Dear editor:

While I admire all efforts toward cleaning up our local environment, we are fighting a losing battle. 

My family and I clean up the Lake Ontario shoreline and woods around NOTL every day of the year.

I am a die-hard environmentalist and I am becoming disheartened. 

We absolutely must stop buying the harmful products we do and stop this problem at the source now. We need to take personal responsibility as well as urge our government to ban many products that have not existed in other countries for decades. 

Please research how little consumer packaging waste is actually recycled and or reused. I guarantee you will be shocked. Recycling is not enough and should not be regarded as a feel-good option. 

Items we can stop buying or using now include: Plastic bags (your bananas don't need an extra layer), bottled water (our tap water is pristine), balloons (I collect an average of five large foil balloons per week, some wrapped around the wildlife they have killed), and tampons with plastic applicators. I have picked up thousands of these on our beaches at the risk of my own health.

Start with this list. Tell all your friends.

Beth Macdonald
Chautauqua