To the Editor:

I commend The Altamont Enterprise for last week’s editorial challenging us all to personally consider how to do our part for the environment. Perhaps the best way to start is to reconsider our answer when we’re asked “paper or plastic?” The Enterprise outlined the real risks of our collective grocery habit. Experts estimate that discarded plastic polyurethane bags can linger in our waterways and environment for 1,000 years. When placed in landfills, they’re more likely to mummify than to ever decompose.

Since plastic bags do not decompose, one single bag can permanently damage at-risk ecosystems. A 2004 study commissioned by the city of San Francisco estimated that cleaning up plastic bags cost the city more than $8 million a year. Paper bags aren’t much better, having a large emissions cost attached to their production. At a time when biodiversity across the globe is threatened by climate change, plastic bags also threaten the survival of 267 different species.

As a state legislator, I’m committed to addressing climate change and many of the other substantial environmental challenges facing upstate New York. While I support expansive pro-environment legislation like the Community and Climate Protection Act, incremental changes are critical as well.

I’m proud to be the only upstate assemblymember to vote against repealing New York City’s plastic bag fee and to receive a 100-percent rating from the New York League of Conservation Voters, yet much work remains to prioritize actionable environmental legislation in New York State.    

As the recent hurricane in Texas and other extreme weather events have shown, Americans can’t afford to pick and choose when to protect our environment. It is truly troubling that national leaders continue to deny the science of climate change while problems with the environment and energy needs continue to grow.

Evidence from behavioral economics suggests that small bag fees are the more effective way to change consumer behavior. Data from a similar bag fee in Washington, D.C. suggests that an average of 47 percent fewer bags have been distributed daily by retailers as a result of a small five-cent fee.

The legislature overturned New York City’s bag fee, citing concerns around negative impacts on small businesses and low-income populations. These concerns can and need to be addressed, and must include a distribution plan for reusable bags.

Tackling our environmental challenges requires using the tools we have today to stop catastrophe tomorrow. Rethinking current habits at the grocery store should be one of the first steps towards greener future.

Assemblymember Patricia A. Fahy

109th Assembly District

Editor’s note: New York’s 109th Assembly District covers parts of the city of Albany, and all of the towns of Bethlehem, Guilderland, and New Scotland.