Thursday, April 30, 2009

In the zone

by Stephen Knight, Political Director

You might have heard about the Pacific Institute’s recent report, "The Impacts of Sea-Level Rise on the California Coast," which states that a half a million current California residents and $100 billion of the state’s infrastructure will be in the inundation zone by 2100.

If you haven't heard – read all about it. Check out this article from the San Francisco Chronicle and this story from NPR.

Over two thirds of that "at risk" infrastructure is in the San Francisco Bay Area.

What's more, California's number one, most threatened municipality is San Mateo County, both in terms of population and infrastructure. San Mateo County has $24 billion in infrastructure at risk – almost one quarter of the entire statewide projected impact from sea level rise. Check out the maps from the report.

The Bay Area faces an enormous challenge to protect existing infrastructure around our Bay, including San Francisco Airport, Highway 101 and many thousands of residences. In the face of this growing threat, one thing is clear: Redwood City should not approve Cargill’s plan to place billions of dollars of new housing infrastructure out on Redwood City’s bayfront salt ponds.

Learn more at www.saveSFbay.org/redwoodcity.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Plastic bag makers miss the mark

by Amy Alton, Communications Associate

No doubt to coincide with Earth Day, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) – the trade group for the major plastic bag makers – announced yesterday their plan to use "40 percent recycled content in all plastic bags by 2015, including at least 25 percent postconsumer recycled plastic."

What a big hurrah they deserve for aiming at a whopping 25 percent post-consumer material in the bags they produce no sooner than six (plus) years from now. The Earth is indeed saved.

Oh wait.

While aiming to use recycled content in plastic bags is better than NOT using recycled content, it still doesn't address the ever-growing issue of plastic bag litter, which continues to plague the environment.

Plastic bags were the second largest item of littler picked up by volunteers during the Ocean Conservancy's 2008 International Coastal Cleanup Day. On this day, 1.37 million plastic bags were removed from coastal areas worldwide, second only in number to cigarette butts.

Enormous quantities of plastic bags are polluting our waters, smothering wetlands and entangling and killing animals. Bags also clog storm drains and recycling equipment and bag litter lowers property values and degrades recreational areas.

Rather than using disposable plastic (or paper) bags, we encourage shoppers to use reusable bags at grocery stores, retail outlets, farmers markets – you name it!

And others would agree. In this article, folks from Earth Day Network and National Resources Defense Council weigh in on the ACC's latest public relations ploy:

"It's annoying. And it's transparent," says Kathleen Rogers, president of Earth Day Network. "The death knell has sounded for plastic bags. They're just trying to continue to make a bad thing."

The Natural Resources Defense Council agrees: "We don't want people to use disposable bags. We want people to use reusable bags," says Darby Hoover, a senior research specialist.

The bottom line? Make the switch to reusable bags and eliminate ALL plastic bag litter – recycled or not.

Learn more at http://saveSFbay.org/bayvsbag.

Have you checked out our movie yet?

If you aren’t one of the tens of thousands of people who have already watched our clever two-minute movie, watch it now and share it with your friends!


Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Choose the Bay over the Bag!

by Amy Alton, Communications Associate


Did you know that Bay Area residents use an estimated 3.8 billion plastic bags per year and discard over one hundred plastic bags per second? You might also be surprised to learn that the average plastic bag is only used for 12 minutes. That's it—just 12 minutes.



Plastic bags are a major component of urban litter. Even when placed in trash or recycling bins, these lightweight bags are often picked up by wind and blown into the gutters –where they flow into creeks and storm drains and then into the Bay and ocean. In fact, it is estimated that more than a million of these bags wind up in the Bay each year, spoiling water quality, smothering wetlands and entangling and killing marine animals.

Yet we continue to produce, use and discard plastic bags with reckless abandon. In just a few short hours, during last year's International Coastal Cleanup Day, 1.37 million plastic bags were removed from coastal areas worldwide.



So what can we do about it?

The multi-billion dollar plastic bag industry would have you believe that recycling is the answer. But recycling isn't a viable solution. California has pushed a statewide effort to recycle plastic bags for fifteen years, but despite this, less than 5% of all single use plastic bags in the state are actually recycled. Further, recycling firms report extensive costs associated with recycling even this small portion of plastic bags and there is very little market for the recycled plastic film.

The fact of the matter is the plastics industry is putting profits over the health of the Bay, the ocean and wildlife. All over California (and the rest of the country), industry lobbyists and slick PR experts have been deployed to whip up opposition and undermine local efforts to protect the environment.

That's why we need a statewide approach to relieve cities from taking on the plastics industry one-on-one. Save The Bay is supporting California Assembly Bill 68, which would require a 25-cent fee on plastic and paper bags.

One may ask if we should be requiring fees on plastic bags during this tough economy. The truth is we already pay for plastic bags through local taxes and increased food and retail prices. It costs nothing to bring your own bag and in fact, many stores give you a credit if you do.



San Francisco Bay is one of our nation’s most beloved natural resources and California's rivers, creeks and streams are vital to the health of our environment and our quality of life. Join us to protect our waterways and tell the plastic industry to back off. It’s the Bay vs. the Bag and only one side can win!


Join the campaign, take action and watch our online movie at www.saveSFbay.org/bayVSbag