San Jose Takin' on The (plastics) Man

Last week, San Jose, California (backed by other local community leaders representing Palo Alto, Milpitas, Campbell and Santa Clara) punched through the semi-stagnant bag ban plastic ceiling by voting to initiate a ban BOTH plastic and paper bags at major retailers.

The target completion date is 2011, giving retailers time to prep for the change, and for the city to review any environmental issues that may be involved. READ ALL ABOUT IT!

Other California cities have been temporarily stymied by the "astro-turfing" group known as Save The Plastic Bag, who's been slapping spurious lawsuits, rooted in Calif's Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), on cities banning just the plastic bags, requiring them to study the environmental effects of increased -paper- bag usage...so, the unique 'ban everything' approach to the bag-ban process should neatly poke a finger in the eye of the STPB "activists"...D'OH!

To be sure, Surfrider's advocacy of the bag bans has come from a wide-based grassroots desire to do the best thing for the environment and for our local neighborhoods. By contrast, the STPB people's idea of being a good neighbor is to drop a costly lawsuit on cities trying to stem the "urban tumbleweed" infestation. Frankly, that aint too neighborly...as Chris Rock put it once, "must be how they was raaaaised!". :{