CA State Bag Ban Legislation

It's a LEFT COAST kind of Friday...!

Well, ask and ye shall receive – in the last post to this blog, a statewide ban against single-use plastics was politely proposed …and guess what – there IS one in the works, AB 1998 aiming to ban plastic bags, that’s percolating its way through the convoluted, gassy bowels of the California State legislature. The following blurb was (blatantly) stolen from the Surfrider CA Policy blog:

“Many of California's cities have been trying to regulate plastic bag consumption for years, recognizing that something must be done about the flimsy petroleum-based product that is difficult to recycle and all too often ends up as a littered eyesore.

Due to the outcry of our Chapters to address the issue of plastic pollution on our oceans and beaches, Surfrider Foundation has been working to support statewide legislation to Ban the Bag. Right now, Assembly Bill 1998 (Brownley) is being assessed by our legislature. The bill would ban all single-use carryout plastic bags, limit the distribution of paper bags, and require reusable bags to be available for purchase. This is the most progressive effort of any other state in the nation!

To find out more and take action, check out this action alert from Heal the Bay and Environment California, our partner organizations for addressing plastic pollution.”

Read a bit more about the details of AB 1998 at this cool website.


Granted, similar legislation has been tried, and has failed, before in California, but ya gotta exercise Surfrider’s sub-motto of “constant pressure, endlessly applied” in situations like this! If you are a California resident, hit up the Action Alert – SO EASY, you supply your name and address and the website sends the letter to your appropriate “elected” for you – it’s a SNAP, as in “OH! SNAP!”

Please do it ASAP - the legislators need keep this bill on schedule!!

THANX and happy pau hana!

Foam-Free Fremont (Calif)

Great News! Fremont will become the fifth city in Alameda County, California (SE San Francisco Bay Area) to implement a plastic-foam ban, joining Alameda, Berkeley, Emeryville and Oakland. (Santa Cruz county has been verrrry progressive on this action as well - check it out!)

Slated to begin on 1/1/2011, the Fremont styrofoam ban was proposed and passed by the local city council and will be applied to restaurants and those doing business with the city…though grocery stores will not be subject to the ordinance. Read all about it here.

California is knocking these ordinances out, city by city…perhaps it’s time for a state-wide initiative? I vote YEA!

Two from SOUP

These two stories are from Surfrider’s SOUP, “a weekly serving of coastal news Action Alerts” – which delivers ocean-related stories and images of the week.

First off: An entire town has banned plastic water bottles! Soup reports, “Concord, MA has become the first municipality in the country to ban sales of bottled water. Town residents last week approved the ban which will become effective January 1, 2011. The effort was led by 82-year old activist, Jean Hill who lobbied neighbors and officials about the consequences of plastic bottles clogging our nation's streets, landfills and oceans. The measure would allow the sale of refillable containers of water, which could still be sold and delivered in town.“ We could all use an 82 year old (82!!) activist that can kick a** like that, with BOTH FEET! Go Jean! Read the article here.

Next up: A group of Aussie surfers, "Guardians of the Pacific", has started a DIY (“do it yourself”) semi-guerilla campaign against plastic bottles. They have seen enough trash in the ocean and are fed up, so... They place uninvited stickers and placards in store display cases and on vending machines to encourage shoppers to make non-plastic choices. So far…stubbies still come in glass only… Check their website for downloadable items with which you can plaster your own local stores. AUSSSome.

You can sign up for Surfrider’s non-inbox-clogging weekly SOUP email variety blurbs, by going here and signing up (“Stay Informed” signup box is at the top left). Totally RAD!

Wash it GREEEN!

The latest from C.R.A.P.P. - remember: Think "Look! Dolphins!!" to distract your mind from evil thoughts, and see true value in seeing the word "recyclable" on everything plastic:

Taylor's Plastic Story

7 year old Taylor helped her Mom clean up litter this year in Port Aransas, Texas. What resulted is below.

Cupcakes, Dolphins, & Rainbows!

It’s the LA Times versus the American Chemistry Council…choose your sides, and make your bets.

