax, but rather either a doubling down, or a shift to a different incomplete approach. I don't know what's coming, but I do know, with almost absolute certainty, that many more unintended consequences from overly simplistic “solutions” are ahead. Buckle down.


Peter Nicholson

Peter Nicholson

Peter is a writer, multidisciplinary creative, and entrepreneur who founded Circa 250; Foresight Design Initiative, a sustainability-focused innovation consultancy; and Yoga Horizons, a yoga studio.

Great! You’ve successfully signed up.

Welcome back! You've successfully signed in.

You've successfully subscribed to Circa 250.

Success! Check your email for magic link to sign-in.

Success! Your billing info has been updated.

Your billing was not updated.