amysmartplasticbags Amy Smart v. Plastic Bags, Her Fight for Change
http://www.ecorazzi.com/2013/09/18/amy-smart-v-plastic-bags-her-fight-for-change/
Actress and environmental activist, Amy Smart, recently shared her battle against plastic bags on Huffington Post.
Smart first became involved in environmental protection in high school. Soaking up the beauty from the mountains and the ocean inspired her to volunteer for Heal the Bay.
“I loved Heal the Bay’s mission to keep the ocean clean and healthy and began speaking at schools, talking about how young people could get involved and help preserve our beautiful California coastline,” the actress writes.
Around that time, Smart’s acting career took off and one of her earliest roles was as a mermaid in a PSA for the Environmental Media Association. Smart is currently a board member for the EMA.
The more Smart learned about plastic bags, the more concerned she became. She learned that Californians throw away 123,000 tons of plastic bags each year. Many of those discarded bags are ingested by wildlife who mistake it for food. She writes that, “Even fish and other sea creatures that aren’t ingesting plastic bags still feel the effects of plastic waste. Scientists believe that fish could be absorbing toxins released from plastic bags.” And plastic bags never biodegrade. Plastic bags are forever.
Smart joined Environment California and kicked her fight to ban plastic bags across California into high gear. Despite seeing the bill die more than once, Smart is not giving up. She concludes her article with, “I would love to see plastic bags banned in the entire state. The decision to ban plastic bags in the city of Los Angeles was a huge victory. California’s coast is like no other place in the world. I would hate to see it ruined by plastic bags and the environmental devastation their waste brings. The momentum is there, we just need to get the right people on board, like Gov. Jerry Brown, to make it happen.”
If you want to tell California Governor Jerry Brown to ban the bag, click here.
Photo credit: s_bukley / Shutterstock.com
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