California Assembly Member Brownly has introduced legislation calling for a state-wide ban on plastic bags.  Additionally, the legislation would authorize retailers to charge for paper bags, up to $.25.  The bill is AB 1998 and was introduced on Feb.

Lois Kazakoff: On plastic bags and political will.  Lois writes about what is going to make a society change their opinion and laws about plastic bags.  Money, tourism and jobs.  Kazakoff, in a tiny editorial, writes that although plastic bags are not a priority for many tiny island nations - jobs and tourism certainly are.  And nothing will dampen tourism like a large

The city of Santa Cruz, California is considering banning plastic bags.  They are inspired by their neighbor cities and want to see if they can pass similar restrictions in their city.  This is what we at ConservingNow have been talking about when we say, "Together We Can Make a Difference".  It means taking cues from one another, listening, watching and seeing what wor

A quick search on plastic bags this morning reveals a major debate happening amongst the citizens of Maine.  Maine is considered following in the footsteps of a similar bill in the state of Washington, and taxing plastic bags.  A local television station asked its readers to comment on whether or not they would like to see a $.10 charge for the plastic bags they would use when shoppin

The News Herald reported last week on an environmental study about plastic bags in Florida.  Sure, there isn't much new in the report - and by that I mean there isn't much we don't already know about the dangers and pollution of plastic bags.  But there are some excerpts that are worth reposting here.

Did anyone see this article about Wal-Mart?  http://www.plasticsnews.com/headlines2.html?id=17257&channel=86

Our readers often forward articles about plastic bags that they find interesting or informative.  This article about CVS is from reader Rachel.  I love seeing major retailers making this type of change.  It sends a strong message about reducing plastic bags - the message that it should be on everyone's minds, not just the select few.  And who doesn't like making extra money

I was thinking this morning about all of my holiday shopping.  First there are the presents.  Then there is the food for holiday meals.  Oh and the ingredients for my holiday cookie get together.  And the decorations for the office holiday party.  Its amazing to me how quickly each of these little errands adds up.  In fact, its a wonder that any of us survive the h

This morning I stumbled across this blog post (http://www.vickiesmichigangarden.com/2009/11/life-without-plastic-grocer...) and it really got me thinking.  How did it get this bad?  Plastic bags are everywhere.  I'm not just talking abut the bags we get from retailers and grocery stores - I am also talking about bags for packing lunches; bags for packaging produce in the