Change is in the Bag.

“Paper or plastic?”

Depending on your view, this once easy choice has become an awakening for mainstream environmentalism or just the latest effort of big business greenwashing. According to the Plastic Pollution Coalition “consumption of single use and disposable plastics has spiraled out of control. They are used for seconds, hours, or days, but their remains last forever.”

In 2007, San Francisco became the first of many world cities to move toward banning plastic grocery bags.  The medium-term solution -reusable polystyrene bags- is far from a true green option for shoppers.

A worldwide, systemic issue like plastics won’t be solved by swapping materials.  Framing this as an environmental issue, without considering social or economic ramifications, will not produce an enduring solution.  Businesses won’t shift their practices without clear economic benefit.  Nor will people change their lifestyles or habits without some personal incentive.  We must offer economically viable and socially supportive alternatives for the people and industries that will be affected by the environmental stewardship we seek.

On February 17^th, I had the honor of welcoming the second cohort of Willamette University’s Sustainable Enterprise Certificate (SEC) program.  Participants are exploring the intersection of environmental responsibility, economic prosperity, and social well-being; the components of triple bottom-line business practices.  Our first session focused on the dynamics of complex systems.

Limiting our discussion of plastics to its life cycle restricts our understanding of the pervasive nature of the challenge.  Systematically mapping out the unintended consequences of single use plastic reveals the magnitude of the problem.  Near the end of the first session, Prof. Bill Harris invited the students to play ‘stump the chump’ in a live system dynamics mapping exercise.  The participants chose plastic pollution – and it was game on!

Plastic is used everywhere, so it’s the responsibility of everyone.  While no one person or organization can create the needed shift, never doubt the influence and inspiration of your personal choices.

1. Keep canvas bags made from organic materials in the car, so you’ll always have them for the grocery store.  The hot “green” giveaway item of the moment, those cheap, polystyrene bags, are anything but: they are often made in China, break well before organic cotton or hemp bags, and take longer to degrade than the thin plastic bags they replace.
2. Support the movement to ban plastic bags in your area.  Make a quick phone call or write a short note to your representatives.  If San Francisco and Mexico City can do it, why can’t your community? Let’s make Portland, OR next!
3. Take the Plastic Pollution Coalition’s pledge; help create a global community and ignite a social movement to stop plastic pollution and its toxic impacts.

So it’s now in your court  – how will you carry the answer?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 02nd, 2010 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or Trackback from your own site.