Dallas too cowardly to follow Austin’s lead

I’m betting right now that Dallas doesn’t have the cajones to do right by our environment and follow Austin’s lead in banning plastic and paper shopping bags.

The Austin city council voted unanimously — unanimously — this week to enact a broad ban on the bags, requiring consumers to use reusable bags when shopping. The ban doesn’t go into effect until a year from now, giving the city more than enough time to educate residents on the change.

Can you imagine our city council — which is going to be far more protective of the Tom Thumbs and Central Markets than they are about our environment — taking a similar action? Our city council barely had the courage to pass a pro-environment flow control ordinance and now many on the council are having second thoughts about that since major business contributors are suing the city to stop its implementation. Plus, with all the furor over flow control, I doubt the city’s staff has the fortitude to even suggest such a plan.

But, as studies prove and Austin knows, such a ban is necessary. Plastic bags last for years and consume valuable landfill space. They have been discovered in the stomachs of marine animals. It takes 12 million barrels of oil a year to produce the number of plastic bags used in America every year. The manufacture of paper bags wastes energy and emits gases that contribute to global warning.

I love taking my dog to Moss Park because it contains fields and forests where she can romp around to her heart’s content. But I have been terribly saddened recently to see hundreds of plastic bags dangling from the branches of trees in that forest. Is that how we "Beautify Dallas?"

I would love to see the City of Dallas prove me wrong. I would also love to see world peace, Rush Limbaugh banished to a women’s prison and never hear another word about the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. The odds on all of those happening are just about the same.