Plastic bags pose significant threats to our waters, wildlife and our own health. Here's how to help make them less widely used in St. Petersburg. Credit: MichaelisScientists [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

Plastic bags pose significant threats to our waters, wildlife and our own health. Here’s how to help make them less widely used in St. Petersburg. Credit: MichaelisScientists [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons
Want to discourage the use of single-use plastic shopping bags? How about single-use paper bags? Here's your chance to tell St. Petersburg city council members you're OK with paying for a plastic or paper bag when you choose to use one. 

On Thursday, November 15 the city's Health, Energy, Resilience, and Sustainability Committee will discuss — and vote on whether or not to move forward with — an ordinance that would establish a fee for using single-use shopping bags. 

The Florida Suncoast Sierra Club, Suncoast Rise Above Plastics Coalition and the Suncoast Surfrider Foundation are jointly asking supporters to do three things: One, come to the meeting wearing blue to show your support; two, email the St. Petersburg city council and show your support for this fee — and, if you own a St. Petersburg business, tell them that, too; and three, email the city council members individually. Click on each name to email them:

Council Chair Lisa Wheeler-Bowman (727-551-3305); council member Gina Driscoll (727-551-3306); council member Ed Montanari (727-551-3304); and council member Darden Rice (727-893-7148).

Here's more information on the committee meeting.

This article appears in Nov 8-15, 2018.

Cathy's portfolio includes pieces for Visit Florida, USA Today and regional and local press. In 2016, UPF published Backroads of Paradise, her travel narrative about retracing the WPA-era Florida driving...