Written by Will Atwater
Seven months after a provision added to North Carolina's 2023-24 budget prohibits municipalities from enacting single-use plastic bag ordinances, environmental advocates in western North Carolina are objecting.
On Earth Day, with a beautiful backdrop of clear blue skies and the majestic French Broad River, nearly 60 people gathered at Silver Line Park in Woodfin, north of Asheville, for an event called “Planet vs. Plastic: Earth Day Press Conference.” It was held. Attendees included French Broad River managers, local mayors, state policymakers, and members of environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club and the National Resources Defense Council.
The event was created to discuss new initiatives by local authorities to work with businesses and residents to “phase out plastic bags, single-use plastics and Styrofoam” and “reduce plastic emissions”. It was sponsored by Mountain True, an environmental advocacy group. According to the release.
“We are not here to wage war on all plastics, we are here to reduce the amount of hard-to-recycle plastics that are used once and then thrown away.” Mountain True Strategy and Communications said Deputy Director Karim Oraechea. “These single-use plastics clog our rivers, like the beautiful French Broad River. But by passing common sense laws, we can reduce that pollution.”
Not only does plastic waste accumulate in waterways, landfills, parks, and trees, but over time it breaks down into tiny microplastic and nanoplastic particles that, when digested, can starve or suffocate land and marine animals. There is likely to be.
Some studies have also linked microplastics to negative effects on human health.
A 2019 study commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund found that humans digest about 5 grams of microplastics every week, or an amount the size of a credit card. Another study found that people with inflammatory bowel disease had more microplastic particles in their stool than healthy people. (Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are two forms of IBD.) Microplastics have been linked to hormonal disruption and cancer. Recently, researchers reported a possible link between microplastic accumulation and heart disease in humans.
Furthermore, according to information published by the EarthDay.org website, humans ingest between 78,000 and 211,000 microplastics annually from a variety of sources, including food, water, skin care products, and the air we breathe.
“Down cycle”
Before the 2023-2024 state budget is passed, advocates in western North Carolina are joining a coalition of municipalities and organizations working toward enacting a single-use plastic bag ordinance aimed at reducing plastic waste. He was active as a member of. But provisions added to the more than 600-page budget bill prevented the municipality from moving forward. Congress ordered that local governments have no authority to enact plastic bag bans.
Environmentalists say they need to move away from single-use plastics to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet and prevent average global temperatures from rising 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit by 2050. He argues that we need to suppress our desires.
According to EarthDay.org, the world produced more than 100 million plastic bags last year, with an average production rate of about 1 million bags per minute. Additionally, 82% of North Carolinians believe we should reduce single-use plastics, according to a Mountain True release about a poll conducted by Maxon Dixon Polling & Research.
Opponents of the plastic bag ban, including the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association and the American Chemistry Council, argue that strengthening the national recycling program is all that is needed to solve the plastic pollution problem.
This discussion is new among environmentalists.
“Recycling plastics doesn't work,” says Anna Alsobrook, watershed science and policy planner at Mountain True. “We've had great success with aluminum, we've had great success with cardboard, but plastic just doesn't work. It's too complicated,” Alsobrook said. She said: “When you look at a plastic product and see a triangle on the bottom, you are led to believe that means it is recyclable.”
Albrook said the numbers inside the triangle indicate the type of resin used to make the bottle, and in the U.S. only bottles with numbers 1 and 2 can be recycled. Other numbers cannot be recycled, she said. What can be recycled is downcycled, she said, meaning plastic bottle resin can be used to make “lower quality products” and the resulting products can no longer be recycled, she said.
love your neighbor
Sarah Ogletree, director of Creation Care Alliance, a faith-based environmental advocacy organization serving the southern Blue Ridge region, was the last speaker at the Earth Day event, noting that caring for the earth and its inhabitants is part of the Christian faith. He reminded everyone that it was a club. tradition.
“This is a question of how we love, how we care for each other, and how we take care of our bodies. Love requires concrete actions,” she said. Told. “You can't love your neighbor if you don't love the air they breathe, the water they drink, and the ground their food grows on. Right now, our water, air, and ground are completely filled with microplastics and nanoplastics.
“Our network of congregations and I want to say that we are extremely grateful for all the actions our leaders have taken on the ground. We also want to thank our elected leaders in Raleigh and beyond. I would like to call on you to continue your efforts. […] Because love demands it of us. ”
Ken Brame, a member of the Sierra Club Western Carolina Group, said his group is focused on lobbying grocery store chains Ingles and Walmart to stop carrying plastic bags in their stores. He said he was there. To that end, the group has started a petition signature drive that will continue through the summer as the Sierra Club attempts to establish a dialogue with Ingles, Brehm said.
Before leaving the event, North Carolina Rep. Caleb Rudeau (D-Bungcombe) said that although state elected officials blocked efforts last year to enact single-use plastic ordinances in western North Carolina and other parts of the state. He said the people still hold the ultimate policy. Power.
“That's how the system should work…The people who pass bad policies behind closed doors and don't listen to their voters should go to the ballot box in November,” he said.
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