Environmental Sustainablity Meeting: Summary

Thanks for your patience in waiting for this summary of the Environmental Sustainability Board's meeting on May 21st.  No one wants to talk about the subject of plastic bags on a Friday, or a long weekend....not even the Sierra Club, and especially not me.

The meeting was packed, in fact, it was held in the County Council chambers, every seat was filled.  There were familiar faces (HiYa Jody, Nona ... how are ya?), and new faces too -- thanks for coming.

The comments over all went as I expected -- people going back and forth about the good vs. the bad of light-weight reusable plastic shopping bags.  I swear, if I never hear "dog poop" mentioned in a public meeting again, I will be as happy as a bird with a French fry -- because this debate is more than poop (although it's totally poopy!).  I had hoped we could have brought something new to the debate ... but ah-well, reruns are not too bad, right?

Environmental Sustainablity Board statement from May 21st

This is the statement I made at the May 19th ESB meeting.  I changed it a bit as I spoke, but this is the outline I followed:

To begin, I want to state that I do not hate the earth, nor do I reject efforts of municipalities and individuals to be better stewards of the earth and its resources.  I think we can all agree on this point.  However, I, along with members of my group, Save the Bag: LosAlamos, have been accused the Sierra Club of being condescending, misinformed, mislead, and shilling for the American Chemical Association, a group, which by the way, does not exist.  Some of our opponents have even used sexually explicit slurs to describe us.  We are none of these things – and I absolutely do not think telling lies about one’s opponents helps to further the debate and discussion.  I, personally, have done well over 100 hours of research on this topic and I have come to my conclusions that plastic bag bans are unnecessary, ineffective at addressing the problem of trash and plastic waste, and an infringement on the rights of individuals to make their own consumer and lifestyle choices.  Just because we’ve come to different conclusions on this issue, does not make my position immoral or wrong.

Open Forum Results: The Comments

 Most recently the County conducted an OPEN FORUM survey (make sure to download the PDF of the results) over a 4 week period, which ended on May 19th.  The results showed the following:

a.   80.5% of people in Los Alamos County oppose a ban on light-weight, reusable plastic shopping bags.

b.  And, 27% of people would support efforts of Los Alamos County to reduce the use of light-weight plastic shopping bags.

OPEN FORUM Results and ESB meets Thursday!

The OPEN FORUM survey conducted by Los Alamos County ended Tuesday night.  The numbers are good -- with 80% of people opposing a ban, let's hope the County Councilors will listen to the voice of the people (cue: Les Miserables-ish music).

You can download a PDF of the results and read the comments by following the link HERE.  Click the "PDF" link and enter your email in the form and a PDF will be sent to you.  You will be able to see the results as well as all of the comments.

Remember the Environmental Sustainability Board will meet Thursday, May 21st at 5:30pm, in the Council Chambers at the Municipal Building, 1000 Central Avenue. See the agenda HERE.  This issue is on the agenda and you can make a public comment after this has been discussed by the Board.  Remember to keep your remarks short and sweet.  Avoid emotional pleas and hyperbole.  Stick to the facts and be unapologetic for your support of plastic bags.

If you do come to the meeting, please find me and introduce yourself.  I'll have my signature red glasses on.

Thank you for all of your support in saving plastic bags in our community.  We still have a lot of work to do, so hang on, keep your hands inside the ride and buckle up!

Join Save the Bag: Los Alamos on Facebook, and make sure to share our blog with your friends.

Timeline: How the plastic ban came to Los Alamos

Here is a timeline of how the plastic bag ban came to be in Los Alamos County.

I combed through past meeting minutes of the Environmental Sustainability Board back to January 2014, which was the last meeting listed.  The PDFs of the minutes can be found on the ESB homepage.  They are arranged in reverse chronological order, by date.  The ESB has quietly been working with Mark Jones, the Sierra Club and the League of Women Voters to implement this ban.  Mark is the current president of the Pajarito Chapter of the Sierra Club.  He is also a past ESB member.

The January 2014 meeting was telling.  Mark Jones presented a draft ordinance for a plastic bag ban in this meeting.  I want to know how he got on the agenda for the meeting.  When I asked Angelica Gurule, the County liaison for the ESB, how Save the Bag: Los Alamos might get on the ESB agenda, she was unable or unwilling to tell me.  When she followed up with me, she stated that Mr. Boerigter, the ESB chair would allow public comment only.  Which tells me, he was, and is not, interested in hearing the other side’s point of view.  This is truly unfortunate, as a public servant, I think he is obligated to lay aside his agenda and let everyone have a chance to speak.  I will be asking for Save the Bag: Los Alamos to be able to present to the ESB, during my comments at the May 21^st meeting. 

Misconceptions Cleared Up: Answers to an OPEN FORUM comment

I've been checking the OPEN FORUM every day and reading the comments.  I wanted to respond to who ever this person is, as they did not leave their name on the survey.  This is the comment, my response will be below:

"I would like to clear up some of the misperceptions expressed by opponents of a ban on, or even a charge for, some types of plastic bags. Some say that the bag ban is driven by "outsiders" from the Sierra Club and League of Women Voters. However, these organizations have local branches made up of local citizens of Los Alamos who are concerned about our environment and our democracy and political processes. I have lived in Los Alamos for over 13 years, yet I often feel like a newcomer compared with many people active in these and other community organizations, who have lived and worked in Los Alamos for decades and even generations. Would you call those of us who are Catholic "outsiders" just because the Catholic Church has members throughout the world and has its headquarters in the Vatican? Would you say that people who participate in Girl Scouts, Kiwanis or Elks are "outsiders" because these organizations extend beyond Los Alamos? Even while "we are all actually smart enough to determine what is best for our community", we often do this by routinely accepting some regulations and limitations that encourage us to do what is best - for example, stop signs, traffic lights and speed limits. Yes, it's slightly inconvenient for me to wait at a red light when I can see perfectly well that there's no oncoming cross-traffic. But I accept this infringement of my "freedom" because in the long run, I'd rather be free to not get run over when I cross an intersection on a green light. Under a bag ban, you would still be "free" to use bags, by purchasing them in the store, or by bringing your own. And the rest of us would be free to not subsidize some people's wasteful use of resources. The "single use carryout plastic bags" currently in use are not free. They are paid for by the merchants who then pass along the cost to all their customers in the form of slightly higher prices on all the merchandise we buy. The ban plus fee would allow the merchants to cover the cost of the bags they supply to customers, and only the customers who use the disposable bags would pay for them. Some say that we need a community education campaign instead of legislation. Children in Los Alamos started such a campaign more than 6 years ago, which significantly reduced the use of these plastic bags at our local Smith's. And since then, many businesses and organizations in Los Alamos have found that giving away reusable shopping bags emblazoned with their logos is a great way to advertise. [sic] But even after years of education and advertizing, [sic] shoppers in Los Alamos continue to use and dispose of large quantities of "single use carryout" plastic bags. It seems that at this point legislation and regulation would help reduce plastic use and protect our environment. Other communities, and even entire countries, have enacted such legislation, and have thrived - and Los Alamos can, too."

First, I think we can all agree no one wants a dirty environment.  We all have skin in this game, we all want Los Alamos to be a nice place to live and raise our children.  However, we seem to have vastly different ways of approaching that goal.  So, let's clear up some misconceptions.