The Challenge continues through September

Telluride eco-entrepreneur/Telluride Outside fly fishing guide David Allen leads The Challenge,  a competition among 31 mountain towns in the Western United States to encourage the use of reusable shopping bags. The Challenge began on March 1st 2009 and will run until September 1st 2009. The prize to the winning town is a solar panel installation on their public school. 

Why should we care about not using plastic bags?  Here is the fact of the week:

 Several studies suggest that as much as 80% of all marine debris is plastic (California Coastal Commission 2006; NOAA 2008). In the Pacific Ocean there are two “floating islands” known as Pacific Trash Gyres. they are comprised of so much debris that together they are larger than the entire United States. Scientists recorded that within a five million square mile radius there is six times more plastic than plankton (Ingraham 2001).