To me, there can only be 1 culprit can be behind it. That culprit would be the makers of the plastic bags themselves! I mean really, bringing your own bags to the market can now make you die! Ecoli virus among countless others!!!
Well, I tell you what……I myself have been using my own reusable bags going on my 5th year.  In all my carries,  eggs, poultry, vegetables, and anything else i may buy I have never, not once, even had a spill of any considerable size in one of my reusable bags!   If i did, I would simply take out the bottom plastic insert and wipe free any “contaminates” that may be there and we would then be free and clear of the problem.  If it were that bad, i would wash my washable reusable bag in cold water and line dry. 

Problem fixed.

It is clear to me that the makers of the plastic bags are acting purely from greed and cash money is their objective.  They do not care that coral reefs are dying by plastic bag strangle hold.  They do not care that the los Angeles River looks like the trash dump from the original movie Star Wars!  They don’t care that  plastic bags waive from trees in Central park like Christmas ornaments, they do not care that CA spends $30,000,000 dollars per year on trying to contain their plastic disaster and barely scrapes the top of it.

plastic bags have a strangle hold on our seas!

The bottom line is that plastic bags are one of our great plagues in the world and slowly but surely people are being made aware of it.  As rap group “Public Enemy” once said, “Don’t Belive the Hype!”  Its propaganda, and it simply isnt true.

If the plastic bag manufacturers had any real amo they would be showing us all the bacteria and sickness’s that have arose from places like Ireland and Austrailia who are bothworking on 10 years free of plastic bags.  If there were any truth in any of this they would maybe start there.

Bottom line, plastic bags hurt the Earth, stay strong, keep bringing your reusable bags, and dont believe the Hype!  It simply isnt true!

Why is the fee 25 cents?

* To effectively deter the use of single-use bags and encourage consumers to switch to reusable bags, the fee must be set high enough to have a real impact on consumer behavior. Ireland’s current bag fee is set at the equivalent of 33 U.S. cents. The policy was so successful that it significantly reduced plastic bag litter by over 90%.

Is this a tax?

* No. This is a regulatory fee under Article XIII A of the California Constitution because the amount and nature of the fee have a fair and reasonable relationship to the environmental, public health, and societal burdens imposed by the use of plastic and paper carryout bags.

This bill could be huge — one of its strongest points is that it doesn’t let paper bags off the hook, curbing the plastic industry’s cries of biased treatment and holding paper plants equally accountable for wasteful production and unsound ecological policies. But this bill needs your help. Do you believe in a less wasteful tomorrow for California? Then send Assemblymember Brownley a letter and let her know you support the cause! It only takes a few minutes, and it’s an uphill battle for these sorts of bills. We already sent ours! Take the time today — the environment will thank you for it.

U.S. Vice-President turned eco-activist Al Gore has been a major player in the fight against global warming in the past few years, and according to him the tides are about to turn in our favor. At a speech last Monday at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, Gore indicated that this year will be monumental for environmentalists asserting the importance of their cause, and compared the year’s importance to the battle of Gettysburg in terms of turning the tides of battle.

“We are radically changing the relationship between the human species and the rest of the Earth,” he said. “This year, 2009, is the Gettysburg for the environment. It is the time we have the opportunity to change.”

“The one thing that is going to allow us to win this is that thing that is inside these award winners,” Gore said. “Remember what we have to do, this year.”

Gore is no newcomer to environmentalism — it is an issue he has explored many times on the lecture circuit and in his documentary An Inconvenient Truth, and his efforts with the matter helped earn him the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. This time, Gore addressed this issue as part of his keynote presentation of this year’s Goldman Environmental Prize.

Photo via Flickr!

• Reusable bags: more popular than ever! [Albany Times-Union]
• Eva Longoria-Parker and H-E-B promote reusable bags for Earth Day! [Houston Chronicle]
• Reusable bag sales raise money and awareness for students in Lakeside, MN. [Chisago County Press]
• Plastic bag pollution in Tanzania referred to as “alarming.” [IPP Media]
• Reusable bags an appealing choice in the Silicon Valley. [KLIV]
• Meanwhile, legislative hearings for a California bag tax are going well. [WBIR]
• Earth Day is already underway ahead of schedule in Rhode Island! [Providence Journal]
• New York state law aims to make recycling plastic bags easier. [9-WSYR]
• Find more ways to get active for Earth Day! [My Ozarks Outdoors]

Photo via Flickr!

Introduce your child to the source of the food she eats.
Tending a garden or visiting a farmers market can help your little one understand that vegetables don’t grow on supermarket shelves. From here you can begin to emphasize the importance of choosing organic foods.

[...]

