MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 15, 2021
Last week’s Maine GOP Weekly Radio Address was by Rep. MaryAnne Kinney, R-Knox. One of her anecdotes was about the “burdens placed…by the progressive-driven policies of legislative Democrats” because of the new plastic bag ban. And they say millennials are whiny! Single-use, petroleum-based, non-biodegradable plastics are bad for our environment. They clog our waterways and choke our wildlife. There was a time when the Republican Party cared about the environment. The words “conservative” and “conservation” have the same etymological root for a reason. Kinney is a farmer and member of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. That’s the sort of person who, regardless of politics, has a pretty vested interest in keeping our land and soil healthy. Government can’t fix every problem and it shouldn’t try. But government can reduce the number of plastic bags caught in shrubbery, and that’s a good start. ~ Victoria Hugo-Vidal