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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0.05in 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 15.6pt; mso-outline-level: 2"><B><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 18pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Local Campaign Urges Consumers to Sack the Use of Disposable Bags<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="COLOR: #9c0a00; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">By Sonia Fernandez, Noozhawk Staff Writer<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">The Ocean Futures Society organizes A Day Without A Bag to promote alternatives.</SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"></P><o:p></o:p></SPAN>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Jean-Michel Cousteau, center, head of the local Ocean Futures Society, which helped organize Thursday’s A Day Without a Bag event, points out our dependence on plastic bags, as illustrated by two “monsters” each wearing the number of bags the average American shopper uses each year. “We’re using the ocean as our garbage can,” Cousteau said. (Sonia Fernandez / Noozhawk photo)<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">They’re so ubiquitous that we don’t even really see them anymore: a typical plastic shopping bag, the kind you get from the store. If you’re the average American shopper, you use about 700 of them every year. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">And just because we toss them doesn’t mean they go away. Recent statistics show that about 2 percent of the plastic bags used in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> get recycled. The rest wind up taking space in the landfill — or worse, as part of the environment, taking hundreds of years to decompose. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">“We’re using the ocean as our garbage can,” said <A title="Jean-Michel Cousteau" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_Cousteau">Jean-Michel Cousteau</A>, head of the locally-based <A title="Ocean Futures Society" href="http://www.oceanfutures.org/">Ocean Futures Society</A>. Plastic bags can wash up on the beach, float on the surface of the water, sink to the bottom or just be suspended underwater and taken, along with other marine trash, by the currents.
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">In all cases, the major concern is for the birds and marine creatures that mistake the plastic for some kind of food, or get entangled in them or poisoned by chemicals in the material. What many don’t think about is the kind of toxins that can be passed back to us through the fish and other seafood that we eat. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">The ocean is particularly susceptible, Cousteau said, because plastic bags are easily blown in by the wind, or washed in through creeks, and not easily retrievable. In fact, a vast and remote section of the <st1:place w:st="on">Pacific Ocean</st1:place>, called the North Pacific subtropical gyre, is essentially one big marine dump, held in place by currents and atmospheric pressure. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">That’s why the Ocean Futures Society and other local groups on Thursday held <A title="A Day Without a Bag" href="http://www.echossb.com/">A Day Without a Bag</A> at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Santa Barbara</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">City Hall</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>. It was part of a statewide effort to educate people and encourage them to find alternatives to disposable plastic bags. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><A title="Santa Barbara Channelkeeper" href="http://www.sbck.org/">Santa Barbara Channelkeeper</A> and <A title="Heal the Ocean" href="http://www.healtheocean.org/">Heal the Ocean</A> were present, as well as representatives from local businesses and government. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">“It all starts with education,” Cousteau said. “If you can change that one habit, it will change a lot of how we dispose of our things.” <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">It won’t be an easy change for those of us used to the convenience of getting a plastic bag from the store, and there are cities that have tried to ban plastic that are now experiencing legal actions from the plastics industry. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">For Kira Redmond, executive director of Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, it won’t take anything less than a regulatory measure to make sure this coastal town doesn’t contribute to the swirling mass of trash in the Pacific. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">“Education is very important, voluntary measures can be effective, but there’s really a requirement that we really have a mandate to reduce the use of disposable bags that’s going to get us there,” she said. While much of the legal outcry centers on the claim that banning plastics would result in more use of paper bags — which take more energy to produce and transport — she argued that from an ocean perspective, plastic has less of an effect. </SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">The average American shopper uses about 700 plastic shopping bags every year. (Sonia Fernandez / Noozhawk photo)<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">The city of <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Santa Barbara</st1:place></st1:City> has turned a sympathetic ear to the cause, and is in the middle of trying to figure out how to reduce, even eliminate, the use of paper and plastic single-use bags — without getting sued. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Options the city might consider include charging a fee for every disposable bag a customer uses. According to a man-on-the-street poll recently taken by Channelkeeper, people are willing to pay up to 25 cents per bag. Proceeds would go to enforcement of the practice and further outreach. Another option might be to ban one type of bag and charge for another. State legislation prohibits municipalities from charging for plastic. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">The city is still in discussions on the topic. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">It helps, Cousteau and <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Redmond</st1:place></st1:City> say, to consider the money businesses can save if they don’t have to pay for so many bags. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">“This could actually be good for business,” <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Redmond</st1:place></st1:City> said. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Several local businesses are already giving their support to the cause, including <A title="Anacapa Dive Center" href="http://www.anacapadivecenter.com/">Anacapa Dive Center</A>, <A title="State and A Bar & Grill" href="http://www.stateanda.com/">State and A Bar & Grill</A> and <A title="Community West Bank" href="http://www.communitywestbank.com/">Community West Bank</A>, where students from <A title="Santa Barbara High's Dons Net Cafe" href="http://www.sbsdk12.org/news/2008/12/08sbhsnetcafe.shtml">Santa Barbara High’s Dons Net Cafe</A> were conducting a survey and passing out reusable bags Thursday. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Whatever the city decides to do, it’s very likely to happen before the end of 2010. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">“We know that these bags are awful, and we know they show up in all kinds of places, and they kill animals.” Mayor <A title="Marty Blum" href="http://www.santabarbaraca.gov/government/council/meet_us/">Marty Blum</A> said. “And they shouldn’t be in our landfill either.” </SPAN></P>
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SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Snowdrift">Everyone!</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Snowdrift"><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">~Cary</st1:place></st1:City> Stevens<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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