Pleasant Politics

Without explicitly using the term, Buy Now! makes the case for an alternative paradigm called the “polluter pays principle,” which holds that companies — not the public — should be held financially responsible for dealing with the waste they generate. In wonkier terms, the idea manifests as “extended producer responsibility,” or EPR, policies that typically require large companies to pay into a central fund for waste management and prevention. In the U.S., five states have passed EPR laws for packaging.

Through interviews with former executives at Adidas, Amazon, and Apple, Buy Now! argues that consumer goods companies have knowingly abdicated their responsibility to the public good. Grist sat down with Bagenal to discuss the film and how she and her team of executive producers went about conveying the polluter pays principle to a general audience.

For the past year, the Washington Post’s senior diplomatic columnist, David Ignatius, has been loyal to the U.S. and Israeli national security teams, playing the role of stenographer in sharing and repeating their optimism about peace in the Middle East.  He has reported one hopeful scenario after another, and avoids criticizing the self-serving comments from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the past year regarding the outlook for peace.