You have to know by now that the ugly consequences of single-use plastics far outweighs any momentary convenience. Humboldt Baykeeper and Humboldt Surfrider are offering grocery store customers the chance to do better by the ocean this Thursday. Check it: 

Join Humboldt Baykeeper and Surfrider Humboldt Chapter in an effort to curtail the plastic trash flow to Humboldt Bay and ultimately the ocean by celebrating Day Without a Bag tomorrow, Thursday, Dec. 15. The goal of >Day Without a Bag is to reduce the use of environmentally harmful single-use plastic bags by empowering individuals to take simple and direct actions to eliminate the use of disposable shopping bags.  Humboldt Baykeeper and Surfrider Humboldt Chapter will be tabling between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. at Ray’s McKinleyville, Ray’s Arcata, Wildberries in Arcata and Eureka Natural Foods.  Stop by the table to create your own re-usable bags out of your old t-shirts and silk-screen them with the Ban the Bag! Humboldt logo.

Coastal communities are ideal locations for single-use plastic bag bans as plastic pollution in the ocean is especially hard to address. As you read this, there is a growing mass of plastic trash circulating around the Pacific Gyre in the Pacific Ocean that is twice the size of Texas and growing! Since plastic does not biodegrade it remains in the ocean for hundreds of years where it breaks down into tiny particles that resemble plankton.  Fish and other marine life mistake “plastic plankton” for food and thus, plastic enters our food web.  

Day Without a Bag is an effort to stop the stream of plastic bags migrating to the Pacific Ocean and is part of a larger County-wide effort to move towards a single-use plastic bag ban ordinance for 2012. Humboldt Waste Management Authority has begun to investigate a countywide ordinance with guidance from the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, and support from the City of Arcata and many individuals and organizations around the county.  Petitions supporting the bag ban ordinance will be circulated at the four tabling locations the day of the event. Humboldt County has the opportunity to join cities and counties across California in banning single-use plastic bags, as well as countries including Germany, South Africa, Italy, Australia, India, Japan, Turkey and more!

To participate in Day Without a Bag bring a T-shirt to be screen-printed with the Ban the Bag! Humboldt logo to Ray’s Arcata, Ray’s McKinleyville, Wildberries in Arcata or Eureka Natural Foods on Thursday December 15th from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Bring a few extra t-shirts to donate and they will be made into bags and given to those that can’t afford to buy a reusable bag.  

Vanessa@humboldbaykeeper.org or call 707-268-8897.