Plastic Pollutes Education Curriculum
We urgently need your support today to overcome a well-funded disinformation campaign by single-use plastic bag makers and their lobbying arm, the American Chemistry Council (ACC).
The Plastics and Chemical Industry will stop at nothing to expand single use plastics. An Investigative Report appearing today in newspapers across the State reveals that the ACC was able to have false and misleading information on bogus ‘benefits of plastic bags’ inserted into the State’s Environmental Education Curriculum!
Earlier this month, Rolling Stone Magazine reported that the ACC’s strategy includes major spending for “well-placed political donations, intensive lobbying at both the state and national levels, and a pervasive PR campaign…”
“With…more than $120 million in annual revenues, the ACC and its members are using their deep pockets and extensive political connections to overturn bans on plastic bags, cast doubt on legitimate scientific studies and even file lawsuits against anti-bag activists.”
Despite our victory in the Supreme Court earlier this summer, CAW goes head-to-head with the plastic industry’s attorneys in Marin County today to counter the industry’s latest attempt to overturn a local plastic bag ordinance.
At the same time, we are working with local elected officials in dozens of cities across California to enact new bans on single use plastics.
Single use plastic bags pose obvious and significant costs to society and the environment:
• So-called ‘free grocery bags’ actually cost California consumers more than $250 million in higher grocery costs.
• Plastic debris can cause harm to species worldwide through entanglement, suffocation, poisoning, and starvation.
• Plastic bags are one of the most commonly found items in litter clean up.
All of these efforts and challenges have stretched our staff and resources. See that 'Donate' button in the upper right corner of the screen? I need you to take a moment and click it and make a special contribution to support our work to phase out single use plastics. It's modest contributions of $25 to $100 from regular folks like you that help sustain our work. We can't hope to match the funds of the plastics industry. But I promise you that every dollar we recieve is effectively used to support our team of activists and attorney's working at the state and local level to combat waste, conserve resources and protect our beautiful and unique California environment.
While the plastic industry’s lobbying and campaign contributions may have effectively killed any chance of passing a statewide ban on single use plastic bags in California this year, we do have an opportunity in the final 3 weeks of the legislative session to pass SB 568 that would phase out foamed polystyrenepackaging. But we need your help!
Just as with the plastic bag ban, the Plastics Industry and Chemical Council are pulling out all of the stops to kill this measure.
Please support our work with your online contribution today.