Earth Day

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, today our Nation joins with countries from around the world to celebrate Earth Day. Today, communities large and small, collectively come together to recognize past progress and develop new strategies to improve future environmental health. On this day of global environmental reflection, I rise to recognize two outstanding schools in my district, Woodstock and Brooklyn Middle Schools, which have worked to make eastern Connecticut a cleaner and more environmentally conscious community.

Between March 20 and April 10, 2008, Woodstock and Brooklyn Middle Schools embarked on a project, the "Bad Bag Competition", which explored the prevalence of plastic bag use in our country as well as its environmental implications. Plastic bags are everywhere, from grocery to department stores, and every year Americans consume an average of 100 billion. In order to produce our annual demand for plastic bags, 12 million barrels of oil are used. Reducing national demand for plastic bags has clear environmental benefits.

Throughout the "Bad Bag Competition", students from Woodstock and Brooklyn Middle Schools collected and recycled used plastic bags and educated our neighbors on the importance of using reusable bags. At the end of the competition, when all the bags were counted, Woodstock and Brooklyn Middle Schools collected 43,836 and 66,100 bags respectively. The petroleum that was used to produce these bags, which collectively totaled 109,936, could have fueled a vehicle for 7,853 miles.

Mr. Speaker, these students have exemplified the spirit of Earth Day. These students not only modified their own choices to be more environmentally responsible, but encouraged our neighbors to do the same. The impact of this project on our eastern Connecticut community has been great, and the multiplier effects are even greater. I ask my colleagues to join with me and my constituents in recognizing these students' achievements and to choose reusable bags instead of the proverbial "paper or plastic."

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