C'mon, Make it a "Day Without a Disposable Bag"

Plastic bags, they're everywhere. They're by far the number one trash item I see thrown on the streets of LA.

When it rains here like it did on Tuesday night everybody worries about traffic. And true, it's crazy that Angelenos are such terrible drivers that we had over 280 accidents in 12 hours during that rain.

But it's also a tragedy that when it rains all those plastic bags thrown on sidewalks and in gutters get washed into the storm drains and out to the ocean.

What happens once all that plastic and trash is out in the ocean?

Well, you know plastic doesn't dissolve, right? I mean, the salt in the water doesn't cause plastic or other forms of trash to break down and just disappear.

That means that scientists have discovered a "trash vortex" that's, ahem, cough, THE SIZE OF TEXAS! It's floating in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and the West Coast.

Next time you order some fish at a restaurant, stop a moment and think about what it's really been swimming through. And wouldn't it be nice to know that when your fish got cut open a used condom wasn't possibly in its belly?

A good place to start cleaning up the environmental mess we've made is to stop using plastic bags. They've been banned in San Francisco and Paris. LA should be next. Your town should be next, too.

Thankfully, today's the first annual Day Without a Disposable Bag day here in Los Angeles. It's sponsored by Heal the Bay who have this shocking statistic on their site: "Los Angeles County residents use 6 billion plastic bags each year and recycle only 5% of that total."

So do your part, even if you don't live here. You don't need a plastic bag for those two things you bought at the Rite Aid. Throw them in that gigantic purse you're carrying. If you're a man and you don't have a purse, um, start a new fashion trend. Who says men can't carry purses? Just call it a messenger bag, okay?

It's hard to give up plastic bags because they're everywhere. But once we start doing it, we'll wonder how we ever put everything and their mother into plastic bags that are ruining our environment. It just takes a little mental reconditioning to get used to bringing our own bags to stores because the plastic industry has made us think we can't live without disposable bags.

And then we get those bags home and they accumulate like crazy in drawers and closets. Seriously, isn't it annoying to try to figure out what to do with those bags?

So try it out. Throw some canvas bags in your trunk so you always have one. Click on the Heal the Bay link if you need some ideas on where to purchase some canvas bags for cheap.

After all, even if we already know we can't count on politicians to clean up our environment, we can still each do our part.