TORRANCE TRIBUNE August 28, 2014 Page 7 One Man’s Opinion Another Man’s Opinion A Day Like Any Other Banning Plastic Bags Won’t Save the World By Gerry Chong Yawn. This is a day like any other. Woke up to a cup of coffee, the morning paper and the internet news. It’s all the same stuff. Even the President wasn’t all that excited. His speech from Martha’s Vineyard condemned the beheading of an American journalist before he retired to the golf course to join former NBA star Alonzo Mourning. Not much to get excited about. He said what was expected, that he would “relentlessly” pursue justice against the Islamic terror group ISIS. Blah, blah, blah. . . . When British Prime Minister heard the news of the beheading, he cut his vacation short, but the Brit is not the picture of cool our President is. Our laid back man just went back to play. After all, it’s not like there’s a shortage of journalists, and they knew the dangers of their profession, so it’s on to the first tee. Meanwhile, half way ’round the world, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights revealed that ISIS had the best month in its history. It had expanded by 6,300 recruits, bringing its membership to as many as 50,000. Of those, 20,000 were foreigners from Chechnya, China, Europe, and Arab countries. A strong recruiting effort is being made to admit foreigners so Jihad can strike anywhere in the world. ISIS encourages Western Muslims to abandon their families and move to Syria to fight. In Canada, for example, they utilize videos showing hockey and fishing scenes; in Indonesia, they hand out free fried chicken vouchers . . . any device to recruit warriors. By Cristian Vasquez Recycling has always been a big deal in our house. My grandmother and parents recycle, as does my roommate, so we have never been opposed to doing our part to minimize our negative impact on Mother Nature through our everyday actions. However; Senate Bill 270, which attempts to ban plastic bags everywhere in California, is an absurd solution to a legitimate problem. There is nothing ridiculous about trying to minimize the impact of our daily-use items on nature. Yet, banning plastic bags at a statewide level is a shortsighted solution that will have little influence in society’s attempts to save the environment. Plastic bags have become Public Enemy No. 1 to the ocean. Dumping them hurts sea animals and bags become part of trash gyros in our vast oceans, which in turn affects ocean life even more. This is a legitimate concern, but plastic bags aren’t going to doom sea life into extinction; overfishing will take care of that better than a plastic bag from Vons. If the concern about using plastic bags is based on the detrimental effects that they have on the environment, then we should focus on the littering tendencies in our society more than one single item itself. This leads me to another issue: SB270 does not include any elements of litter reduction. I’m not doubting the sincerity with which environmentalists are addressing this issue, but why are plastic bags being singled out with such tenacity? The problem to me would be the fact that there is trash making its way to the ocean. The focus should be on reducing waste on land and finding ways to prevent any type of trash and waste from entering our creeks, rivers and storm drains so that none of our trash ends up in the ocean. If banning plastic bags to protect the environment is a better solution than preventing trash from entering the ocean to begin with, then let’s just ban everything that turns into trash. Let’s ban paper bags from all fast food restaurants; let’s ban the wrapping paper that restaurants use to wrap our food; we should also ban plastic utensils; maybe we can even ban pens since they too are made of plastic and if we are honest with ourselves, everyone loses pens. My point is that banning useful items in the name of environmental protection is a cop-out that will fail to fix the problem while inconveniencing the majority of the population. Chances are I will be criticized for this stance, as I have been when I vocalized these same sentiments to people in the past. That’s okay. I have come to accept that this plastic bag ban trend is not my cup of tea. While I do agree with not harming our environment, I also believe that banning plastic bags, or charging an additional 10 cents for them, will not save our ocean. For us to save our environment, we need to be conscious of our actions and modify our behaviors. I for one will continue using plastic bags not as a sign of protest but simply because it is more convenient and because I do not throw my reusable plastic bags into the ocean. I keep these bags and use them at home in ways that make my life a lot easier and without hurting the environment. My efforts to save marine life will be a bit more practical . . . I will avoid eating seafood. That will save more fish than any plastic bag ban ever will. • In the Middle East, they use preaching vans travelling from village to village encouraging children to “Kill all Infidels.” The vans urge religious minorities to convert to Islam or be killed. Even Muslims who are considered not extreme enough are slaughtered. By the numbers, if our side in the war against terror is not killing more than 6,500 Jihadists each month, we’re losing the numbers in the war But not to worry, with fashionable shades and the most stylish shorts and shirts, Joe Cool’s showing his grit and dedication. Why, on the first tee, he smashed a drive 250 yards down the middle, pretending ISIS was the golf ball. This morning’s Fox News anchor asked his audience to name one, just one, decision Obama has made in foreign affairs that has resulted in a positive conclusion. Libya? Egypt? Afghanistan? Iran? Iraq? North Korea? Ukraine? Syria? How about Hamas and Hezbollah against Israel? How are we doing in our battle with al Qaeda? Have we tamed Boko Haram? Have we stemmed Somalia’s pirate attacks? Yes, this day is a day like any other. As the world spasms, our man is cool. In June he vacationed in Rancho Mirage. In July he attended 12 fundraisers charging $32,000 a plate, while condemning the role of Big Money in American politics. Since it’s August he’s kicking back in Martha’s Vineyard for 16 days. The word is that his hosts in the California desert are preparing for an encore in October, before his Christmas vacation in Hawaii. He’s cool, man, super cool. • Looking for the Torrance Tribune? 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