Essentially, the Times recently wrote an Op/Ed proposing a bag fee on ALL shopping bags dispensed at retail outlets, and the ACC then responds with a keep-buying-and-managing-the-disposal-of-our-product opinion piece, going so far as to admit that their plastic bags are a “scourge on our streets, beaches and oceans”…along with a plea to keep recycling them since the recycling programs are finally “working” (this is the “Dolphins, Cupcakes & Rainbows” part – meaning: in dreamland everyone recycles…and eats yummy cupcakes for all meals and has dolphin friends that leap over never-ending rainbows) – even though only 5% of bags are recycled, according to the LA Times.

The Times Op/Ed mentions a California State Senate bill that proposes an outright ban on bags, and then reigns that in with the idea of the more realistic, and recently-proven concept of a fee on all bags. The fees have tended to work WELL in places that adopt them (just google “Washington DC bag fee” and/or see this recent post). There have been a number of bills in California’s senate over the last couple of years – ever since San Fran attempted a bag ban – and each has fallen by the wayside, victims, no doubt, to prodding by lobbyists and fear of any change from the status quo.


While we digest all of that, take a look at this – a PDF doc, compiled by Surfrider San Diego and San Diego Coastkeeper, that details a few years' worth of beach cleanups in San Diego County (and is partially pictured above). These two groups catalog everything that is picked up along the San Diego county’s ~75 miles of beaches…and nearly everything that was found was….plastic. Please feel free to publish and distribute this info - BTW, here's the accompanying press release.

Lastly, but not leastly, keep track of what you pick up at the beach...and see if your totals don't match the trends detailed in the above report.

Happy Monday!

Friday Video Roundup!

Time to slide into a relaxing weekend with some visuals from the boob tube – all three dealing with the presence and increasing levels of plastic trash on the beach [do you see a theme at this website? :) ]. Three shorties to get you through your Friday morning:

==> One from the BBC, visiting a Hawaii’s Kamilo plastic beach (have patience, it takes a minute to load) – the same beach that Charles Moore has made us aware of.

==> One from the Kaisei Pacific garbage patch trolling project of last summer. In it they talk briefly about the lab activities that follow any scientific field collection trip:



==> Last, but most, is a vid featuring Surfrider CEO Jim Moriarty – as shot by Surfrider Portland and 5Gyres activist Stiv Wilson.

ALSO - Bonus Yahoo article about the Atlantic Garbage Patch as recently discovered (uncovered?) by 5Gyres - the photo below is from a shoreline on one the Azores islands, in the middle of the Atlantic ocean...yuk.


The weather is shaping up well for some outdoor activities here in lower-upper California – beach cleanup anyone??? Sounds like Hawaii, the Azores and San Onofre are good places to start.

Have a g000d weekend!

Banksy on Bags

This one is a couple of years old, but worth a replay, considering the new film (Exit Through the Gift Shop) about secretive street artist Banksy, opening in US theaters this week.

Using the image of a ubiquitous plastic shopping bag, this unauthorized London neighborhood "installation" has come to be called "In Tesco We Trust"...and has since likely been obliterated... :( ...even though his impromptu and uninvited paintings instantly add considerable value to the target buildings...

According to a UK blogger, Tesco is "the UK equivalent of Wal-Mart, a dirt-cheap, mega chain supermarket that has taken over the British landscape and pushed out Mom & Pop shops wherever it opens. Tesco also recently expanded into the U.S. West Coast, opening a chain of convenience stores called Fresh & Easy.". Just so ya know...

Here is an article about the art piece, with a mention of a UK retail chain, self-imposing a bag fee.

Cheerio!

Plastics Get There First (Malloy Brothers Vid)

The surfin' Malloy brothers are known for their world travel to places so remote that they may have actually been the first people to visit. But as you will see in this video, put together by the good folks at the Plastic Pollution Coalition (PPC), man's trash had gotten to these places before the exploratory surfers ever did:



Take time to visit the dedicated souls at PPC, both at their home website and at their YouTube channel which has several other plastics-related video shorts.

You'll be glaaad you did!

The Story of Bottled Water

From the folks that brought us 'The Story of Stuff', this animated documentary highlights many issues with bottled water in an easy to understand way. You probably know most of the content so the best thing to do is pass it on to someone who may still need convincing... Rob Nixon posted this great little flick here a month ago - definitely worth a second viewing!