While Eric Bussian and his Bag It campaign followers have a noble cause, I believe their efforts to reduce our carbon footprint on the world by passing a city ordinance banning plastic shopping bags is misdirected. I don’t need or want any level of government telling me how to bring my groceries home from the store. There is already too much government regulation in my life, and I think education should be the path the Bag It people should pursue.

Distribute literature showing how much fossil fuel it takes to produce a plastic bag versus a cloth bag. Include in that literature how much money a shopper could actually save and how profits of small, local businesses would increase if those businesses had to buy fewer bags. Show how much money the shopper would save if businesses did not have to include the price of providing plastic bags in the price of their products.

In the story (Herald, Dec. 8), Bussian says it would be a strong marketing point to have a government mandated no-plastic-bag ordinance. Really? Would the Chamber of Commerce prominently display that in its literature? Would DATO point that out in its efforts to market Durango? Would that really be the tipping point for a family trying to decide whether to take the annual vacation at Disney World in Orlando or go to Durango to ride the train and hike and camp in the mountains?

I believe education is the key to achieving less use of plastic bags. Don’t jam it down our throats with a government mandate. There’s too much government in our lives as it is.

Larry E. Whiteside

Durango