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07.16.08

Anti-plastics sentiment from an unlikely source

I’m ghost-posting this one for Sarah Corbin, Surfrider’s Central California Regional Manager (soon to be blogging here w/o my help!):

So, today I was working remotely in this little donut shop not too far from my house. There’s this group of retired guys that sits around and shoots the breeze, all day every day. By and large they’re conservative republicans (not that there’s anything wrong with that of course), and I’ve overheard their pro-Bush anti-environmentalist discussions a time or two when I stop through. TODAY, however, they were discussing plastic bags. One man asserted that he always asks for paper bags when he goes to the grocery and he reckoned that plastic bags would soon be outlawed. Another mentioned how he always sees all these plastic bags stuck in fences along the road. The guy sitting next to him cited that plastic bags choke marine animals and a fourth man chimed in to add that the bags also leach toxic chemicals into the water. Several other anecdotal comments were made and before they moved onto the next topic of the hour, they had reached a solid consensus that plastic bags are a blight to society.

I could not believe my ears.

I think this speaks to the pervasiveness of the plastics issue and the great job that your chapters and others have done to convey the message and spread the word. THIS is a victory! Your hard work is paying off…

Sarah