Hi there.  MD has a lot of environmental legislation as of late.  I hope that people understand the importance of embracing Low Impact Development and other very resourceful new requirements.  It does not help that staff has been cut so much in the MD state government that upholding new laws will be tough.  Environmental groups should assist the government in encouraging the communities to be more conciencious about their patterns.  I am seeing a lot of harsh resistance to laws like the Stormwater Act of 2007… “it is going to cost MORE to develop...” My comment, someone is going to have to pay someday and that someone will pay more and more if we don’t start really caring about the impact that we are making.

I just saw “the story of stuff” and what an eye opener! My family is dealing with a job loss and I was just starting to get depressed about $$$.  After seeing the “story” I see that I am really brainwashed in to thinking that I am going to die without being able to consume on an outragous pace… Duh - being “poor” will make us rich.  I hope that I can do more to share the message of the “story” and embrace not being a HUGE and wasteful consumer.

As for Maryland, I live in one of the most beautiful areas in the state.  I just home that we can elect leaders that CARE about more than consuming the resources of this area.

I hope this finally passes. I find blue bags in my tree constantly. I love climbing trees but not to retrieve bags.

The banning of plastic bags has been spoken about in my State in Australia, there are some people tho who are against the banning of them, which really irritates me. i mean, we can go without them, and what good do they actually bring to society, when there are better quality and more useful items we can use in-place of plastic bags? negative issues far outweigh the positive…

Zlatucka - Mar 10, 2008 02:42am

The banning of plastic bags has been spoken about in my State in Australia, there are some people tho who are against the banning of them, which really irritates me. i mean, we can go without them, and what good do they actually bring to society, when there are better quality and more useful items we can use in-place of plastic bags? negative issues far outweigh the positive…

Hi. I live in NSW i have not heard of a plan to ban plastic bans. Is it a new idea or has it only been talked about in where you live. I personaly think it will help BIG time. In my house we re-use our plastic bags (im pretty sure thats what most people do) and use them for rubbish bags or for easy use to carry things from place to place. I always dispose of my plastic bags in a proper way (not leaving it on the side of the road).
We can use eco friendly bags to replace the use of plastic bags.
I support the ban of plastic bags. Maybey not garbage bags, we need them.
=]
Ben (15) (Aus)

Hi Ben, i live in NSW also! it isn’t a new idea,it has been tossed around for a while, but every now and then it comes to the forefront of the news and lately there has been a lot of debate about it.
the idea of the banning of plastic bags is so that they don’t end up in bodies or water (rivers,lakes etc), but also beacause they do end up as landfill when used for garbage. you seen, when you use them for garbage they end up at the dump,and plastic does not naturally break down for hundreds of years. because the rubbish dumps fill up so quickly and there is a constant need for more room at the dump, the rubbish on those piles gets burnt. the smoke and the fumes from the fire becomes toxic and let into the atmosphere, adding poisonous gases into out natural ones.
If you must use bags for garbage,find ones that are biodegradable (ones that will naturally break down).or maybe not use bags at all, it doesn’t take much to clean out a garbage bin with a hose.

Hey,

No ban as of yet. My husband is from Maryland and was hoping that it would pass. I will tell you, we were up there over this past weekend and it was great. There were recycle bins in so many of the restaurants and public places.  I was ashamed that the “city” that I live in doesn’t make more of an effort to recycle. (I live outside of Charlotte, NC and don’t even have mandatory recycling, I take it myself).

Good luck with your local Surfrider group at getting plastic bags banned. They are a waste and as far as what they do to the ocean and acquatic life (I lived in VA Beach for many years) is appalling. If things don’t change, you won’t be able to surf due to the toxicity of the water.

Just a couple of thoughts…

I live in Vancouver, after moving from outside of Toronto (Canada), and plastic bags are typically shunned by a lot of shoppers here, but still they are widely used. That said, with people becoming more conscious of the unsustainable nature of plastic (even with recycling, which should be widely regarded as a joke), “shopping bags” are becoming popular. Now, with THAT said, it’d be interesting for you guys to go back and look at the history of hemp and the history of plastic. The tides may be turning. If you’re wise, invest in a reusable bag company for shoppers that makes bags out of hemp.

The other thing is...non-reusable bottles are already banned in the province of PEI in Canada. Elsewhere in Canada though, recycling programs are WAY behind.

At the end of the day, we take small steps.

This is a great idea.  Those things never break down and are just terrible for the environment.  I know there’s a group working to take similar action in my community.

Question about SF. 
Hi, I am totally in the dark about where and when plastic bags are used or not.  All that I see are stores trying to make money off of the re-suable bags while still automatically using plastic bags for everything, and typically in excess of what is necessary. 

My response to the cashiers about not wanting a bag is always, “no bag, thanks, I don’t like to fuel the war.” Although of course it is of a much wider principle, this usually strikes up conversation because the majority do not know that plastic bags are made from fossil fuels.

Well, now that I’ve gotten out my rants, my question is about a rumour that I heard but have not seen in SF.  Hadn’t they banned plastic bags years ago?  I live in Portland, Oregon, so I’m in the dark, but when visiting I still saw them everywhere. 
Supposedly they have “new plastic bags” that are “biodegradable.” That said, this merely means that they rip apart more easily into smaller pieces of plastic?!? 

I’m really interested in some information about this specific subject in SF. 

Carly Fujita