Rockbridge Should Go Green

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A Lexington Kroger uses plastic bags for customer purchases.

McKelvey Collins, Features Editor

By: McKelvey Collins

This past year, I spent seven months living in Los Angeles, and I noticed many differences between the counties of LA and Rockbridge. A major one is that Los Angeles County is more environmentally advanced than Rockbridge County in many ways.

For instance, LA has banned plastic bags, as they are proven to be harmful to the environment. Their alternative is to use shopping bags made out of canvas. If shoppers do not bring their own, they must buy one, which usually costs around one dollar. While these bags are more harmful to the environment if thrown away, they are reusable and far more durable than flimsy plastic bags, because the canvas bags are less likely to be thrown away by people after being used only once. Using them benefits the shoppers because they can fit more goods into a larger and stronger bag and they also help the environment.

According to the Earth Policy Institute, about one trillion plastic bags are created every year. They are not biodegradable and, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), only 9.5 percent of plastic is actually recycled. The rest either ends up in large landfills or is not disposed of properly. Litter can be plainly seen on the sides of highways, in public parks, and in gutters all over America.

This is harmful to animals because wildlife often mistake plastic bags for food and try to eat them, which, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), can cause animals to choke to death or to have stomach obstructions, leading them to die of starvation.

In spite of this, Rockbridge County still uses a lot of plastic bags. They are easily accessible, and usually given away for free at grocery stores. Some people recycle them or reuse them as garbage bags for their homes, but there are many who simply throw them away. While the city of Lexington has recently started recycling again, there are still too many households who do not recycle. This also harms the environment.

Los Angeles officials also care more about the pollution output of cars, because of their dense population. Cars are subject to smog checks, which is where they are checked to see if they produce more exhaust than is legal, and if their exhaust systems need to be fixed. These checks are mandatory for vehicles more than six years old, and those that are not hybrids, electric, diesel-powered, or motorcycles. They take place at every other registration renewal period and if they do not pass the test, they have to be repaired and retested. The purpose of LA smog checks are to ensure that the vehicles on the streets are not contaminating the air. Personally, I noticed multiple businesses that advertised smog checks in nearly every part of the county that I visited.

Rockbridge County also requires yearly car inspections, but they are not as thorough. These checks do not have much focus on the conditions of the release of pollution, but on the functioning of the vehicle. The existence of stricter smog checks would be beneficial to the drivers and people of Rockbridge County because they would further regulate the smog and exhaust output of cars and prevent them from polluting the already-contaminated atmosphere.

During my time living in Los Angeles, I also noticed that there was a large number of residents who had solar panels on their homes. Even the house my family rented had them. If solar panels were cheaper, Rockbridge County residents’ homes could be greatly improved. Both Los Angeles and Rockbridge County get a lot of sun, which makes solar energy more accessible. Solar energy would be more environmentally friendly, since they provide renewable energy and reduce energy bills, which can get expensive fast.

It would serve in the best interests of Rockbridge County and the rest of the United States to follow in Los Angeles’ footsteps, especially in these three areas. Getting rid of plastic bags, having stricter smog and pollution checks, and investing in more solar panels would be a major step in preserving the green environment Rockbridge County contains.