Seattle residents will soon be receiving their August ballots in the mail, and one of the most closely watched votes is Referendum 1, which decides whether or not to place a fee on plastic and paper bags.
As I wrote in my previous post on this topic, the fee was already passed by the city council, but then it was forced to a referendum. Keep in mind that a large portion of the funding to oppose the fee is coming from The American Chemistry Council (which lobbies for companies like Exxon and Dow Chemical and makes money from the sale of disposable plastics). The lobby has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into defeating the referendum.
There are many reasons why the fee is a good idea:
It will greatly reduce the use of both paper and plastic bags and therefore the resources used to make and transport them, as well as the litter generated after the bags are used.
Part of the revenue from the bag fee will go towards an educational campaign and towards purchasing reusable bags for low-income families.
Many cities and countries have instituted or are considering instituting a similar initiative, and many eyes will be on Seattle to see what our city does.
But perhaps the most compelling visual reminder of why the fee is a good idea came this afternoon, when I saw a homemade sign on Westlake Avenue asking voters to support the bag fee. Fifty yards down the road (and less than a hundred yards from Lake Union), I saw a plastic bag clinging to brush, hanging on until another gust of wind blew it elsewhere to live on as non-biodegradable trash, maybe even joining up with fellow plastic garbage on the infamous litter island known as the Pacific Garbage Patch.
If you live in Seattle, please vote yes on Referendum 1 by August 18th, and urge everyone you know to do the same.
No matter where you turn, it seems that budgetary constraints are on people's minds, but as we've seen with the push for "green jobs" and a new "green economy", eco-conscious and economical are not mutually exclusive terms.
One of the benefits of living on a budget is that it helps us take a hard look at what we choose to spend our money on. Is it something that will last? Is it something that we need? Is it something that was created in an environmentally and socially conscious manner? How much waste will this product leave behind? How much energy will it require to operate?
A recent story on the NPR series "Living on Earth" profiled a house in California, which has received the highest level of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification - platinum. One of the most interesting points made was that the best modifications made (like making the home more airtight) were also the cheapest. Listen to the full story here.
In order to help you budget your own and your planet's precious resources, check out the user friendly (and free!) money managing software at Mint. With great sections like paying off student debt and creating a budget, Mint is perfect for users of all ages and needs.
I'm kind of enjoying my recent foray into Twitter-land. Between Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter, I'm not sure what to update first, but as a pretty verbose person, I like the fact that I am limited to 140 characters per entry - can't quite bring myself to say "tweet" yet, but stay tuned...
I thought it would be really clever to write a post about Twitter with only 140 characters - you know, good practice and all, but this post is well over 400 characters. Looks like I have my work cut out for me on the pithy front !
Many grocery and wine stores are now devoting entire sections to wines grown without pesticides - some of these are marked "organic", "biodynamic", or "grown pesticide-free" - and more and more wines are being produced with these lower impact practices. No matter where you live, ask your favorite wine store to carry more wines with these labels and inquire about vineyard growing practices at wineries and restaurants you visit.
Do you have a favorite organic wine? Let us know, and I'll compile a list of reader favorites in a subsequent post.
Today is World Refugee day, and we can all do something to help the 42 million people who lack basic needs such as clean water, food, and a safe place to call home.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) works to meet these needs every day. Watch this short film about their efforts, and then visit their website to find out how you can get more involved.
Well...almost. Ten Ways to Change the World in Your Twentieswill be released in November, but you can pre-order it now on Amazon. I'm also in the process of reaching out to universities and high schools, so if you are interested in bringing me to your school to speak, send an email!
Seattle is one referendum vote away from becoming one of the first cities in the United States to take a huge step toward reducing disposable bag consumption. The City Council has already voted to institute a 20 cent fee for disposable plastic or paper bags, and now the ordinance must be upheld by a public referendum in order to be enacted.
According to the Seattle Green Bag Campaign, which is working hard to support Referendum 1, the "optional" green fee pertains to people who don't shop with a reusable bag and is expected to reduce disposable bag use by an estimated 80-90%. Most of the 20 cent fee will go toward providing every household of Seattle with at least one reusable bag, with extra bags for those on low or fixed income, as well as waste reduction education programs.
This Tuesday, the city of Edmonds, WA took things even further when the city council passed a plastic bag ban, which will go into effect as soon as a pending environmental review has been completed.
Why all the fuss about disposable bags? Seattle uses an estimated 360 million plastic bags per year, and while at 8%, our recycling rate is slightly higher than the abysmal national rate of 3%, most of these bags are bound for the landfill. Worse still, many more will make their way out to waterways via storm drains and creeks. Once in the waterways, they can interfere with marine life, causing the death of marine mammals and sea turtles who mistake the bags for food. Others create huge plastic gyres or "garbage patches" in the middle of oceans. What's more, plastic bags don't biodegrade, they just break down into smaller and smaller toxic pieces.
Despite being universally reviled as an environmental menace, Bagmonster always has time for the ladies.
According to Heather Trim, the Urban Bays and Toxic Program Manager at the People for Puget Sound, "Even when plastic bags are recycled, they are often bailed up and sent to China where they are downcycled into lower grade products or stockpiled." Even if plastic bags are properly disposed of, the environmental price tag is already high as they are a petroleum byproduct that is shipped all over the world only to be used once and then likely thrown away.
If you live in Seattle, you can support the project by donating time or money to the Green Bag Campaign, telling your friends to be sure to vote to approve the all mail-in Referendum 1 ballot, and volunteering with the campaign.
If you live elsewhere in the country, encourage your city council members to institute a similar ordinance. The websites for The Surfrider Foundation and The Sierra Club are excellent places to start when initiating environmental action in your community. Other areas in the United States that are considering or have already taken similar actions include - San Francisco, CA, Westport CT, thirty Alaskan villages, Annapolis, MD, Austin, TX , Baltimore, MD , Berkeley, CA , Boston, MA , Chicago, IL , Los Angeles County, Madison, WI , Maine, Marshall County, IA , Maryland, Massachusetts, New Haven, CT, New York, NY, Oakland, CA, Philadelphia, PA, Plymouth, PA , San Jose, CA, Santa Cruz, CA , Santa Monica, CA , Texas, Virginia, and Washington D.C.
So join or start a bag ban movement in your hometown, and of course, always shop with reusable bags!
Ten Ways to Change the World in Your Twenties(www.tenways.org) is an organization and book whose mission is to offer tangible ideas to young adults who wish to be active in shaping the world in which we live, but may lack the guidance and resources to easily do so. The book discusses our social, environmental, and political responsibilities. At the same time, it offers innovative strategies and suggestions to the next generation of leaders for improving the world they are inheriting. The website offers a forum for discussion about how to enhance the world at both a local and global level. It also provides resource guides to businesses and organizations already making a difference in their communities.
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This is the house. Sadly, they won no awards for Leadership in Tasteful Color Choices.
