California fails to go green


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Believe it or not, some people are against “going green” for the sake of business. The plastic grocery bag ban — Assembly Bill 1998 — did not pass in California legislature Tuesday night.

Although the California Assembly passed the measure in June, the plastic bag industry has since created a massive advertising campaign against the proposal. Had the measure passed, California would have been the first state to ban plastic bags, though many cities have done so. San Francisco was the first city to ban the use of plastic grocery bags in 2007.

“California is poised to lead a national movement against plastic bag pollution that is injuring and killing marine life and imposing a costly blight on our land,” Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, the Democrat representing Santa Monica who authored the bill, told The Christian Science Monitor.

After the bill failed, Brownley had other words for the Los Angeles Times.

“I think we missed a great opportunity,” she said.

If the ban does one day pass, it could go into effect as early as 2012 for large retail and grocery stores, and in 2013 for smaller retailers.