Plastic Bags: The Enemy of the Environment Plastic is a commodity that people use everyday which makes daily life easier and safer. People take pills, use cell phones, and wear bike helmets in addition to a plethora of other activities, but tend to forget that one common element in all of them is the use of plastic. One of the main sources of plastic that has been polluting the environment over the last few decades are plastic bags. Plastic bags can be found in nearly every store to hold groceries, accessories, or toys. While plastic bags may provide convenience for customers, there is an overwhelming concern about the effect of them on the health and safety of people, marine life, and the surrounding environment. Since stores are the culprit of a vast majority of the plastic bag pollution, a 5-cent charge for each plastic bag used should be implemented across the country in an effort to decrease the amount of bags used by all customers like it has been in Suffolk …show more content…
Even though plastic bags seem like a necessity in order to carry out daily tasks, there are alternative measures that can be taken to decrease the impact of plastic on the environment. One of the actions that can be implemented is to have stores to charge 5-cents per plastic bag, since they are one of the main providers of these dangerous items. While charging money will not completely eliminate the use of plastic bags, it will decrease the amount of them in circulation which is a step in the right direction. Plastic has properties that make it easier for people today to complete tasks that were never previously thought possible, ranging from making phone calls to buying numerous items at once. While these elements are beneficial to helping society run efficiently, the consequences of these actions on the environment need to be considered when thinking about the future of the planet and the health of
He says “since banning plastic bags also means preventing their additional uses as trash bags and pooper scoopers, one unintended consequence of the plastic bag ban would likely be an increase in plastic bag purchases for these other purposes.” This claim makes the ban seem unnecessary. Along with the previous facts stating the negative effects on consumers, Summers convinces the reader to accept his claim. To emphasize the uselessness of the bill, Summers says “This is just what happened in Ireland in 2002... a tax imposed on shopping bags led to a 77% increase in the sale of plastic trash can liner bags.”
Summer informs his readers about plastic bags and their effects on the environment with large amounts of credibility. Citing several major sources and individuals, Summer appears extremely knowledgeable about this topic. He states, “according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, plastic bags, sacks, and wraps of all kinds (not just grocery bags) make up only about 1.6 percent of all municipal solid waste materials”. Throughout his argument, Summer clearly demonstrates his opinions that plastic bags do not harm the environment near as much as reusable bags do. Attempting to persuade his readers to think the same, he creates a tone of credibility as he cites numerous credible sources.
In the passage from “Bag Ban Bad for Freedom and Environment”, the author, Adam B. Summers, makes an interesting case on why plastic bags should not be banned. Throughout the passage, Summers uses many examples and comparisons to describe how our world is not necessarily being harmed from plastic bags and that there are other uses for paper bags that would not be fulfilled if the bags were to be banned. He uses evidence, reasoning, and persuasive language and word choice to build his argument and persuade his audience that plastic bags should not be banned. In order to make his argument valid, Summers uses evidence and comparisons to support his claims.
Recycling Should it be Mandatory for Everyone? Texas is the second largest state in the U.S.A. It is approximately 790 miles long and 660 miles wide. It also takes 12 hours just to drive through it. In our ocean there is a trash pile that is the size of Texas, just floating around.
People would be surprised at the number of cans and bottles we waste everyday. "Plastic water bottles, one after another ---- 80 million of them get tossed every day" stated Mckibben. Many businesses that support recycling now have separate bins with labels such as plastic, paper, or cans. Although these bins are available, we still find those who still throw those items in the trash. If people took reducing the amount of waste we produce as serious as they take shopping and games we would have definitely seen more improvement since this essay was written in 2009.
