Morgan Hill is making a bad choice in trying to ban plastic bags. It's one of those politically correct decisions that is based on bad science. If they did anything like this they should ban paper instead of plastic because plastic is the cleaner technology. Paper is the real problem.
Paper uses 14 million trees a year. It uses 20 times as much fresh water. It uses more energy to make than plastic. Paper adds more carbon to the environment to make than plastic. Paper uses more harsh chemicals than plastic. If you Google paper vs. plastic you will see what I'm talking about.
It's bad science to pick on plastic bags and pretend you are helping the environment. If you are a real environmentalist you need to look at science and make decisions based on the facts. The facts point to the opposite. Paper is worse than plastic. Ban paper if you are going to ban something.
Interestingly enough paper bags could become cleaner if they were to use hemp fibers instead of wood to make paper bags. Hemp fibers are 10 times as strong as wood and you could make paper thinner and stronger without cutting down trees. But you'd have to get the DEA to change their position to allow it.
But, for those who really want a solution to global warming, there is but one real issue to address, global population control. If Morgan Hill wants to really do something for the environment they should put a condom in every water bill. Every time a condom is used to prevent a pregnancy you are taking 44,000 tons of carbon out of the environment as compared to bringing yet another consumer into the world who wants to grow up, eat, drive a car, live in a house, and make more people. If you're not focused on population control you're not really addressing the problem.
I therefore urge Morgan Hill City Council to look at science and make a decision based on the facts rather than a feel good ordinance so they have the illusion of doing something when actually making it worse.
You miss the point on so many different levels. Plastic shopping bags unfortunately end up in our creeks, the SF bay and eventually make their way into our coastal waters. Ask any kayaker that spends much time out there. Many have stories of finding shorebirds, sea otters and other wildlife tangled in plastic bags. Ask the regular Sierra Lamar searchers what they find in our creek corridors in overwhelming abundance. Reusable shopping bags are the best "environmental" option. Sadly, there will still be a need for disposable bags. The last I heard, that giant raft of trash in the Pacific is the size of Texas. I doubt you will find many paper bags in that flotilla. If you wanted to do something for the environment, you would instead encourage the Morgan Hill city council to approve the proposed ban on plastic bags and look at an increasing fee schedule for paper bags rather than the current 10 cents being considered. Sunnyvale's is going to change from 10 to 25 cents in 2014. Even that may have limited results. Jim Westcott Gilroy
I can understand the push for reusable bags but I've read some articles about how many times they are used before they get thrown away and what they are made of (plastic, vinyl) and ask yourself how many bags are saved when many of the reusable bags are equivalent to hundreds of plastic bags. The question is - do you want a real solution or a feel good solution?
BTW, the proposed fee is for paper bags. Plastic grocery bags may have seemed like a good idea when they first came out but they have proven to be a really bad idea in today's world. There are loads of communties in the bay area and elsewhere getting on board with plastic bag bans. I applaud the Morgan Hill city council for giving this careful consideration and hope they choose to go forward with it.
As far carbon sequestration, that usually refers either to capturing carbon from our industrial processes before it enters the atmosphere, or removing carbon from the atmosphere. If a plastic bag has already been produced and shipped to the grocery store, then the carbon involved in its production and shipment has already entered the atmosphere. At which point there are only a handful of ways of dealing with it, like planting more trees (forests are excellent carbon sinks), or, a method that's rather controversial but one that I'm hoping can be quite effective at not just leveling off atmospheric CO2 levels but actually bringing them closer to 350 ppm, iron fertilization. I encourage you to check out that method.
Some of us will happily take our reusable bags to shop with. For those of you that cannot be bothered, we would just rather arm you with a paper bag than a plastic one because we cannot trust you to recycle that bag.
http://www.guccibeltstb.com/ Gucci Belts http://www.coachoutletonlinetdy.com/ Coach Factory Online
http://www.guccibeltstb.com/ Gucci Belt http://www.coachoutletonlinetdy.com/ Coach Outlet Store Online http://www.cocoachoutletonline.org/ Coach Outlet Online http://www.coachoutletonlinetsy.net/ Coach Online Outlet