Hawaii bans the bag - can you?

Plastic bag bans have been sweeping the country lately. The whole state of Hawaii has banned the bag; while this is facilitated by its only having four counties, this is a major step for the bag ban efforts.

Other big-news places to have banned the bag are Seattle, WA, Portland, OR, and  tons of cities in California.

Corvallis' own 500-Bag Monster

I was first turned on to this issue when I saw the Oregon Chapter Sierra Club at the Earth Fair in Corvallis. They are trying to initiate a bag ban in my town. Wearing a massive 500-bag costume, the representative encouraged people to start using reusable bags and send in postcards to encourage the plastic bag ban.

So why ban the bag?

• They pose a threat to wildlife.
• They add to our demand for oil.
• They don't break down in landfills.

 And the U.S. alone uses 380 billion of them a year.

I find reusable fabric grocery bags in stores at $1 apiece, and I have three that I use every week. It's easy to keep them in my car or right by the door. And I grew up with my mom holding on to paper bags to reuse them rather than using plastic bags every week.

It's not hard to give it up, even though it's what we are used to. So I'll issue you a challenge, dear reader. Do you have paper or fabric bags? Try bringing them with you for the next week. If you can do that, try it for the next month. And know that you can lessen YOUR impact just by making this quick change.