My plastic bag revised essay

Tuan Nguyen
ESL 91
10/13/2009
Revised Draft
Bans On Plastic & Paper Bags
Plastic bags and paper bags are so convenient, light, and cheap, but they may create new pollution in the future. Nowadays, global warming is a hot topic because it can badly affect our planet. In a New York Times Editorial in 2007, the author writes plastic and paper bags have caused concern among people because of the fear of global warming. Therefore, bans on plastic bags are proposed by lawmakers. Consumers have complained about the new policy because bringing their own bags is inconvenient for them. However, plastic and paper bags both plague environment equally. I totally agree with the author that plastic as well as paper bags should be banned and consumers should be required to bring their own bags for the following reasons.
First of all, I agree with the author that plastic bags should be banned to protect sea creatures. The plastic bags are convenient and free to carry groceries. So, we use 100 billion bags a year. When we recycle plastic bags, they will remain on the earth for 1,000 years. Moreover, the decomposition will result in other contaminants. The plastic bags seem harmless enough to an adult human, but they can kill small animals, such as insects, fishes, and birds. For example, when the plastic bags go into the ground, they break into small tiny particles and enter sewers which eventually go to rivers and oceans. Then these small atoms enter animal food, and thousands of marine animals die each year from ingesting this food. Thus, the number of animal deaths is going to increase in the future with more plastic bags use.
Secondly, I agree that shoppers should bring their own bags instead of using paper bags to save trees. Most paper bags come from tree pulp, so the impact of paper bag production on forests is enormous. We can save millions of trees a year if we use our own reusable bags. For instance, I read an article in the San Jose Mercury News that stated in 1999, 14 million trees which had several functions for humans were cut to produce 10 billion paper grocery bags. One function of trees is releasing oxygen to air, and another function is absorbing carbon dioxide from polluted air. Trees make our air fresher, and our lungs healthier. If we have fewer trees, we will have less oxygen and more pollution air. Therefore, we should ban paper bags because paper bags harm the environment.
In addition to saving trees and protecting sea creatures, consumers try to change to new habit of bringing their own bags. In the author’s article, shoppers complained about banning plastic bags which was inconvenient. For example, when they go to the supermarket, they have to put everything into their own bags, such as tinned food, vegetables, fish, pork and beef meat. So, their bags smell fetid. Then, they have to clean their dirty bags after each time they go shopping. However, this isn't a big problem because cleaning dirty bags takes only about two minutes of their time. Moreover, most people go to the supermarket once or twice a week, and they only have to spend about four minutes to clean their dirty bags. Four minutes isn't much time. Their new habits will form after they do it many times. Furthermore, cleaning a bag for four minutes does not seem bad compared to polluting our environment with plastic and paper bags.
To sum up, each individual can do more to help the environment by using their own reusable bags to save million of trees and protect marine life. In addition, changing our old habits will keep our planet greener. If people continue using plastic and paper bags, what will happen to our planet in the future. So, we must act now before it is too late.