{"id":187,"date":"2008-07-29T10:23:02","date_gmt":"2008-07-29T10:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onecity\/2008\/07\/integral-activism-plastic-bag-action-needed-now.html"},"modified":"2008-07-29T10:23:02","modified_gmt":"2008-07-29T10:23:02","slug":"integral-activism-plastic-bag-action-needed-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2008\/07\/integral-activism-plastic-bag-action-needed-now.html","title":{"rendered":"Integral Activism: Plastic Bag Action Needed Now!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From Rafi Santo of the <a href=\"http:\/\/theidproject.com\/activism\/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Integral Activism<\/a> Team:<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\">For those that weren&#8217;t able to make it to this Sunday&#8217;s meeting, we have an incredible opportunity to take action on our <strong>Back to the Sack: No More Plastic Bags<\/strong> initiative <em>this week <\/em>to help stop a weak recycling bill from passing through the Governor Paterson&#8217;s desk unchanged.<\/span><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/onecity.files.wordpress.com\/2008\/07\/feb2_plasticbag.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-507\" src=\"https:\/\/onecity.files.wordpress.com\/2008\/07\/feb2_plasticbag.jpg?w=296\" alt=\"\" width=\"220\" height=\"213\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size:medium\"><strong>Here\u2019s the deal:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\">New York City Council passed a strong progressive plastic bag recycling law, which you can read about<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nrdc.org\/media\/2008\/080109.asp\"> here<\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\">New York State is about to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nysun.com\/new-york\/state-city-battle-over-recycling\/80723\/\">pass a weaker law<\/a>, the Plastic Bag Reduction, Reuse and Recycling Act, that would supersede the NYC law. Not cool! <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\">We now have the chance to<a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/pressRelease\/idUS238953+25-Jun-2008+PRN20080625\"> join environmental groups<\/a> in asking Governor Patterson to exempt New York City from the state law by inserting something into the bill called a \u201cChapter Amendment\u201d.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:medium;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\"><strong>What you can do:<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong>Call and Email!<\/strong><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\"><strong>Call and urge<\/strong> Governor Patterson, along with Senator Marcellino and Assemblyman Sweeney, to add<br \/>\nchapter amendments to bills S.8643-A\/A.11725 that would <strong>exempt New York City from the state legislation and would allow the city&#8217;s existing plastic bag recycling statute to take effect.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<table style=\"height:88px\" border=\"1\" width=\"446\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-size:x-small;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\"><strong>Governor<br \/>\nPaterson<\/strong>:<br \/>\nPhone: 518-474-8390<br \/>\nEmail: <a href=\"http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/nebsn\">http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/nebsn<\/a><br \/>\n<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-size:x-small;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\"><strong>State Senator<br \/>\nMarcellino<\/strong>:<br \/>\nPhone: 518- 455-2390<br \/>\nEmail: <a href=\"http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/5t37ff\">http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/5t37ff<\/a><br \/>\n<\/span><\/td>\n<td><strong><span style=\"font-size:x-small;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\">State Assemblymen<br \/>\nSweeney<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-size:x-small;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\">:<br \/>\nPhone: 518-455-5787<a href=\"mailto:sweeney@assembly.state.ny.us\"><br \/>\nsweeney@assembly.state.ny.us<\/a><br \/>\n<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><span style=\"font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\"><strong>Also,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"color:#003300\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ipetitions.com\/petition\/backtothesack\/index.html\"><span style=\"font-size:x-large\">Sign our online petition!<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\"><strong>And please, send this email<\/strong> on to your friends, post the link to the petition in your<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/home.php#\/group.php?gid=2753035992\"> Facebook<strong> <\/strong>feed<\/a>, your blog, etc. and let&#8217;s make plastic bags history!<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\"><strong><span style=\"font-size:medium\">How we got here:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><br \/>\nOver the past couple of weeks, the Integral Activism team has been contacting both elected officials like Cristine Quinn (Speaker of the New York City Council) as well as environmental organizations like the National Resources Defense Council to figure out where the existing power centers stood on the State bill and how we could help to advance a progressive agenda.<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\"><strong><span style=\"font-size:medium\">If you don&#8217;t live in New York State:<\/span><\/strong> <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\">Many American cities are contemplating or already enacting initiatives to reduce or eliminate plastic bag usage<br \/>\n&#8211; San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Portland, OR, to name a few. In fact, NYC is somewhat behind the curve on this issue. For an article in the Oregonian on what&#8217;s new in Portland, follow the link below. Now is a good time to find contact info for your local and state representatives, call them, and voice your opinion on plastic bags. It&#8217;s super easy to do.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/environment\/index.ssf\/2008\/07\/portland_ban_plastic_bags.html\">http:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/environment\/index.ssf\/2008\/07\/portland_ban_plastic_bags.html<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\"><strong><span style=\"font-size:medium\">What we&#8217;re doing is different:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\">Aside from having some very enthusiastic responses from all the offices we contacted, one thing that stood out was how what we&#8217;re trying to do is unique. Talking to these people, it became clear that it is rare for them to hear from grassroots community groups or citizens of any sort that are outside of the existing power structure. What was amazing was also to see how easy it was to enter the process. A five minute phone call here, an email there, and immediately we have been hooked into relevant networks. It&#8217;s been a strong lesson for us in realizing to what degree empowerment really lives in the mind, and what degree of transformation is possible with mindful action.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif\"> Help us this week with calls to the numbers provided! As soon as we have updates on where things stand in Albany with the bill, we&#8217;ll let you know. Thanks for the help in getting us all back to the sack!<\/span><br \/>\nAll the best,<br \/>\nRafi Santo<br \/>\nIntegral Activism Team<br \/>\nThe Interdependence Project<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theidproject.com\"><br \/>\nhttp:\/\/www.theidproject.com <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From Rafi Santo of the Integral Activism Team: For those that weren&#8217;t able to make it to this Sunday&#8217;s meeting, we have an incredible opportunity to take action on our Back to the Sack: No More Plastic Bags initiative this week to help stop a weak recycling bill from passing through the Governor Paterson&#8217;s desk&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-and-media"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Integral Activism: Plastic Bag Action Needed Now! - One City<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2008\/07\/integral-activism-plastic-bag-action-needed-now.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Integral Activism: Plastic Bag Action Needed Now! - One City\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From Rafi Santo of the Integral Activism Team: For those that weren&#8217;t able to make it to this Sunday&#8217;s meeting, we have an incredible opportunity to take action on our Back to the Sack: No More Plastic Bags initiative this week to help stop a weak recycling bill from passing through the Governor Paterson&#8217;s desk&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2008\/07\/integral-activism-plastic-bag-action-needed-now.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"One City\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-07-29T10:23:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/onecity.files.wordpress.com\/2008\/07\/feb2_plasticbag.jpg?w=296\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ethan Nichtern\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Integral Activism: Plastic Bag Action Needed Now! 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His writing has been featured in numerous print and online publications. He is the founding director of the Interdependence Project and the host of the I.D. Project\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s popular weekly podcast (available on iTunes). He is currently on the part-time faculty of Eugene Lang College at New School University in NYC, where he teaches Buddhism. Ethan lectures regularly at universities and venues around the country on Buddhism, meditation, contemporary culture, and activism.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/author\/enichtern"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}