Question

ginas community is considering whether it should ban the use of plastic bags. help her analyze the costs and benefits of using plastic and paper bags by completing the paragraph. based on the data presented, bags have less impact on earths resources. even though bags have less impact on organisms in the oceans, the production of bags uses more of earths materials and releases more carbon into the atmosphere.

Explanation:

Step1: Analyze resource - use data

Looking at the "use of materials in production", plastic has +++ and paper has +++++, so plastic uses fewer materials. Also, for energy use plastic has ++ and paper has +++++, and for water use plastic has + and paper has +++. Overall, plastic has less impact on Earth's resources.

Step2: Analyze ocean - organism impact

From "litter in oceans", plastic has +++++ and paper has +, so paper has less impact on organisms in the oceans.

Step3: Analyze carbon - release data

For "release of carbon in production", plastic has ++ and paper has +++++, so paper releases more carbon.

Answer:

plastic; paper; paper