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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2017)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 2017 ‘Bag ban’ urged in Long Beach Advocates want plastic out of environment By AMY NILE EO Media Group AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus LONG BEACH, Wash. — They’re going to ask the City Council to bag it. Single-use plastic bags, that is. Martha Williams and Larkin Stentz want Long Beach lead- ers to ban plastic shopping bags in the city. They plan to make their pitch at City Hall during the council’s meeting at 7 p.m. tonight. Williams, a retired elemen- tary school teacher, brought her new, Al Gore-approved lessons back to Long Beach after she attended the former vice pres- ident’s environmental educa- tion and activism program in Denver last March. She’s now working on projects in her community to curb the effects of climate change. Stentz, owner of Green Angel Gardens, is campaign- ing with Williams against sin- gle-use plastic bags. “We were trying to narrow it down to something doable,” Stentz said, so they decided to ask the City Council to ban the bags by a certain date that has yet to be determined. Plastic soup Commission Vacancy Announcement Port of Astoria Decades of throwaway life- styles have created the Great Pacific garbage patch, a mas- sive expanse of floating plas- tics and trash in the North Pacific Ocean. By conserva- tive estimates, the patch is thought to be at least the size of Texas, although it’s almost impossible to accurately mea- sure the vast and ever shift- ing trash vortex. It spans the Pacific from the West Coast of North America to Japan. Because plastic bags don’t break down easily, they tend to stick around, ripping into smaller and smaller pieces over time. The ocean water near the garbage patch is often Gene Brick, 92, left, and his son, Bartt Brick, peer through a telescope in Madras in June that they made togeth- er in 1964. The two plan to watch the upcoming solar eclipse together Aug. 21 as it passes through Oregon. Bahamas Reef Environment Education Foundation A plastic bag floats in a school of fish. Advocates want to ban single-use plastic bags. described as “plastic soup,” because it’s littered with con- fetti-sized particles. An average of 46,000 tiny pieces of plastic are floating on every square mile of the world’s oceans, according to a United Nations environment program. You are what you eat Fish can’t tell the differ- ence between the tiny plastic particles and food. So they end up eating the plastic. Another marine animal comes along later and eats the fish and the plastic inside it. The process repeats all the way up the food chain. A gray whale died in 2010 on a West Seattle beach with a large amount of garbage in its stomach. The whale had ingested plastic bags, surgi- cal gloves and numerous other products discarded by people. Not only are plastic bags a hazard to marine life, sea birds and animals, they also pile up in landfills and clog storm drains. “One of the things we’re both realizing is we can get overwhelmed with data,” Stentz said. “We want to bring it down to the local level.” Bring your own bag Because of the adverse effect plastics have on the ocean, he and Williams said Long Beach seemed well- suited to lead rural and coastal Washington state in find- ing a better way to help keep water, fish and the food supply healthy. At least one county and 13 Washington cities, mostly around Puget Sound and along the Interstate 5 corridor from Bellingham to Olympia, have restricted merchants’ use of plastic bags, according to the nonprofit Municipal Research and Services Center. Each ban is a little different. Some require retailers to carry only recycled or reusable paper bags, while others allow cer- tain types of plastic. Many require retailers to charge cus- tomers a minimum fee for each bag, others don’t. Paper or plastic Chuck Winn, manager of Sid’s Market in Seaview, said he doesn’t want to see more cities ban plastic bags. For more environmentally-consci- entious customers, the grocer sells reusable shopping bags and provides paper bags. “In the old days, all we had was paper,” Winn, 73, said. “In fact, we have some folks who still request paper.” The Seaview market takes used bags and single-use plas- tics from anyone willing to return them for recycling. Peo- ple can put their used plastic bags, wraps and films into the big recycling bin in the store parking lot on Pacific High- way. The bags are then taken to a Tacoma warehouse to be recycled, Winn said. He said he wasn’t sure what becomes of the recycled bags from Seaview. The warehouse did not return a call for comment. However, in the U.S. they’re often melted down and used for composite lumber. They’re also commonly made into a new batch of bags that can later be recycled. Making bags from recycled material is more efficient and eco-friendly than making them from scratch. ‘Enough is enough’ Williams said she’d pre- fer not to have paper bags, either. She wants Long Beach to move toward using reusable bags. She and Stentz hope the City Council will put together a group to look into what Long Beach could do to reduce its use of plastics. The group could then help the council with rules to put in place to move closer to that goal. “We’re joining in with a mass movement around the United States,” Williams said. “Cities around the country are saying ‘enough is enough.’” Father, son prepare for eclipse after missed viewing in 1979 By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press MADRAS — The last time a total solar eclipse blacked out the sun in Oregon nearly 40 years ago, Gene Brick was working in a tim- ber mill that refused to shut down for the spectacle. The World War II veteran and amateur astronomer was devastated when his friends raved about experiencing a pitch-dark sky in the middle of the day. “Everyone who was out- side got to see it, and they enjoyed telling me all about it — and I was hurt by that,” said Brick, now 92. “But work is work, you know.” Brick will get another chance to witness history this month, when a total solar eclipse begins its path across the U.S. in Oregon. The one he missed in 1979 covered the Pacific North- west and parts of Canada. This total eclipse will be visi- ble from coast to coast across the nation — something that hasn’t happened in 99 years. Brick plans to watch the event with his son using two telescopes: a fancy new one and one the two crafted together 53 years ago in their basement. The men will peer at the sun through both during the eclipse’s totality, when the moon’s shadow completely covers the sun for just over two minutes. They also will use special filters to photo- graph the eclipse through the newer machine. For Brick, who survived a kamikaze attack on the USS Drexler during the Bat- tle of Okinawa, the opportu- nity is the experience of a lifetime. “I always loved to look at the moon,” he said, after peering through the tele- scope the pair crafted in 1964. “I still do.” The Bricks will have a prime location for their father-son moment. The town of Madras, in cen- tral Oregon, is in the high desert, where summertime skies are often clear and cloudless. W A NTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 Due to the recent announcement by Port Commissioner Robert Mushen of his immediate resignation from the Port Commission, the Commission is seeking candidates for Dr. Mushen’s position (Position 4). Position 4 remains active until June 30, 2019. Position 4 will be up for election in May of 2019. Th e Commission is seeking to appoint a new Commissioner to Position 4 at the August 22, 2017 Regular Meeting of the Commission in Open Session. (Note: this is a change from the Port’s Regular Meeting originally scheduled for August 15). Th e Commission will be interviewing candidates during the August 22 meeting. To be considered for the position, the Commission requests that interested candidates please forward a letter of interest expressing your desire for consideration. Please include your qualifi cations and stated desire as to why you should be considered. Also, please provide a brief biography or resume along with your letter of interest. All applications will be reviewed by all Commissioners prior to the August 22, 2017 Commission Meeting. Candidates must be registered voters of Clatsop County. Please mail or hand deliver your documents to the Port Offi ce in Astoria in sealed envelopes addressed to: Port of Astoria Commission Attention: Frank Spence, President #10 Pier One, Suite 308 Astoria, OR 97103 Applications must be received no later than 12:00 noon, August 16, 2017. For any questions please contact Frank Spence at: 503-325-2365
