Last Saturday, at the initiative of Fernandina Beach City Commissioner Johnny Miller, a group of some 20 local citizens including a Sierra Club representative met at Sheffield’s to discuss what they view as a community plastic bag problem.

At least this group hasn’t yet reverted to the tactics of the apocalyptic loons who wander the streets wearing sandwich boards and handing out homemade leaflets. However, if they did some further investigation they might be stumped for an answer when the cashier at their favorite grocery store asks: “Paper or plastic?”

Some, like those who met at Sheffield’s, say the slow composition of plastic leaves the bags drifting around in the ocean for years and according to something called the Algalita Marine Research Foundation they cause the death of marine animals that think the bags are edible.

On the other hand another group of environmentalists, who also think they are doing the Continue Reading →