Just how do you mean that, sir?

Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics.
Benjamin: Just how do you mean that, sir?

Anyone who's seen the 1967 film "The Graduate" will no doubt remember that exchange between Mr. McGuire and the young Benjamin Braddock at Ben's graduation party. Ben was an angst-ridden recent college graduate, not sure what he was going to do next. It's hard to believe how prescient Mr. McGuire's word was because who would've guessed we'd be swimming in the stuff. Literally.

Plastic was invented in 1862 by Alexander Parkes. Plastic shopping bags were created in 1977, but became widely used beginning in 1982. While they may have been a good idea initially and are now taken for granted by shoppers around the world, plastic bags are a scourge. It only takes 4 grocery trips for an average family to accumulate 60 plastic shopping bags. Consider these facts:

• Four to five trillion plastic bags are manufactured each year
• Americans use over 380 billion polyethylene bags per year
• Americans throw away approximately 100 billion polyethylene bags per year
• Of those 100 billion plastic bags, 1% are recycled
• Plastic bags are made of polyethylene, which is a petroleum product
• It takes 1000 years for polyethylene bags to break down
• As polyethylene breaks down, toxic substances leach into the soil and enter the food chain
• Production contributes to air pollution and energy consumption
• Approximately 1 billion seabirds and mammals die per year by ingesting plastic bags
• Plastic bags are often mistaken as food by marine mammals. 100,000 marine mammals die yearly by eating plastic bags.
• These animals suffer a painful death, the plastic wraps around their intestines or they choke to death
• Plastic bag choke landfills
• Plastic bags are carried by the wind into forests, ponds, rivers, and lakes

Fortunately, countries around the world and some cities and states in the US are beginning to limit availability of plastic bags to shoppers. We can each contribute to the decline of the plastic bag in obvious ways, particularly by bringing our own reusable shopping bags when we shop. It may seem like a small step, but it can have a huge collective impact.