B.L.O.G. - Bissige Liberale ohne Gnade

Ab 1. April 2006 wird China neue Luxussteuern auf Yachten, Uhren, Golfbälle und Autos mit hohem Benzinverbrauch erheben - und auf Einweg-Eßstäbchen, wovon jährlich in China 45 Milliarden Paar hergestellt werden.

Die BBC hat einige Reaktionen dazu eingefangen (via) :

School children have written to the Chinese prime minister asking for a ban on disposable wooden chopsticks, while students have persuaded some college cafeterias to replace them with spoons.

In recent years, the government has actually encouraged their use, in a bid to reduce the spread of infectious illnesses by sharing eating utensils.

Shanghai consumers gave a mixed response to the new tax.

“I think the shop owner should pay for it,” one person told the BBC.

“It’s no use, people will still throw it everywhere after they have their food and people will still buy disposable chopsticks,” was the view of another citizen who doubted if the tax would help protect the environment.

But others were in favour:

“It has some good impact. It will make people buy less disposable products and buy more durable ones.”

In den Imbißbuden sind die Eßstäbchen immer noch in Papier eingepackt, was zusätzlichen Müll verursacht, während sie in der Uni-Mensa einfach mit kaltem Wasser abgewaschen und dann wieder ausgegeben werden.

Auf deutsch habe ich dazu nur eine kurze AP-Meldung auf der WELT-Homepage gefunden, die Original-Meldungen von Xinhua finden sich hier und hier.

Später habe ich den Link zur BBC-Story und noch einen weiteren Link auch bei Mad Minerva gesehen, die gerade eine harte Zeit durchmacht, wie sich ihrem “Brief einer frustrierten Korrektorin an ihre jammernden Studenten” entnehmen lässt, der so beginnt:

Dear People,

I have graded your exams and I have returned the papers to you. Please go away to think about your results and stop constantly emailing me and coming to see me about your grade. Please stop arguing with me about your grades. I will NOT change your grade. I will NOT give back any of the points I took away from your papers. I am not doing this because I am cruel / unsympathetic / sadistic / wicked / evil / etc. (The fact that I actually am is not the issue.) I took off points because YOUR ANSWERS WERE WRONG. You can whine and complain until you turn blue and faint, but that does not change the fact that YOUR ANSWERS WERE WRONG.

(…)

Verfasst von Marian Wirth um 00:24 Uhr in der Kategorie International, Politik (Trackback)