"[O]ur time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America."
- President Barack Obama, Inauguration Day speech, 1/20/09
One of the starkest philosophical differences between President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama is surely the latter's consistent calls for shared sacrifice on the part of the American public. Compare this to George Bush's response to the 9/11 attacks. He had the entire country behind him, in addition to the goodwill of virtually the whole world. We stood ready to do whatever it would take to "pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America." Instead, Bush urged us to go shopping at the mall, and his Homeland Security Department advised us to buy duct tape to protect ourselves from possible chemical and biological attack. Unlike Americans during World War II, we were not asked to sacrifice or change our way of life one bit, other than to pay attention to a mind-boggling array of color-coded Terror Alerts. (Whatever happened to those alerts, anyway? Is the Global War on Terror over, the threat neutralized?).
Candidate and now President Obama, on the other hand, has consistently urged each of us to participate in our democracy and to get involved in our community, as we all have a stake in both. Obama seemed to channel a bit of his inner community organizer with the pull quote above, one of the parts of his speech that particularly resonated with us after eight years of Bush's "you're on your own" governance.
I'd like to address sacrifice, the perils of standing pat, and putting off unpleasant decisions vis-à-vis an issue that, while not as dire as climate change or the recession, is one that we can all address and, in so doing, sacrifice for the greater good. That issue is the rampant and casual use of plastic shopping bags.
Here in sometimes-progressive Seattle, we were on track to tackle this problem head-on by imposing a 20-cent-per-bag fee. As expected, the plastic-bag makers ramped up a PR campaign against the fee, and they convinced enough Seattleites to sign a petition against it, causing the Seattle City Council to delay the plan. We will vote on the plastic bag fee in August of this year.
One of the main arguments against the fee is that it is unduly burdensome on consumers, especially in such tough economic times. There is a simple solution to avoiding a 20-cent fee, however, eliminating any potential financial burden. The solution is...to bring your own reusable cloth or nylon shopping bags whenever you go shopping! You can keep them in your car, in your purse, in your messenger bag, even in your coat pocket if you get one of those nylon models that can be folded inside out, creating a little egg-sized ball of recycled bag goodness (think of those Adidas and Nike windbreakers with the marsupial pocket that were so popular in the '80s). Rest assured in the knowledge that bringing your own reusable bags to QFC or Bartell Drugstore is not only environmentally friendly, it’s downright cool (sexy, even).
Somewhere along America's evolutionary path, the idea that we're entitled to unlimited convenience and resources has taken root in our national psyche. The hubbub over a modest measure to start charging people for these disposable, fossil-fuel-based bags is a sign of how spoiled we've become.
Again, if you'd rather not pay the fee, bring your own bags. I do it, my friends and family do it. It's not even that much of a sacrifice. There will be plenty of other ways in which we're all going to have to sacrifice, in the coming months and years. Bringing reusable bags to the store is a simple way to start weaning ourselves off the endless cycle of disposable consumer products.
As un-American as it may be to point out, the American way of life to which we've all grown accustomed is unsustainable. The sooner we can start adjusting and scaling back, the better we'll be when the inevitable critical mass occurs and various resources start to run out. The truth of our situation isn’t pretty or easy to face, but now is the time to muster the courage to forge a different, more sustainable path.
You say you don't have any cloth or nylon reusable shopping bags? Here's a handy list of links to help you purchase your very own bags, thus immunizing yourself from those those pesky, burdensome 20-cent fees!
Reusablebags.com
Ecobags.com
Amazon.com
In addition, most, if not all, grocery and drug stores now sell inexpensive (i.e. a dollar or less) reusable bags, if you don't mind that the bags are generally emblazoned with store names and logos. Any of these bags will eventually pay for itself, once the voters pass the bag fee measure later in the year.
Be creative, get some reusable bags, vote for the bag fee in August if you’re in Seattle, and start building a plastic-bag-free America!
Here are some statistics related to plastic bags, courtesy of reusablebags.com:
* Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year.
* According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year.
* According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion)
* Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.
* Plastic bags don't biodegrade, they photodegrade - breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest.
* Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation.
* In 2001, Ireland consumed 1.2 billion plastic bags, or 316 per person. An extremely successful plastic bag consumption tax, or PlasTax, introduced in 2002 reduced consumption by 90%. Approximately 18,000,000 liters of oil have been saved due to this reduced production. Governments around the world are considering implementing similar measures.
