There's Plenty to See by the Sea

The Oregon Coast offers endless sights and experiences. Here's a few ideas that are practically in our own backyard.

At a look out area and gift shop 500 feet above sea level, you can catch a spectacular view of Cape Foulweather. It's a great place to see whales and bald eagles. The gift shop has windows lining the outer wall overlooking the cape, with plenty of binoculars to borrow while inside the shop.

View to the South at Cape Foulweather from a lookout point by the parking lot.

Visitor's at the Devil's Punch Bowl explore during low tide.

The Devils Punch Bowl is a great sight both during high tide and low tide. During low tide, you can actually walk down and into it. Careful to pay attention to the tide though. Getting caught inside during high tide would be very dangerous. 

A plume of water blowing through a small hole in the rocks at Thor's Well.

Thor's Well is located just South of Yachats. It's an exciting place to visit when the tide is coming in because the waves burst straight into the air through a hole in the rocky shoreline. Careful not to get too close to the ledge if you want to stay dry.

Something really exhilarating along the coast is Devil's Churn. The view is nice, but to really experienced it, walk down to the rocks. Here, you can feel the mountainside rumble each time a big wave comes in. Due to this, the best time to go is when the tide is coming in. It truly feels like the devil himself is knocking.

 Jonathan Jones pears into the cavern the waves have carved into the mountain over the years. This is where the waves crash into to make the deep rumbling sound.

Aside from the many sights to see, there's plenty of marine life to see as well. 

A small crab hides in a crack between rock formations where the brutal waves can't reach it.

Sea anemones start to close as the tide starts to change to low tide.

A seagull looks out towards the ocean.

Why Bag Bans Are Only Logical

 Six months have passed since a group of middle school students from Memorial Middle School's "Green Team" spoke to Albany City Council about banning the plastic bag. The City Council Listened respectively as Danielle Hernandez, William Summit, Laik Gregory, and Joshua Labelle presented their case. While Mayor Sharon Konopa suggested they make their proposal to legislature, the movement seems to have lost traction.

That could be due to the fact that folks in Albany just want to keep picking up their animal excrement with their "free" from the grocery store bags, or perhaps they think it's the government infringing upon their rights.

It was clear that former editor of the Democrat-Herald Hasso Herring thought it was an invasion of government, stating in his blog post that covered the event, "Albany has so far avoided this particular intrusion of what people can and cannot do."

I personally can't comprehend why someone would think that way when it's abundantly clear that there would be nothing but good to come from a plastic bag ban.

There are many things under the direction of the government that the public has limited or no access to because of the negative effects it has on living being or the environment. Take the insecticide DDT for example. It was banned in the US in 1972. It's pretty common knowledge that it's bad for the human body, but it is also highly toxic to marine life.

Nobody seems to be upset that it's been banned though.

So why is it that so many people get upset when having single-use plastic grocery bags gets threatened?

The common arguments seem to be that folks thinks the government is encroaching on their rights, and they also like to reuse those plastic bags for garbage.

Wait, what?!

People are actually getting upset that they won't be getting those bags for "free",(after making a  purchase of course), so that they can use them to put garbage or pet waste in, just to throw it in their garbage bins and send it off to the landfill.

That's doesn't settle well with me.

Aside from that, though, there are plenty of other things that come in plastic bags that can be reused. For example, bread and fresh veggie bags can easily be reused. I always save mine to reuse for whatever because I feel guilty just tossing them.

A lot of people argue that single use bags can be recycled. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of places that accept plastic bag recycling and they end up having to be taken somewhere specific if you want them to be recycled. Even then, the US EPA estimates less than five percent of plastic bags are recycled annually. Ouch.

Luckily for us, America's largest supermarket chain just announced on August 23 that they will be eliminating the plastic bag altogether. Kroger says they will eliminate plastic bags from all their stores by 2025. They will start with ridding their subsidiary QFC of plastic bags by 2019. Other well known operations under the Kroger company are Fred Meyer, Frys, Harris, and Ralph's.

They already offer one dollar reusable bags that will still be available for purchase, and they will still have paper bags available.

Kroger said they are responding to growing environmental concerns raise by shoppers, employees, communities, and nonprofits.

When you stop to think about it, banning the bag is the only logical answer to getting the world back on track to take care of the giant floating space orb we call home.