This Week in the Mercury
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Green This is How We Protest in Portland: Anti-Plastic Bag Drum Circle
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 1:15 PM
I just saw a man in a salmon suit record the mayor with a Flip camera.
Also, on the heels of testimony supporting the Ban the Bag campaign in city council this morning, people dressed head to toe in plastic bags danced to the wild beat of a drum circle on city hall's steps.
Ah, yes, Portland.
In addition to the drum circle campaign strategy, the Ban the Bag coalition has also put up a billboard right along I-5. Both today's rally and the billboard kick off a year-long campaign to get the legislature to ban single-use plastic bags at retailers statewide. That kind of victory is going to take a lot of drum circles.
2
When I see photos like this from the middle of a Wednesday, I think:
Does anyone work in Portland?
Does anyone work in Portland?
6
Some of us have lunch breaks where we can hop on our little bicycles and head down to City Hall for half an hour to support a good cause.
7
While it may not be the most important problem in the city, why would this "kind of victory is going to take a lot of drum circles"? It's not that hard to say paper or bring your own bags. I've been doing it for many years and Western Europe has been doing it since at least 95 (first time I was there).
Is there a big plastic bag lobby that is going to stop this? I can see Portland easily banning these no matter how many more drum circles there are. Much of the city supports this cause I'm sure. Nobody (ok maybe somebody) has a fondness for grocery store/convenience store plastic bags.
Is there a big plastic bag lobby that is going to stop this? I can see Portland easily banning these no matter how many more drum circles there are. Much of the city supports this cause I'm sure. Nobody (ok maybe somebody) has a fondness for grocery store/convenience store plastic bags.
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I am happy to BAN the pastic bag. They are pretty much worthless in my book. Besides if I bring my own bag, backpack or bike rack I will not have to pay the fee to use a paper or plastic bag. Not sure why people are making this issue such a big deal...life will go on and grocers will not see an economic impact.
9
As usual, I can't help but look to Werner Herzog for guidance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDBtCb61Sd4
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@pdxpipeline - You asked if there was a big plastic bag lobby: In an earlier article here, Sarah talked about the American Chemical Council, which has lobbied successfully to prevent plastic bag bans in the past.
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Americans did without any plastic bags until they were introduced in shopping centers in 1979 so we can once again do without plastic bags. It's said that 95% go to landfills and 5% are recycled, but I personally picked up three on the streets of Portland today that were flying around that were not being recycled or going to landfills. Plastic bags make their way to our water ways and mess up our ecosystems not to mention gum up recycling centers' machines. There's just no point to have use something for a few minutes that lasts forever and goes on to kill animals and later affect humans' health. So many reasons not to use plastic bags, plenty of reasons to use canvass bags instead. I really hope that Portland and later on Oregon as a state can lead the US in another victory to improve our quality of life and protect the world we depend on.
13
We will run out of the cheap fossil fuels that make plastic bags in the next 40 years anyway. At that point, this will no longer be a problem.
The population of the planet grew from 1.6 billion to almost 7 billion in the last hundred years. Growth made possible by using fossil fuel as quickly as we can.
A hundred and fifty years from now, plastic bags and global warming may be obscure history lessons. The interesting history lesson will probably be the one about how we got the population of the planet down to around two or three billion.
The population of the planet grew from 1.6 billion to almost 7 billion in the last hundred years. Growth made possible by using fossil fuel as quickly as we can.
A hundred and fifty years from now, plastic bags and global warming may be obscure history lessons. The interesting history lesson will probably be the one about how we got the population of the planet down to around two or three billion.
14
@Reymont...well, i was somewhat joking. I know that chemical and oil companies are highly invested in plastic. However, they really have no debate (or a really terrible debate) for use to keep them. They aren't really more convenient, they are ugly, they fill up landfills, trash the city, and use a good deal of fossil fuels.
There only move is to paint people who want to ban them as as commies, idiot tree huggers, latte liberals, (drum circle idiots) etc. That might work in some parts of this country, but in the city, I just don't see them being able to make that work. Therefore, their demise is pretty much inevitable as long as politicians like Mayor Adams decide to make an issue which seems to have been accomplished.
There only move is to paint people who want to ban them as as commies, idiot tree huggers, latte liberals, (drum circle idiots) etc. That might work in some parts of this country, but in the city, I just don't see them being able to make that work. Therefore, their demise is pretty much inevitable as long as politicians like Mayor Adams decide to make an issue which seems to have been accomplished.
15
Glad to hear this problem is being addressed, but why the f#@k aren't these folks and the mainstream enviro groups going apeshit over the BP oil gusher? Is what I read somewhere about them not wanting to embarass their pal Barack true?
I hate to be one of those Indymedia types who complain that activists should be doing x instead of y, but that well has been spewing oil into the gulf for three months now, and I have yet to see or hear about one single rally at a BP or ARCO station.
What gives?
I hate to be one of those Indymedia types who complain that activists should be doing x instead of y, but that well has been spewing oil into the gulf for three months now, and I have yet to see or hear about one single rally at a BP or ARCO station.
What gives?
16
Personally, I reuse grocery store plastic bags as trash bags rather than buy even more plastic bags made for that purpose but I realize I'm in the minority. I'd much rather see a nationwide ban on the excessive plastic, Styrofoam, etc. packaging that so many products seem to be sold in, as well as a ban on plastic cups, to-go containers and more that cannot be reused in any way or recycled.
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"The thing about recycling is that plastic grocery bags are the lowest form of plastic, they are recycled into something that can never be recycled again. The alternative is for people to be responsible and bring their own cloth reusable bags. I agree that paper isn't the answer either, we need to stop being lazy and think about something other than ourselves once in a while. The pollution these bags cause is ridiculous. 94% end up in landfills or the ocean. Is the convenience of one-time use plastic bags really that important to you?" <--- (Good point from another blogger, had to share it.)
I simply cannot think of any sane reasons why putting a ban on single-use plastic bags would be a bad idea. That is, unless you really want to believe that "someone" who deals in chemicals really has our environments and our futures best interests at heart. Plastics in general are simply the farthest things from natural, so if we are truly concerned with our collective health, and the health of innocent wildlife and the longevity of our way of life, we need to start considering ways we are negatively impacting each of these, and be willing to accept change.
I simply cannot think of any sane reasons why putting a ban on single-use plastic bags would be a bad idea. That is, unless you really want to believe that "someone" who deals in chemicals really has our environments and our futures best interests at heart. Plastics in general are simply the farthest things from natural, so if we are truly concerned with our collective health, and the health of innocent wildlife and the longevity of our way of life, we need to start considering ways we are negatively impacting each of these, and be willing to accept change.
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