This political season has focused attention on macro environmental issues such as fracking, renewable energy and drinking water safety.
That鈥檚 promising, but it doesn鈥檛 take much looking around to see that a lot of environmentally correct, hybrid-driving, organic-eating Americans have a blind spot when it comes to disposable plastics. You don鈥檛 have to wait long in a grocery store parking lot to see a Prius owner pop open the hatch and load in a case of plastic water bottles, a gross of single-serve coffee pods and organic veggies in plastic bags.
Or, in my case, I resolve to stop buying and using those things, only to give in to temptation when the only coffee at a conference is Keurig K-Cups, or the only water at an outdoor event is bottled in plastic. Because, you know, I鈥檓 tired. I鈥檓 thirsty.
We see photos of 13 sperm whales that beached themselves earlier this year in Germany, their stomachs full of plastic waste, and our hearts ache. The problem isn鈥檛 a lack of caring, it鈥檚 a conflict between conviction and convenience. Increasingly, campuses, cities and countries are banning offending products.
The University of California-San Diego student council voted to ban plastic water bottles on campus last month. This month, Kennebunk and Freeport in Maine voted to ban plastic shopping bags, joining several other cities in the state that have passed similar bans. California voters will decide on a statewide ban in November.
Recycling the bottles is better than throwing them away, but it still costs 1.5 million barrels of oil to manufacture the bottles, not including the oil used to transport them. And only one bottle in five lands in the recycling bin.
Some towns in Kansas, including Prairie Village and Lawrence, have discussed banning plastic grocery bags. In Missouri, the legislature voted last year to bar any city from banning bags. Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed the bill, but lawmakers overrode the veto.
In response to the staggering estimates of waste generated by plastic coffee pods, Hamburg, Germany, this year outlawed them in government buildings.
To read the full story, visit .