More often than not the do-gooder fadists and 'cause celebre's' keep me bemused and curious - curious because I wonder what is in human nature that compels people to thoughtlessly jump onto these cause bandwagons, ever ready to dictate to most other non-bandwagon folks what they wear (hemp but not fur), what speech they may utter (PC language), what foods they may and may not eat (non-GM), what low flow only shower-heads they may purchase, or what kind of sack they are permitted to haul groceries in ?
Certainly most of these bandwagon 'make a law' causes are not rooted in a rational process, such crusading is rarely the result of a person's conscious gathering of serious knowledge and his/her then coming to a rational belief in a social restriction (or mandate). Almost always it sprouts with a subjective belief and a desire to exert power that comes first and then, only when confronted by opposition, it might be followed by a search for serious validation of those 'feelings'.
To understand the modern do-gooder crusader one must appreciate the roots:
First, the do-gooder is usually an individual fully infected with the narcissism ethos of the modern age, i.e.; that a person's extemporaneous and unstudied "feelings" are what instantly defines reality and truth, nothing more. Such "feelings" need not comport with reason or reality because they are self-validatng. "I feel, therefore I must be right". Such feelings are not over a principal that is at least amenable to deduction and error checking through consistency, but over the emotion of the moment; "If I am offended, it must be wrong".
Second, the do-gooder's narcissism ethos also contains an unconstrained assumption, that what a person feels is "good for society (or his/her group)" make it an automatic right to try to impose one's idea of good on others. The principled idea that many things in life are are none of their business is an unfamiliar concept - they just "assume" their gut feelings should be imposed through law.
Finally, the modern do-gooder has usually been (but not always) encultuated into parroting a socially constructed and quasi-religious theology, in this case "environmentalism". It starts in childhood through school lessons and peer regurgitation of mantras, myths, superstition, slogans, and practice of mandated ritual in the enviro religion - "Caring for the planet", "sustainable practices", "save the earth", "recycle", "buy green", "stewardship", "mass transit", "energy conservation" are all pseudo-thought blurbs. Exactly what catechism of muckery means (especially in regard to preferences. prices, and scarcity) is far less important than its role in creating a do-gooder values consciousness, not the least of which is that of "man as environmental sinner" (aka garbage making, resource wasting, energy squandering, and forest logging "evil" man).
So I suppose this more recent fad "as policy" should be expected. One person sees four plastic bags on a street and "presto" he "feels" that plastic bags are a danger...if not sinful! Another reads some hyped and sensationalist propoganda about thousands of dead sea mammals due to grocery bags and "presto" they believe it (as they have been trained to do) and immediately "feel" something has to be done. And yet another may "feel" that others are wasteful, and "presto" they sanctimoniously demand somebody impose controls on that person's consumer choices.
And why? Because they are offended and their feeling is a sacred faith. For those California mystics who practice this religion just a few familiar chants elicit nods of amen, but for the rest of us we wonder why they insist on speaking in tongues and dervish whirling.