sustainability?
Note: This post was originally published on the former blog at wordpress.com on 23/1/2025, shortly after my last trip to Beijing.
It was awesome seeing the sheer number of electric vehicles in Beijing in December in January, all the taxis, most of the buses, and so many private vehicles. And the sheer range of electric vehicles. The air quality was simply beautiful.
And yet…
I’m not convinced about all the online shopping. Yes, it is convenient. But the sheer amount of packaging….
I noticed a chain called Luckin Coffee, and a variety of other coffee and tea stores. I liked seeing Starbucks facing a bit of competition. I got a couple of coffees at Luckin. It seemed like every drink they served was in a disposable cup.
I stopped in the Yanqing branch of Wuyutai. I bought one liang (a tiny amount, but I was only there a short time) of longjing tea. It was wrapped up the old-fashioned way, and loaded into a container that only cost an extra 5 yuan. The container, of course, was of the permanent variety that is likely to be dug up by an archaeologist a thousand years hence.