Resources
Links for environmental information on importance of canvas bags
Paper vs. Plastic, NBC Today Show with Matt Lauer
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/22839753#22839753
Canvas Bags Are Best Option For Environment
http://raven.bethelks.edu/collegian/archives/002546.php
“But to the non-profit Institute for Lifecycle Environmental Assessment, “paper versus plastic?” is not the question we should be asking ourselves, since the answer is really “neither.” After all, energy and waste issues aside, the manufacture of paper bags brings down some 14 million trees yearly to meet U.S. demand alone, while at the same time plastic bags use up some 12 million barrels of oil each year.”
Cut Plastic Waste–Bring Your Own Bag
http://en.epochtimes.com/news/7-10-26/61220.html
“So when the environmentally conscious among us talk about “reduce, reuse, and recycle,” the emphasis needs to be on “reduce” when it comes to plastic bags, says the Recycling Council of Ontario (RCO).”
Plastic Ocean
http://www.bestlifeonline.com/cms/publish/health-fitness/Our_oceans_are_turning_into_plastic_are_we_2.shtml
“Except for the small amount that’s been incinerated–and it’s a very small amount–every bit of plastic ever made still exists.”
Take Your Canvas Bags…
http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2007/10/23/23543/830
“When it comes to the easiest first steps toward a better relationship with the environment, for the rich developed world, two easy actions have real impact and start the path toward real change: replacing incadescents with compact fluorescent bulbs and using canvas bags.”
Continent-Size Toxic Stew of Plastic Trash Fouling Swath of Pacific Ocean
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/10/19/SS6JS8RH0.DTL&type=politics
“At the start of the Academy Award-winning movie ‘American Beauty,’ a character videotapes a plastic grocery bag as it drifts into the air, an event he casts as a symbol of life’s unpredictable currents, and declares the romantic moment as a “‘beautiful thing.’To the eyes of an oceanographer, the image is pure catastrophe.”
Retailers Push Reusable Bags to Save Money and the Environment
http://www.timesanddemocrat.com/articles/2007/10/20/business/12744960.txt“‘I wouldn’t even call it a trend anymore. It’s more like a growing way of life,’ Moreau said.”
Ban Those Bags
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2007-10-11/news/ban-those-bags/ “Plastic bags, which are made from petroleum, take up to 1000 years to decompose. They strangle or suffocate tens of thousands of turtles, fish, and birds each year. Americans use about 100 billion of them annually. It takes about 122 million gallons of oil to make the disposable totes.”Going Green: Billions of Bags Pollute Oceans
http://media.www.studentprintz.com/media/storage/paper974/news/2007/10/02/Opinion/Going.Green.Billions.Of.Bags.Pollute.Oceans-3004025.shtml“They can be found in even the most remote reaches of the ocean. They outnumber phytoplankton 6 to 1 in the upper parts of the water column and kill hundreds of thousands of sea creatures. They even cover a space as large as the state of Texas, swirling in massive clouds in what has been named the Pacific Trash Vortex just south of Hawaii, where the ocean currents converge. They are plastic bags, and many people use them on a day to day basis with out any concept of what detrimental impact that have towards the environment, and especially our oceans.”