Plastics: A Complicated Issue

While this blog focuses on my quest to reduce meat in my diet and encourage others to do the same, for environmental reasons, I have lately branched out. As mentioned in previous posts, I have found myself engaging in local environmental activism, in support of a proposed plastic bag ban in my town. I should have anticipated that what seemed like a simple issue turned out to be complicated.

Trees are prettier without bags in them.

Without question, there is a humongous and growing global problem with plastic waste. Plastic pollution in the North Atlantic, for example, has increased dramatically in the last 60+ years.

This Axios visual is based on this new research: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-09506-1?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosscience&stream=science

And when plastics break down, their microscopic particles enter our water, our food chain, and even our air. 

In addition, while plastic production and degradation aren't a huge contributor to climate change, they do play a small part.

But there are unintended consequences of banning plastic bags, as I learned when NPR published this timely piece: http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/09/711181385/are-plastic-bag-bans-garbage

• People who use plastic bags to dispose of waste just buy them instead, and the versions for sale use more plastic than the versions stores were giving them
• The environmental impact of producing the substitutes for plastic bags--whether paper, fabric, or other materials--is generally worse than for producing the plastic bags that get banned.

This additional piece makes the same point, and includes a handy table on how there's no winning: https://qz.com/1585027/when-it-comes-to-climate-change-cotton-totes-might-be-worse-than-plastic/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Ughhhhh. We want to do the right thing, but WHAT IS THE RIGHT THING??

After pushback from local business owners who feared a negative impact on their businesses, my town is re-examine its proposed ordinance on plastic bags, with their input. This is for the best: we want local businesses to be leaders in changing the way our community approaches plastic. It may also be an opportunity to reflect whether we might be solving one problem (plastic waste) while creating another (encouraging climate-unfriendly substitutes).

Regardless of the delay and the complications, I am proud to live in a town that wants to address a big environmental problem. Tonight Emma and I attended an Earth Day rally in support of the bag ordinance. Apparently in gratitude, Mother Nature rewarded us with a spectacular rainbow!