On Earth Day and beyond: Say no to plastic bags

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/21404

On Earth Day and beyond: Say no to plastic bags
by Mary Shaw | April 22, 2009

snip//

The website Natural-Environment.com highlights some of the evils of plastic bags:

• Plastic bags cause over 100,000 sea turtle and other marine animal deaths every year when animals mistake them for food.

• The manufacture of plastic bags add tons of carbon emissions into the air annually.

• Between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year.

• Approximately 60 - 100 million barrels of oil are required to make the world's plastic bags each year.

• Most plastic bags take over 400 years to biodegrade. Some figures indicate that plastic bags could take over 1000 years to break down. (I guess nobody will live long enough to find out!). This means not one plastic bag has ever naturally biodegraded.

These bags are clogging up our environment and they are not going away. We don't need to add more bags to the problem.

So, on behalf of Earth Day, and on behalf of the future of this planet, please invest in some reusable shopping bags and forego the plastic.

And, while you're at it, this is also good opportunity to break the bottled water habit.

On behalf of Mother Earth, I thank you.



I ordered mine online at go-againbags.com, and love them! They hold a lot and are very durable. Cheap, too!

[MineralMan]

1. Better late than never, I suppose....

Reusable shopping bags have been around for years. I've worn out several dozen since the 1970s.

[babylonsister]

3. And I remember paper bags in the 70s, but that's no solution. nt

[MineralMan]

8. What paper bags? I started using cotton bags back then.

You could buy them, or hemp ones, pretty much everywhere. That's when the thing started, frankly. These days, every supermarket sells very nice cotton bags with handles for a buck or two. That's a good thing, but it's far from a new movement.

How soon we forget where it all started....

[babylonsister]

So it's worth a reminder on Earth Day for those who might be

encouraged.

[NightWatcher]

2. k and r. I use the reuseable shooping bags

and have been plastic water bottle free for more than a year. I started with Camelbak bottles but changed to Kleen Kanteens due to BPA.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

4. Oh no! Not another bag thread

Don't you know how the last one turned out?

:rofl:

[babylonsister]

6. No, I missed it!

Must have been good-got a link?! :)

[Blue_Tires]

9. lockage...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x8704070

[babylonsister]

10. LOL! Thanks! The things

DUers can argue about! :rofl:

[blaze]

5. Please! Would somebody invent

some sort of mechanism that would remind me to put my reusable bags BACK in my car so I will have them with me when I shop?

It's really embarassing how often I forget them. :blush:

[babylonsister]

7. I put them on a hutch that I pass on my way out the door; I've

been pretty good about picking them up. Or, you could put them in your car after emptying them. :shrug:

[kestrel91316]

12. I have a shelf with coat hooks near my front door. The purse gets hung

on a hook first thing when I come in. I have trained myself to hang outgoing tote bags on that same hook in front of the purse, so I never miss them when they need to go back to the car. It's all in training yourself to a new habit.

Being a bit OCD also helps.

[taterguy]

19. Why is someone who claims to care about the Earth using a car?

[PDJane]

11. You'd be amazed how easy it is to remember them

When the stores you frequent most don't have one-use plastic bags anymore. Like Ikea and the local farmer's market.

[leftofthedial]

13. I got a nice, insulated, reusable bag for free today at the grocery store

as part of an Earth Day promotion...

the checker put it in a plastic grocery bag for me until I called her attention to the irony...

[Fla Dem]

14. Use cloth bags all the time and gave 2 to each of my friends and family at Christmas.

I personally don't know how I ever got along without them. Keep about 6 in the car, different sizes. So I always have one for whatever errands I might be running.

[Shell Beau]

15. That is a great reminder on why we should not use plastic when

we can avoid it!! :thumbsup:

[babylonsister]

16. Hey!

Hi, Shell Beau. Is that adorable baby yours? Really cute!

[Shell Beau]

17. Yes, she is all mine! Thanks!

:)

[Mike 03]

18. Someone needs to invent something for dog owners

The only reason I get plastic bags is to re-use them to pick up after my dog.

If there was some convenient, non-humiliating way to pick up after my dog, sans the old plastic bag, I bet dog owners everywhere would buy the reusable bags. I would LOVE to do that.

[taterguy]

20. Don't they have any vacant lots in your neighborhood?