(Sept. 29, 2010) — There is one question that is asked whenever you buy from a grocery store: Paper or plastic? Recently, a bill in the California legislature to ban plastic bags was seven votes short of passage. If state legislators had passed the bill, we would have been the first state to eliminate plastic bags. Not only can we live without plastic bags, we should. Every year Californians use 19 billion plastic bags. That is a ridiculous amount, given the fact that there are alternatives for carrying our produce. They are detrimental to our environment because of the energy it takes to make and dispose them. We have to respect and care about our environment. Once in a while you see plastic bags scattered on the street or stuck on the beach. Imagine if we banned plastic bags. We wouldn’t see marine animals getting trapped or injured by plastic bag pollution. It seems as we have taken advantage and relied on these supermarket bags a little too much. The reason may be because they are free. Whenever something is free, we don’t really think about how it was made or where it comes from. Most people don’t even stop to think about what happens to the plastic bags they use once and throw away. State legislators need to understand that the environment should be first nature. We need to keep the environment as clean and safe as possible for future generations. Countries in Asia and Europe have already taken initiative by banning plastic bags. Some cities like San Francisco, Palo Alto and Malibu have instituted a plastic bag ban too. In all these cases, cutting plastic bags has proven to be an easy and smooth transition. Even without plastic bags, we would be able to get by. Everyone could use alternatives like reusable tote bags to carry our groceries. With these bags you don’t have to “double up” just to carry heavier items. These tote bags are much more durable and are easy to carry around while shopping. Banning plastic bags would only have a positive effect. Banning plastic bags wouldn’t hurt anyone neither. Hopefully the next time around this bill will pass.