The Everlasting Controversy

     I completely agree with my colleague, Adrian Munoz, on the subject of David Simpson and legalizing marijuana. Now, I am a strong believer of Christ and I am not "all for" the legalization. However, like my colleague stated, where is the separation of church and state? Just saying "God created it" isn't a "valid" explanation. Like another colleague of mine said, "Just about anything can fall under that comment." Yes, God did create everything on earth, but He also gave us brains to discern how to use the things He created. To win Texas citizens over with the legalization, Simpson should have disclosed scientific/medical information and proved how this substance can help individuals. I completely agree with Adrian. Where is separation of church and state? Really, David Simpson?

The Plastic Bag Ordinance

     Just two years ago, Austin faced a huge dilemma with the new City of Austin ordinance: the shopping bag ban. Now, in 2015, we are finally getting used to the ordinance. Many Austinites found this decision rather absurd, ridiculous, and inconvenient. It might be true. However, as funny as this sounds, I think Texas Government made a good decision to ban these thin, annoying bags. Reading an article last week, I came across the pros of eliminating plastic bags. Up until then, I was against this ordinance, but I rethought about my opinion.

     The first fact that caught my eye was that single-use plastic bags can take hundreds of years to decompose in landfills. This is absolutely not “good” for our environment. We want landfill to decompose as fast as possible. The second fact was that these thin, single-use bags are a major source of litter and can cause flooding by clogging creeks and storm drains. Lastly, one high-quality reusable bag can replace 600 thin plastic bags over its lifetime. Now, why would we want to fill our earth with garbage even more than it already is?

     By our State government putting an end to these flimsy bags, it gives Texas a chance to refresh itself. Yes, it might be inconvenient, but it saves our state tremendously. Why wouldn’t Texans want that for our state? To me, it is another chance at cleanliness. Again, we need to be open-minded and we need to quit being stubborn. Change is always good.