Fair Feels Good

We all know the environmental disaster plastic bags cause, choking birds and marine creatures. We are all tired of seeing plastic bags turn into the “national flower”, littering trees, bushes and our communities. Yet we all continue to take home plastic bags every time we shop. In fact, America takes home 100 billion plastic bags a year, enough to circle the globe 45 times.

“The swirling debris of plastic trash in the Pacific Ocean has now grown to a size that is twice as large as the continental U.S.” (The Green Room)

Large grocery stores lobby against states who consider banning plastic bags - saying the ban will drive up prices. Other stores have started charging for plastic bags, apparently trying to gently introduce their customers to thinking about whether they actually need extra bags. IKEA charges a dime for each bag, and donating the proceeds to environmental causes.

Do we really need legislation or increased fees to make responsible decisions, or can consumers drive the movement themselves to save the world from something we all dislike in the first place?

A bit of motivation - the Daily Mail (a UK newspaper) recently published this photograph of a whale washed up on a British beach. Its stomach was crammed with plastic bags - 23 bags, or fragments of bags, were found. Marine biologists believe it is yet another victim of our careless, plastic bag culture.