Plastic trash on the Beach in Hawaii
Picture credit: NOAA
I have been wanting to address this Issue for months and with this announcement today, it is now time.
The city of Los Angeles, my home for over 30 years, who is continually at the forefront and frequently a leader in cutting edge everything, has just passed the most exciting eco-friendly legislature in its history.
It has banned single-use plastic bags.
I can see Ed Begley Jr. smiling from here~
So now, how long will it take for the rest of us to get on board this Eco-train?
The damage done Globally by all kinds of plastics, cannot easily be assessed.
It injures, affects, hurts and kills so many types of animals everywhere, that it is difficult to accurately measure its complete harm.
Birds, turtles, dolphins, whales and many other sea animals are all being found with plastic pieces, some quite large, that they have ingested in the waters all over the world.
Baby chicks of sea birds in remote parts of the Pacific, have been found starving to death due to the plastic pieces that they are being fed instead of food, mistakenly by their unaware parents.
It just goes on and on.
So, my request, my hope, is that we collectively, will try to do our best to get plastic out of our lives.
As for myself, I can only offer up what I have done for so many years and that is to find alternatives to plastic in every form.
When and if any plastic does regretfully make its way home, it is dealt with as the potential killer that it truly is.
It is disposed of very carefully, always with an animal ending up being harmed by it in mind.
I am so proud of L.A. for being a leader on this extremely important Issue and applaud them.
Where I now live in Florida, on our street, we are one of very few who even put out a recycle bin for the trash collectors each week.
So sad!
Each of us can do this, we can help by simply making a small change in our lives and spare animals a painful, horrible death, by just not buying plastic, each and every time that we can choose an alternative.
Think baby steps, take it one plastic product, one plastic choice at a time and pretty soon it could be, it can be, gone from all of our lives.
And finally, picture a hungry baby bird with its tiny belly filled up with bits of plastic, perhaps that will be all the motivation you will ever need?
You know that we can do this~
Please read more about this Issue here:
Los Angeles Enacts Plastic Bag Ban
Walking with the Alligators 
Hey Gater Woman! I heard something exciting on NPR recently that I thought you’d be interested in. There is a new company that has found a way to turn mushrooms into a substance that can replace plastic. I’m really excited about it because it’s so environmentally responsible. Here is a link if you want to check the company out: http://www.mushroompackaging.com/. I hope you’re having a wonderful week! Celeste 🙂
Awesome. Thank you.
Will go check it out~
You too Celeste~
Go LA, thats brilliant! The UK stores offer bags for life and give reward points for using your own bag but STILL have plastic bags at every till.
Very cool idea.
If we all work together, we can get it done~
Thank you.
When I found out about plastic island that was it for me. No more buying plastic bottles of water. I got a brita pitcher and a stainless steel water bottle. Now I just use filtered tap water which is a lot cheaper and healthier and by stainless steel container. I am saving money by not buying plastic water bottles and I am helping the environment by not buying plastic water bottles. It’s a win-win.
ivonne
How great. We have a Brita too~
Each day I am looking for another plastic to get rid of forever.
When I go to the store, I always choose things in glass when they are there.
It is one day at a time~
Dear Gator Woman,
I have nominated you for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award today, along with six other outstanding bloggers. Please accept this well deserved award. The details are given at my blog: http://deodatusblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/nominating-seven-outstanding-bloggers-for-the-very-inspiring-blogger-award/
Thanks in advance.
-Deo
This is so strange to see this post.. as I drove home from work tonight I heard it announced on the radio that Toronto has lifted the ban on plastic bags and will instead focus on how to responsibly re-use and recycle bags… I’m not sure how I feel about it just yet.
Perhaps they need to see animals suffering up close and personal to understand this Issue better.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.
We need more people like you to help make things change.
They have just done the same in Tasmania and island state just south of Melbourne in Australia 🙂
Bless them, they obviously care about animals.
And thank you for sharing this news.
Please keep it coming, we all need inspiration to go on~
San Jose has done away with the plastic bags too (except for the thin ones in produce sections). They charge 10-15 cents per paper bag and usually around a dollar for a reusable. You’d be surprised that a good handful of people bring it up as a bad thing because they now gave to pay for a bag. Weird. I have a faucet filter too! Are you just recycling the plastic you bring home or is there something special you do? There’s a lot of plastic packaging in stores.
Every time I shop, I always choose glass when it is there and only buy plastic when there is absolutely no other choice.
