Earth Activism

American Samoa approves ban on plastic bags in a firsst of it's kind move that the United States should follow through with. Plastic bags are a serious problem in landfills and city streets and there are bio degradable alternatives available. A plastic bag ban should go into effect across the country but i guess it would be easier for cities and states to take action before there was ever a Federal ban on plastic bags which would be best for the planet but very difficult to implement I would think.

I'm sure the Plasstic bag makers would cry about lost jobs and the necessity for plastic bags. they would tell us how nice they are for carrying home large amounts of food from the grocery store and how we have been using them for such a long time but the facts are we need to drop them. Plastic bags fuel profits at oil companies who love us to use as much of their product as possible but they are incredibly dangersous and toxic to the environemt and especially the oceans where they are consumed by sea creatures like turtles and dolphins who mistake them for jelly fish and other aquatic food sources.

Would you support a ban on plastic bags in your state?

 

American Samoa will make it illegal for stores to hand out plastic bags once a new law takes effect early next year.

Gov. Togiola Tulafono signed the ban into law last week. He says the measure is a step in the right direction toward protecting the natural beauty of American Samoa and its native land and sea creatures.

Advocates of the law say plastic bags litter the landscape, fill streams and pollute the ocean. They say marine life can become entangled in the bags, which take 500 to 1,000 years to decompose.

The law takes effect Feb. 23. It exempts shopping bags produced entirely from non-petroleum-based biodegradable plastic and compostable plastic bags.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38964784/ns/us_news-environment/