Bag it!

Plastic bags are the enemy of the ocean 2

Save the Bay mapCourtesy Save the BayListen up all you Gristers who live along the California coast: This Saturday is Coastal Cleanup Day.  Join your friends, neighbors, frenemies and complete strangers in a community-wide effort to get the plastic crap out of the ocean.

Plastic isn’t just a problem way out in the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch. For example, the folks at Save the Bay have put together a pretty neat interactive to show you just how bad plastic pollution is in the Bay area.

Find out how you can join the Coastal Cleanup fun: S.F. Bay Area, San Diego, Los Angeles.

And if you’re not in California, not to worry, because this Saturday is International Coastal Cleanup Day. Here’s all you need to know about how to connect with cleanup efforts in your coastal community, courtesy of the Ocean Conservancy. (Another list here.)

What’s that? You don’t live anywhere near the ocean? Well, how about spending a few minutes on Saturday picking up trash in your community.  Better yet, stop using plastic bags altogether and pester your pals to join the reusable bag crusade.

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  1. Eeli Posted 6:09 am
    17 Sep 2009

    Cleaning up the waterways and using recyclable bags are great ideas, but don't pick on plastic bags.  Even Greenpeace doesn't agree with you on that.  http://bit.ly/V3nUM and http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3508263.ece
    1. Russ Walker's avatar

      Russ Walker Posted 10:14 am
      17 Sep 2009

      Well, The Times of London piece you link to says plastic bags don't kill as many birds and marine species as some enviros have claimed.  Fine. The article doesn't dispute the need to get plastic out of the environment. And the Coastal Cleanup is about getting trash of all sorts out of the ocean, not just plastic bags.
      Two things to note:  Any plastic in the ocean is bad. Turns out that the stuff breaks down and gets into the food chain causing all sorts of problems for wildlife.
      Personally, the most depressing experience I had was 18 months ago on Vieques, P.R., when I toured part of the island restricted from most public access.  The beach was completely covered with plastic garbage -- everything from laundry detergent bottles to plastic bags.  Depressing.

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