Stan Wasbin, San Clemente
“Question Authority” was a popular slogan that emerged from the 1960s suspicion of government. It should be applied now to the San Clemente Watershed Task Force, the Clean Ocean Project, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and every other organization recommending that San Clemente ban the use of plastic bags.
In order to swallow the argument, as expressed by Donia Moore, one has to accept a series of assumptions: That the presence of plastic bags (and their smaller pieces) in the ocean poses a threat to marine and human life; that the citizens of San Clemente, by using plastic bags, are contributing significantly to this problem; that appealing to the citizens of San Clemente by ways not involving the force of law would be ineffective; and that banning the use of plastic bags in our town would make a significant dent in this problem.
Regarding the first assumption, many of us have grown weary of experts—both inside and outside of government—warning us of the latest environmental calamity that never materializes. From the dangers of DDT and Alar, to the threats posed by human-overpopulation and global cooling by particulate matter in the atmosphere, the public repeatedly has been scared into believing that the sky is falling. Citizens ought to question authority and suspect that the outcry against the use of plastic bags is just another in a string of false alarms.
As for the remaining assumptions, how refreshing it would be if the San Clemente Watershed Task Force instead directed its efforts at convincing us of their veracity. Resorting to the force of law to ban plastic bags would harm businesses that make plastic bags, inconvenience businesses that use plastic bags and strip all of us of another small freedom to choose.
LOL— Like we need more plastic…..
The writer makes well thought points in questioning the prosed ban on plastic and the first response in a an LOL post. How insightful.
This tiny town is not ruining it’s future generations by electing to use plastic bags. If people like Adams above want to feel better about themselves by not using the bags then go right ahead, but don’t force their agenda on everyone else in the process. Unless there are actual stats to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that our use of these bags is having a serious impact on our collective zip codes, drop it already.
You feel good people want to avoid plastic bags,install solar panels on your roofs, windmills in your yards and drive your electric cars? Go for it.
Yeah, I am gonna stop wearing my seatbelt, eat my pork raw, not pick up after my dog and no longer pay attention to traffic signals. It’s obviously tyranny when our democratically elected representatives pass legislation that we don’t agree with.
Don’t think it went through. As far as I could tell it garnered all of one vote so don’t really get what point Jedi was making.