Senator Jeff Kruse, Plastic Bag Ban in the Schools

From Sen. Kruse's Newsletter:

The general sense in the Capitol is we are moving at a very frantic pace but we are not getting very much accomplished.  Part of the reason may be the fact we have so many major issues to deal with and they take more time.  Every Legislative Session has a different feel and ultimately develops a unique identity.  It is still too early to try and define this one.

I had a wonderful opportunity to go to West Salem High School Tuesday and talk to two of Mr. Borowski’s science classes.  Due to the obvious logistical issues I don’t have a similar chance with students in my district so I was looking forward to the conversation.  The reason I was asked was my stated opposition to the plastic bag ban I talked about in my last newsletter.  I decided before I went I wasn’t going to give a lecture; rather I wanted to answer their questions and ask them some of my own.  I also wanted to get a feel for what is going on in classrooms today.

I knew going in I was asked because the teacher and the students were in support of the ban and I give Mr. Borowski credit for wanting to expose his students to the other side of the issue.  They were a very lively, informed and intelligent group of students.  I was very impressed and hope they learned something from the exchange. I know I did.  These students are being taught they can make a difference and my hope is many of them will.  At the end I thanked them for allowing me to share some of their time and I reminded them that in a few years they could very likely be in my position.

The first question was why I opposed the ban.  I started with the basics by saying I didn’t think government had the Constitutional authority to dictate my consumer choices.  They opined government could if it was for the greater good.  I pointed out the price of security is generally the loss of freedom, but this may have been too esoteric for the setting.  In the end I support the student’s right to their opinions and they did defend them well.  What follows is some of the points I made (and some I should have).

Plastic bags are made of polyethylene, which are linked ethylene molecules.  Ethylene is a simple molecule made up of carbon and hydrogen.  Most plastic bags and made of natural gas, not petroleum and some are now being made of plant material.  Plastic bags degrade over time when exposed to sunlight and there is now a new bacterial treatment that will decompose them even if they are buried in a landfill.  They are also recyclable.  I pointed out it takes chemicals to make a paper bag and even more chemicals to make a recycled bag while the by-product of making plastic bags is carbon and hydrogen.  I pointed out it takes twice as much energy and seven times as much water to make a paper bag. It would take seven truck loads of paper bags to equal one truck load of plastic bags in a land fill.  I also pointed out plastic bags are about 12% of our litter waste stream and what we really needed was a comprehensive recycling program.

I also told the students they needed to check into the source of the information they were getting.  One can find scientific studies supporting both sides of almost any argument.  Checking the source of the study funding will often be informative as to what the conclusions will be.  Also statistics can be easily manipulated so one needs to check the statistical confidence of the report as well as the scope of the peer review process.

I failed to tell them the statistics that are probably the most important and really put the whole issue in perspective as we go about the process of passing laws in this state to “save the planet”.  Let’s start first from the realization the environmental policies in the US are among the best in the world and Oregon has even higher standards than the national average.  Now for some perspective; the US has roughly 7% of the world’s population and Oregon has 1% of the US population.  The reality is, if we stopped all activity in the state, the impact on the Worlds environment would not even be measurable.  So we should ask ourselves why we would implement policies to make our lives less convenient and potentially put ourselves at a competitive disadvantage for no gain.

Make no mistake, I am for a clean environment and we have accomplished many very good things over the last few decades.  We just need to stop being delusional about the global impact actions we take here in Oregon might have, because they don’t.  So, don’t litter and don’t give up your freedoms.

Sincerely,

Senator Jeff Kruse