Play naturally.
Though the occasional plastic toy has made its way into our lives, I’ve made a concerted — though often mocked — effort to limit W.’s toys to those that are made from natural materials — wood, fabric and nontoxic paint. A good handful of my family members think I’m crazy to shun the Technicolor world of plastic playthings, but I’ve found that these toys are not only free from potential toxins like PVCs and phthalates, but they also last longer and allow more room for imaginative play. When a toy isn’t singing songs, flashing lights and wiggling across the floor, it seems that a child actually has to use his imagination when playing with it. Go figure.

Big points for her emphasizing the importance of recycling, reducing, and using reusable bags as well. But the most important advice she imparts? The very first on the list — set a good example. “The quickest way to teach your kid to recycle or to conserve energy,” she says, “is to do those things yourself.”

LANCUP: Celebrate Earth Day #EarthDay in Los Angeles by helping clean up Echo Park!!! http://www.usaservice.org/page/event/detail/environment/4rxyg

Or how about WhiteFence blog‘s tips about eating healthier and greener?

WhiteFence: Tip Number 8 in our Countdown to Earth Day: Green Eating! http://tinyurl.com/d7u5ht #green #earthday #food

Plenty of personal blogs and eco-activism blogs alike have been posting about a number of conservation-related topics.

EcoInteractive: Important Project: The Prince of Wales introduces his rainforests project http://replantingtherainforests.org/site/index.php/urgency/rainfore… #rtr09 #earthday #eco #green

Interested in getting in on the micro-discussion? Simply check out the Earth Day channel for Twitter and see what pops up! It seems like there’s something new every minute.

As we are in the middle of the spring months, it is time to think about the outdoors and how we can better care for the environment. When you think about helping our environment, you think of Earth Day, April 22.

But why limit yourself to one day? What some people don’t know is that there are several easy ways to improve the quality of our lives on Earth that may not even affect your daily routine.

As unassuming as it might seem, to mention one’s efforts not affecting their daily routine, but for most it is vital, when making small lifestyle changes, to not outright change one’s lifestyle. So, what can you do to start making some easy changes in your life? It’s as simple as keeping your trash where you can see it.

While on a bike ride in the warm weather, the last thing you want to see is trash on the roadside. Products we use every day, such as plastic bags and aluminum cans, take years to decompose. A simple way to limit the roadside trash is to keep a convenient garbage container in your vehicle until you reach a garbage can where you can throw it away. How easy is that?

I like the added insinuation that you’ll be riding your bike a lot in the summer weather — it’s a good connection to make. I know I just pumped up my bike tires, and am looking forward to getting the most out of the ever-improving weather.

Read on for more on junk mail, the trouble with plastic bottles, the benefits of reusable bags, and how to make everyday your own personal Earth Day.

Today’s particular reminder comes from the Huffington Post, who are offering tips on keeping your lunch extra-tasty and still relatively waste-free with some environmental science and extra-sound reasoning mixed in.

3. Plastic-free is the choice for me!: All that plastic that we use (and rarely reuse) takes a tremendous amount of energy and water to produce and isn’t recyclable in much of America (only water bottles are recyclable in Marin county!). Additionally, beware of using plastic containers for heating or freezing food. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration has stated that it’s possible for chemicals from these plastics to “migrate” into food. You can control “undesirable flavors” by using glass or ceramic storage containers when bringing food that requires re-heating or is high in fat (fat attracts toxins). Continue to use your plastic storage containers for sandwiches, fruits and anything else that won’t require a microwave but don’t buy new plastic containers! When you need new containers, move to glass or long-lasting stainless steel. As for the baggie issue, when packing my lunch, I prefer to stick with organic cotton snack bags, but for leak-resistance you can try fresh snack packs, which are food safe and made with phthalate-free plastic.

Not that microwaves are necessarily considered the go-to appliance for optimum health and safety, but migrating chemicals? Yikes! Interested in reading more about renewable sources, reusable bottles, and getting your kids involved? Read the whole article here.

Even though Earth Day is a couple of weeks away, EPA is teaming up with several telecom conglomerates to promote Earth Week from today through the 12th, an event designed to raise awareness of e-waste encourage proper recycling of cell phones, PDAs, and other electronic devices.

Wireless customers of any carrier can drop off used cellphones and accessories at any of the 2,000-plus AT&T stores across the U.S. Another option is to download free shipping labels from att.com/wireless and mail the phones to Cell Phones for Soldiers (CPFS), a charity that recycles used cellphones and uses the proceeds to buy free phone cards for troops overseas.

The EPA reports that over 100 million cell phones are discarded every year, but with the help of such awareness events, perhaps we can reign that number in. For more information, podcasts, and schedules of partner events, check out the EPA’s official Earth Week page!