Matt Gilliland: Student Environmentalist Making A Difference

As students and young adults, we can make a difference for the environment by making more sustainable decisions.  Through hard work and dedication, one group on the UC Santa Barbara campus is showing us how college students can make a change.  This organization is called CALPIRG, a student-funded, student run, non-profit public advocacy group in California.  They run various campaigns for public interest throughout the state and at UCSB.  One current focus of CALPRIG is the Save Our Oceans campaign, working to ban single use plastic bags in Santa Barbara. 
 
Matt Gilliland is CALPIRG’s Vice Chair.  He explains why the Save Our Oceans campaign is so important and what has most recently happened with the ban. 
 
HerCampus: Why is banning single use plastic bags so important?          

Matt Gilliland: There is a patch of garbage in the Pacific Ocean that is nearly twice the size of Texas. Plastic makes up a large percentage of garbage in the ocean, which kills as many as 100,000 marine mammals, birds, and sea turtles every year. Much of the waste comes from land-based sources, and plastic bags are one of the worst culprits. Plastic bags photodegrade: they break down into smaller and smaller pieces until microscopic hydrocarbons are all you have left. These leach into the ground and eventually out into the ocean, where they make their way into the diets of animals.
 
HC: Is banning single use plastic bags a common thing?
 
Matt: Already over 15 cities and counties in California have banned single-use plastic bags, including San Jose, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles County, San Francisco, and more! Even San Luis Obispo and Carpinteria banned them. These bans have helped reduce California’s annual plastic bag consumption from 17 billion to 12 billion in the last 6 years. Santa Barbara should be next!
 
HC: What is currently happening in Santa Barbara with this issue?
 
Matt: We held a major press conference the first week of the quarter that was attended by SB County 3rd district Supervisor Doreen Farr, Carpinteria City Councillor Kathleen Reddington, and new SB City Councillor Cathy Murrillo. The exciting news was that Cathy came out in support of the ban, making her the 4th vote we need! We are working to see this issue through and get the ordinance passed in the next couple months. This event was covered by KEYT, the SB News Press, the Bottom Line, and more!
 
 
HC: How much support have you received for this ban?
 
Matt: We have approximately 4,000 petitions to ban single-use plastic bags in Santa Barbara from UCSB students. We are a member of a UCSB student-group coalition called the Plastic Pollution Coalition, which is working to reduce plastic consumption at UCSB.