I'm On My Plastic Bag Rant Again

It occurs to me that it has been weeks since the last time I went on one of my plastic bag rants. Plastic bags. Yep, those handy-dandy plastic bags that they pass out at the grocery store, pharmacy and just about anyplace you buy anything are choking the planet one bag at a time.

They're everywhere. Just look around as you walk or drive around the city, you'll see them clogging storm drains and stuck in trees.

Let me give you some numbers to consider.

• Californians use more than 19 billion disposable plastic shopping bags each year.
• Taxpayers spend more than $25 million to collect and dispose of them.
• Over one million plastic bags are used every minute worldwide.
• In the US less than 5% of plastic bags are recycled.
• Plastics are not biodegradable, they photo-degrade which means they break down into little toxic pieces. That can contaminate soil, water and harm wildlife.
• Approximately 60 to 90 percent of marine debris is plastic.
• Plastic bags, which resemble jellyfish or sponges, are mistaken for food by seabirds, marine mammals, fish and sea turtles.
• More than 1 million seabirds and marine mammals die each year because of ingestion and entanglement of debris including bags.
• Single-use bags made out of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) are the big problem. They stay on the planet up to 1,000 years.
• It takes 11 barrels of oil to produce a ton of plastic bags.
• Producing 1 million bags generates 13 million pounds of carbon dioxide.

It's so easy to switch to reusable shopping bags, I say take the first step. There are so many styles options and sizes to choose from. Click HERE to check some out. You can carry them with no eco-guilt as a matter of fact you will show everyone your great big social conscience, and who doesn't love this planet? Well we love America right? That's what all those politicians keep telling us.