Due to the negative effects caused from plastic it will always play a role in our environment. One hundred different chemicals have been created after the 1950s to the current day. Something people do not realize is that throwing a plastic wrapper on the ground will end up in a birds stomach, burning plastic in a fire will end up in the air we breathe, and recycling plastic will end up back in our homes. The author states, “I don’t even shop anymore. Anything I need will just float
In the US, 40% of food produced, or approximately 365 million pounds of food, is wasted each day. Food waste, however, is a problem that extends beyond America, affecting billions of people as a global issue. The overwhelming amounts of food that are being discarded contribute to global warming and climate change, and prevent the massive number of hungry people from being able to eat nourishing meals. Humanity as a whole must be more mindful of the Earth and its health, as we are the source which most directly affect it. Due to the profound environmental impacts of food waste, a reduction in the amount disposed is necessary to create a more sustainable environment, and humans have a responsibility to protect the planet, even if it requires drastic changes to the current food system.
The article Bag Ban Bad for Freedom and Environment, by Adam B. Summers, argues that a ban placed on plastic grocery bags would be detrimental to the environment as well as to people. Summers builds his argument with the use of pathos, ethos, and statistics throughout the article. Summers uses pathos in the article to strengthen his argument. He is able to use two examples of the negative impacts of the possible ban on plastic bags.
There 's a tremendous amount of Americans who are not familiar with the process of any recycled item and this needs to change. Not only is that a huge issue, Americans recycling incorrectly and stores not selling recycled items are two other enormous problems that need to be resolved if Americans want to fix their discombobulated recycling system. After reflecting upon this information, one will agree that
Everyday people buy plastic things from the cafeteria, from plastic containers, lids on cups, and things as small as straws, and like 50% of plastic used it will be thrown away after one use. However, do you ever stop and think, what happens to the plastic? If you’re thinking that it just magically goes away you 're wrong. It will most likely end up in a landfill somewhere or in the ocean, and as you may think that your actions do not impact the world, think again. Everyone in the world has at least used one piece of plastic, adding to the problem of plastic pollution and helping certifying the terrifying statisticc that acooording to the 2018 Earth day video, “by 2050 there will more plastic in the ocean than fish”, which almost is impossible to think of.
The use of plastic bags has been debated for years. Some people prefer to use them, and others would rather use substitutes, and most have their personal reasons why they lean one way or the other in the argument. In this article, the author addresses why he believes plastic bags should not be banned. The author, Adam B. Summers, uses various literary tools and appeals throughout his article, "Bag Ban Bad for Freedom and Environment," to support his argument that banning plastic bags would do more harm than good. Logical appeal is the most frequently used literary device in the passage.
That 's 30 percent of the global total. The top countries most responsible for the plastic pollution issue are as following, China, The Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Egypt, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Bangladesh. What are we gonna do about it? Switch bag materials or don 't even provide bags just make the people bring their own bags and then they can continue to reuse them and then we won 't have the issue of plastic ending up in the ocean. Innocent animals we haven 't even discovered yet are dying because people can 't walk 10 feet to a trash can.
The reason plastic is used in many products is because it can withstand up to tons of pressure per cm3, is cheap, is durable, and finally, there is no worry for discoloring. But these days, plastic is becoming a major problem the world has to deal with. Plastic is thrown into the ocean, and it is breaking down into very small pieces, and killing marine life, as they mistake those pieces to their prey. As a matter of fact, nearly all plastics are recyclable, but it 's the recycling companies ' machines that refuse to recycle that kind of plastic(eartheasy.com). I. Plastic, what have you done?
However, it may cost lots of money but it will be worth it, not harming animal and not causing so much litter. In addition, many people say it 's good to ban the plastic bag but there are many reasons why people want to keep the bag. Many Americans believe that the bag should be banned so it doesn 't cause as much litter, and doesn 't harm marine life and it won 't cost as much. Now that you have seen why plastic bags should be banned, what do you think the U.S. should do?
Obviously the development of producing plastic went to quick and people did not think of a unified and sustainable way of how to dispose the huge amount of plastic. Unfortunately many countries decided to dispose all the garbage into the ocean but also ship accidents are a reason why so much plastic accumulated in our ocean. Every year more than eight million tons of plastic waste leak into the ocean. A big issue nowadays is that most of the plastic which is produced in one year is used to make disposable items of packaging or other short lived products that are discarded within a year (Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society, 2009).