Just when you thought environmentalism couldn’t get any wackier, consider what’s going on in Rwanda. That’s right, in Rwanda, where about a million were killed with machetes, an even more implacable foe has emerged: plastic bags!

To combat this new threat, the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) sends out patrols armed with scary-looking AK-47s to bring plastic-bag criminals to justice. One baker seemed innocent enough until the police checked the inside of his seeming legal paper bags and found them lined with plastic. Another patrol stopped a driver whose truck was carrying empty drinking-water bottles and finds they were packaged in—and this is serious—plastic bags!

You might think this all a joke, that poor African countries might have priorities other than waging war on plastic bags. But check it out and see for yourself. Crazy environmentalism has its tentacles everywhere, making the rich poor and the poor impoverished.

Political environmentalism costs us trillions yearly, creating the worst cost/benefit ratio of any enterprise. Hopefully, the people will figure this out before we’re totally bankrupt.

RAINER HUCK
Salt Lake City