Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Bag the plastic


Anyone driving up Elkhorn Road recently may have noticed that the wooden figures at the end of our drive have come out of retirement, and are capering around looking very silly indeed under a sign saying "Bag the plastic!" Their clothes are made of plastic bags. Even their hair is made of plastic bags. And they have a collection of donated cloth bags beside them, with another sign begging passers-by to please stop and "take one!" Our figures may look foolish, but their message is extremely serious: It is time for Ketchum to follow the example of San Francisco and Seattle and entire countries all across Europe and the rest of the world—and get rid of the plague of plastic bags strangling the planet.

Did you know that in this country alone we throw away 100 billion plastic bags a year, which take 12 million barrels of oil to make? They are hard to recycle, don't biodegrade and are choking overflowing landfills. They are also killing marine life (the giant sea turtles mistake them for jellyfish) and form a large part of a disgusting great mass the size of Texas sloshing about in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, composed almost entirely of assorted plastic junk.

I am proud to say that Atkinsons' and lots of other stores in Ketchum (many of whom stock a wide range of delightful cloth bags) support our mission. It is being launched here by Community Rising, an organization that has made Ketchum the third town in America to join the international movement known as the Transition Initiative.

"Bagging the plastic" is only the beginning of Community Rising's exciting and inspiring agenda, which is entirely focused on improving the quality of life in the valley in terms of shopping locally, using our bikes and improving our system of public transport. The changes will save energy, strengthen community and generally prepare for the changing world that is already looming on the horizon. Please join us in this first enterprise—and check www.communityrising.com to find out about upcoming events. You'll have fun, and as my husband remarked the other evening, "If you want to know where all the pretty girls are, come to a Community Rising meeting!"

Diana Fassino

Ketchum




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