CLEVELAND, Ohio - We use plastic every day, and it's polluting the planet.

National Geographic -- led by former Plain Dealer editor Susan Goldberg -- tackled the issue in June with its cover story, "Planet or Plastic?" and ended its practice of wrapping the magazine in plastic. Goldberg, who headed the PD from 2007 to 2010, will speak next week at The City Club of Cleveland.

In Northeast Ohio, restaurants, volunteers and community organizations are doing their part to keep plastic out of Lake Erie.

Lynn Ischay, The Plain Dealer

Lake Erie has the second-most plastic of the Great Lakes.

The Euclid Beach Adopt-a-Beach Team

Millions of pounds of plastics are discarded into the Great Lakes. Lake Michigan has the most debris, with 11 million pounds, and Lake Erie is second with about 5.5 million.

Straws, bottle caps, cigar tips and other plastics are often flushed from streets through storm drains and into the lake. Then it washes up on shore, making up about 80 percent of the litter on beaches.

The average person uses 1.6 straws each day, according to the Ocean Conservancy. That means millions of straws polluting waterways and possibly harming wildlife. That's why the U.K. recently became the first country to ban plastic straws and California might follow suit.

Cleveland's Market Garden Brewery, along with its four sister bars and restaurants, began to skip on all single-use plastics late last year. Guests only receive straws if they ask for one or with certain cocktails. They then receive a paper straw.

"I am an avid kayaker here in northeast Ohio. Every time I'm on the river, I see plastic garbage," said owner Sam McNulty. "It's a frequent reminder of how a piece of plastic that we might use for a second goes on to last permanently in the environment."

We’ve joined forces with @sustainableCLE and the #SkipTheStraw campaign! Starting this month, Melt will not automatically serve a plastic straw with each beverage. We are thrilled to be doing a small part to help save the environment and our precious Lake Erie! 🚫🥤 pic.twitter.com/aQgVfwF4V2

Melt Bar and Grilled announced their "Skip the Straw" campaign last month. "Lake Erie supplies the water we drink. No matter where in Ohio you live, your life depends on water from Lake Erie," reads the press release. "Melt is thrilled to be doing a small part to help save the environment and our precious Lake Erie."

the world would be better without disposable plastics. we're working hard to remove them all from our restaurants and...

Critics of the "Skip the Straw" movement argue that there are intended negative consequences. Many people with disabilities rely on plastic straws as essential tools for food and drink consumption. Even though some people see straws as unnecessary, others view them as crucial.

Additionally, paper and metal straws are more expensive than plastic straws, so switching over could be costly for small businesses.

"Doing the right thing is oftentimes more expensive," said McNulty, owner of Market Garden Brewery, McNulty's Bier Markt, Bar Cento, Speakeasy and Nano Brew Cleveland. "But I sleep better at night knowing we're not putting thousands, millions of plastic straws out into the environment that are going to outlast our grandkids."

Drink Local. Drink Tap. is a Cleveland non-profit that organizes regular beach clean-ups. Since 2015, they have picked up more than 5,000 pounds of trash.  They, and other environmentalists, want to reduce the number of plastic bags, bottles, straws and cigar tips that end up in the lakes, and water everywhere.

1. Use reusable bags and bottles

Euclid, Collinwood annual Big Clean

The Euclid Beach Adopt-a-Beach Team

The day before Earth Day this year, Collinwood and Euclid competed to see which community could collect the most trash. Hundreds of volunteers teamed up with The Litterbugz to help clean up the neighborhoods and Great Lake, and Euclid came out victorious. Euclid collected 236 bags of trash and Collinwood collected 116. Collinwood organizer Stephen Love said they are planning to have The Big Clean 2019 on April 20, 2019.

Our latest @NatGeo cover is one for the ages#PlanetorPlastic pic.twitter.com/NssiHOtaYc

"Will eliminating a plastic magazine wrapper save the planet? Well, no," Goldberg wrote in the June issue. "But it's an example of the kind of relatively easy action that every company, every government, and every person can take. And when you put it together, that adds up to real change."

Lonnie Timmons III, The Plain Dealer

Goldberg, the 10th editor-in-chief of National Geographic, its first one of Jewish descent and its first female. Next week at the City Club, she is almost certain to discuss Nat Geo's April issue, in which she acknowledged the magazine's history of racism in reporting, including its subject matter and photography.

Here's Drink Local. Drink Tap.'s 2018 clean-up schedule:

Saturday, July 14, 10 a.m.-noon

Perkins Beach (entrance at upper Edgewater Park)

Sunday, August 5, 10 a.m.-noon

Main beach at Edgewater Park

Wednesday, August 22, Happy Hour, 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.

Followed by an after-party with Barefoot Wine and Bubbly at 6 p.m. for volunteers 21 and older. Main Beach at Edgewater Park.

Saturday, Sept. 1, 10:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m.

Main Beach at Edgewater Park

The Euclid Beach Adopt-a-Beach Team

Here's Collinwood's community clean-ups:

Saturday, July 21, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 18, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Street clean-up; Collinwood Rec Center, 16300 Lakeshore Blvd.

Saturday, Sept. 15, 10 a.m.-noon

Euclid Beach clean-up for International Coastal Clean-up Day.

Saturday, Oct. 27, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Street Clean up; Collinwood Rec Center, 16300 Lakeshore Blvd.

The Euclid Beach Adopt-a-Beach Team

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