The Republic of the Philippines is a wonderful place for nature. Within our territories, species of all kinds of organisms in nature can be found to thrive. As a Filipino, I am proud to call my country not just my home, but a home for nature. We are home to various species of flora and fauna, including lots and lots of trees.

Trees are incredibly useful, we all know that. They give off oxygen that all kinds of organisms, including us, need to survive. They help reduce heat, cooling down our surroundings, and making life overall more comfortable for all of us. Indirectly, they reduce our energy costs and consumption by doing this. They help to prevent water pollution, soil erosion, and provide shelter to wildlife, are a source of food for us and for other fruit consumers, and these are only some of the innumerable benefits that trees give to us humans.

However, as humans are prone to do, trees are always taken advantage of, and taken for granted. We cut them down for our own purposes, whether it be for re-purposing the land they are planted on, or for using the trees themselves to produce things. Ironically, in the recent past, trees have been cut down in the name of the environment that people say they are protecting.

How, you may ask? Two words. Paper bags.

And this is what I will talk about in this article. Yes, humans make use of paper and tree products in countless more ways, but this is where I am most concerned, as we are doing this on a large scale, and in the name of protecting what we are destroying in this action.

According to environmental website Simple Ecology, research has shown that the production of paper bags generate 70% more pollutants and can take about four times more the energy used to create plastic bags, the objects we have learned to hate and despise. Concerning? Well, let me give you another fact from the same report by Simple Ecology. Apparently, an estimated 14 million trees are cut down to produce 10 billion paper bags used. And this is only in America. Given the scale that paper bags are being promoted over plastic bags around the world, one can only imagine how many trees are victims to these kinds of practices. At this rate of logging or cutting down trees, they cannot regrow at a sustainable rate if we don?t change our current habits and practices.

This being said, I am not defending plastic bags. What I am saying or suggesting is that we seek better alternatives to the alternatives we are proposing to things such as plastics. Paper bags are obviously not the long-term solution to these issues.

First, we could take a look at instead increasing the use of solutions we already have, such as cloth bags. These are more durable than paper bags, and sometimes, are capable of carrying more things. They are also more aesthetically pleasing, if that matters to some! Second, we could look at truly recycling and reusing both paper bags and plastics bags that are already in circulation. Many ways are being developed and tested, which, if effective, could greatly reduce the need to produce more plastic and paper bags, and instead reuse the ones already in our midst. And finally, while advocating to society is a great and noble thing to do, change must always come from within us. In our everyday practices, we must do the things we are suggesting.

Practicing all this, we will be able to reduce the trees we need to cut down for our own needs, and also be able to positively affect the factors needed to produce paper bags such as reducing energy consumed, decreasing waste, and many others.

As a citizen of a country rich in natural resources, I seek to incorporate these practices in my everyday life. I encourage all of you to do so as this will improve the lives of everyone around us, and by that I mean ALL those around us, the citizens of the planet we strive to take care of always.

Article source: https://www.simpleecology.com/eco/paper-or-plastic-shopping-bags