After many years of educating, organizing and solid grassroots activism, on July 21, 2011, Portland City Mayor and Commissioners voted unanimously to ban plastic check out bags in the city of Portland. Showing tremendous leadership on this issue and staying true to his and the council's resolution last April, Mayor Sam Adams declared this the first small step, in joining with cities across the nation and even countries world wide to promote reusable bags and reduce our consumption of single use plastics. It's been a long path for the Portland Chapter and the many other organizations who joined this fight. I remember 4 years ago quite distinctly sitting in a room off east burnside with about 5-7 people, who got really motivated to start doing something to Rise Above Plastics. The issue saw through 2.5 executive council terms on the chapter, jumped from 5-7 core chapter organizers to 15-20, activists and supporter engagement jumped from the 100s, to 1000s, to over 10,000. Delayed for a year, the issue went statewide, a bill was drafted and swiftly entered the capitol. Going through a tough session and a strong plastic lobby, the bill failed during the 2011 session and the chapter stayed focus on their original goal for Portland...and Portland BANNED THE BAG!
