The folks at Mission Blue are campaigning to ensure that California’s plastic bag ban, which faces one final hurdle, goes into effect after this coming November.
While the California State Legislature in 2014 passed a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags, that law won’t take effect until California residents vote on a ballot referendum on November 8th, 2016.
A “YES” vote would uphold the ban, while a “NO” vote would overturn it.
To that end, “Her Deepness” Sylvia Earle, who founded Mission Blue, says:
“The amount of plastic that washed ashore in the year 2010 alone was enough to cover every inch of coastline on Earth. That doesn’t even include 99 percent of the plastic that ends up in the ocean every year. Now we know. Ignorance is the biggest problem of all for the ocean – and many other things as well. Now that we know the astonishing amount of plastic that enters the ocean each year, we can act. People around the globe can stand up, armed with knowledge, and demand an end to disposable plastic and mismanaged waste. All countries around the globe have a responsibility to contain whatever plastic they create and consume. It’s up to individuals — scientists, filmmakers, entrepreneurs, kids! — to find creative solutions to plastic pollution and ignite that sense of urgency to cause change.”
Mission Blue has set up a change.org petition calling for a “YES” vote that will be delivered to the state’s governor and legislature. To read it, check it out here.