Yes, we recycle our papers, plastic, bottles and cans in a yellow bucket from the county every week.
As I said in this posting, we are one of very few on our street who do this.
Coming to Florida after 30 years in California was a huge adjustment.
Thanks for posting this excellent bit of news. I, too, keep trying to cut down my use of plastic. i’m pleased to see that some manufacturers are getting the message and are beginning to package goods in corrugated paper (cardboard) rather than plastics (especially plastic clamshells: an evil invention).
Exactly and so well put.
You dear friend get it!
We must demand that all product packaging be renewable and animal safety thoughtful/considerate.
Companies can/will do this, if they are pressured to do so.
I for one, will be quite willing to pay them more for this precaution because animals are worth it to me.
Better for the animals, better for Mother Earth.
Win, win!
Hello Gator Woman, just wonderful, we’re far too used to disposable and non-sustainable stuff!! Here in France more and more supermarkets are charging for single use carriers, but offering liftime exchanges on re-useable carriers which cost a little extra. And what happened to the shopping bags of old, the nets and fabric bags?
Thanks so much for stopping by on my blog and the like – and introducing me to yours that way.
Hello and how lovely to meet you here.
Thank you for coming.
Agree completely with your comments.
We seem to be at the back of the line here on getting rid of plastics.
BTW, Love your Blog~
Thank you!!
Hola,it Veronika from Travel Live Life and I have nominated you for Leibster Blog Award. You can take a look here – http://travellivelife.com/2013/06/22/liebster-blog-award/ . Thank you for your inspirational stories!
Hello Veronika:
Thank you so very much for your kind words.
And, how lovely to meet you.
I have just left you a message on your Award page.
I am afraid that I have already received this Award and now that I have over 400 followers,
am no longer eligible for it either.
Thank you for thinking of this humble little Blog.
It is truly an Honor.
And congratulations to you on receiving this Award yourself~
I am so thankful for your appreciation and support! 🙂
Hello Gator Woman, thank you for liking my post (about our wildlife rescue box) and the reason to find your blog.
It’s good to see one more city has joined the move to get rid of plastic. Canberra, Australia has been shopping bag free for over a year now. They published an interim report if you’re interested to see the outcomes after a year. http://www.environment.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/260752/12-26082_Plastic_bag_review_report.pdf
In other places we get given degradable bags from time to time. Why aren’t they at least made standard if they’re available?? So simple.
That is awesome news.
Thank you for the link.
We need to put on the pressure here and make this happen everywhere,
it is good for wild life and even better for our Mother Earth.
Thank you so much for coming here and for sharing your thoughts.
Keep it coming~
Awesome !! I was also planning to write about plastics..The Title is really inspiring…yeah, definitely they are monster..
How truly wonderful.
The more said by the many, the sooner it will happen~
ya, true…we all need to work together for the cleaner and greener environment..
Hats off to ur effort..
Going to reblog. That picture above is horrendous and heartbreaking. We are petitioning here in NYC to stop use of plastic bags.
That is great to hear.
If we stand together and work together, we can change this, we must change this.
Unless we want the whole world to become just one big garbage dump!
Reblogged this on MOONSIDE and commented:
A heartbreaking problem…
The more, the merrier.
Thank you so much for caring~
To say I like this is an oxy moron to me. It sickens me to the point of feeling like vomiting. Mankind that does these things are so callous, cold, and think of no one except themselves.
Yisraela
Thank you for your kind words and even more for your caring and concern for what is truly important,
our Mother Earth and all that dwell upon it.
Thank you for liking a recent post about the Losing the West documentary – it looks to be a thought-provoking film about the increasing pressure upon the land and life in the West and beyond.
This is an interesting and important site you have here….keep up the good work!
Chad
Thank you for your support and positive comments.
Having spent more than 30 years in the West has given me a tremendous appreciation of its vast, wild beauty.
We must always be sure that it remains as that, whatever actions that may require.
I’m with you on the non-use of plastic. I avoid it at all costs. I carry lots of canvas bags in my car to use no matter where I go shopping. The disappointing thing is that most stores don’t bother to ask if you’ve got your own bags, they automatically go for their plastic bags.
Yes, how very true.
You are an inspiration to us all~
I know I must do more and try harder.
I feel pretty silly at the store showing people that there are glass containers right next to the plastic ones.
Thank you for your thoughts.