Paper or Plastic?

by Jade
How many times have you gone into a store and had the cashier ask you,  “Paper or plastic?”  Plastic shopping bags are horrible for the earth.  There are several reasons why you should say “no” to plastic bags.
One reason to refuse plastic bags is that they are made from polyethylene. Polyethylene is made from a gas, which is a type of oil, which is nonrenewable. I think within the next 300 years we will run out of oil. Instead of plastic bags, we could then use polyethylene for transportation (if we do not have all electric transportation at that time) or for heating houses. Not for plastic bags! In addition, plastic is not recyclable. The trash is put in landfills, where a big hole is dug in the earth and the trash, including the plastic, piles higher and higher. This is a problem because birds come and eat the trash; therefore they will eat the plastic bags. Plastic bags become smaller and smaller as they take 500-1000 years to decompose, that is a long time! The smaller the plastic particles get the bigger the problem is for the environment!   
Some plastic bags do not make it to landfills, instead they blow away. When the rain comes the bags end up in streams and rivers, which make up our watersheds and eventually flow into the ocean, where marine life eats it. For example, a turtle may think a bag is a jellyfish and will eat it. Soon the turtle will die. Not only are plastic bags harmful for marine life, but the chemicals from the plastic and the stuff in the bags, like dog dodo, makes the water unsafe for our dogs and us. Once plastic bags reach the ocean, they can end up in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is twice as big of the state of Texas! 
We can do some things about this problem. If we use plastic bags, make sure they are biodegradable.  We can also clean our beaches and streams so there is not as much trash. Lastly, we can use paper bags at stores instead of plastic bags. So now you know what to say when some one asks you “paper or plastic?” You can say, ”I brought my own bag”