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4-18-08 Laurie Bergner FORUM
04/18/2008 11:07:12
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WJBC Forum: Earth Day Coming Right Up!
April 18, 2008
Earth Day is Tuesday, right around the corner. If you’re like me, you want to find things you can do on a regular basis to help our environment. Of course, there’s recycling, and saving gas by carpooling or getting cars that use less gas, but I was up for something new this year. And I found it. I recently stumbled across a fascinating article on how the entire country of Ireland has done away with plastic bags in the last 6 years. Now, just think about how many plastic bags we use. Every time we go to the grocery store, we use plastic bags. Every time we buy a hallmark card, they put it in a little bag. At one point, I tried to have the grocery stores use paper bags, but then I found out that even though paper bags are biodegradable, which is a good thing, they take a lot of energy to manufacture, which is a bad thing. And recycling the paper and plastic bags is a good thing, but not good enough.
So how did Ireland do it? Six years ago they began to charge a 33 cent tax on every plastic bag from every store. That’s it. They didn’t forbid the use of them, they just charged a lot for them. And besides people not wanting to spend so much on the bags, something else happened: the use of plastic bags became politically incorrect, kind of like smoking has become in our country. No one wants to be seen as the kind of person who uses plastic bags. So people got themselves reusable cloth bags, and they use them. Every time they go to the store.
I loved the idea. So I looked around and found that I actually have a few such cloth bags already, and then I found that the grocery stores are all selling some as well. Guess I wasn’t the first to think of them here. The bags are great – they hold more food than plastic or paper bags, and they don’t break. The biggest problem I have is remembering to bring them into the grocery store with me. It takes awhile to develop the habit. And then I discovered something else. I really don’t need to say yes when the cashier asks me if I’d like a bag for the little card I buy. So I say, no thanks and put it in my purse. And you know what they say? They say, “thank you.”
You know, it’s just a little thing to help our planet, but I love the fact that I can do something that helps. Shall we ask our local governments to put a tax on plastic bags?
Want more ideas? Come to the League of Women Voters program on “Greening our communities” next Tuesday, at the Government Building at 7:00 p.m.
This is Laurie Bergner for WJBCs forum.
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