Businesswoman Chapter 14

The offices of the Delaware Auxiliary of Waste Control looked shabby but well put together. The old equipment mixed with the older stuff and never quite gelled and piles of paper stacked like mountains around the place.

In-boxes and out-boxes overflowed. Director Macklin Pond looked grumpy. He was fifty-three and had a face like a pug. He shook hands with Loreen.

“A pleasure. Please sit,” he said. Loreen sneezed from the dust.

“You have to forgive us…new air conditioning….” Macklin explained.

“So, let’s get to it. You spearheaded the ban on plastic bags from vendors in the First State, is that true?” she asked, coughing some.

“Yes, of course. We’ve got to save the planet,” he asserted.

“Are you preserving the planet or damning man’s minds?” Loreen asked.

“Huh?”

“Are you making it harder for people to make their way in some attempt to preserve Nature?”

“I would venture so,” he said, his pug nose twitched a bit.

“In the two centuries plus of industry in the West, there is no way that human activity could have been a detriment to the environment. The human environment is excellent.”

Pond looked at her judiciously, like an inspector. “Look, Businesswoman—”

“Loreen.”

“Loreen, the elimination of plastic bags boosts the economy of shops who can save on bags and charge more money for them at checkout.”

“This is still a net loss for everyone,” Loreen mentioned. “Plastic bags aren’t the problem. The problem is the lunacy surrounding protecting Nature that has been trying to kill us since the dawn of man.”

“We’re still talking about the government regulations, right?”

“That’s all I’m saying. It’s lose-lose. Not only are we not saving the Earth, we’re demonizing the idea of man and his accomplishments,” Loreen answered.

“We’ll see what we can do.”

“I anticipate it.”