Over 1 million plastic bags float into San Francisco Bay every year. Plastic bags pollute our waters, smother wetlands and entangle and kill animals. They also float out into the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to join the huge island of plastic trash bobbing the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Although no one wants this kind of devastation, it seems the Plastics industry has convinced us that this is just how things go.
Oakland-based Save the Bay has launched a campaign in the Bay Area to reduce plastic bag litter from the 3.8 billion bags that Bay Area residents use each year. First, they’re asking us to be simply aware of the problem. Then, they’re asking us to each do something very simple: get reusable bags.
Now, if you’d like to do more, here’s what else:
- Sign this petition to the Mayor to support a fee on single-use bags. Our neighbors in San Francisco already do!
- Send an email to the Mayor. You can use this form, and type in your name. It’s that easy.
- Come out to MLK Shoreline on Saturday, January 9th to help with a clean-up and planting native plants.
