Last week, Jon told you that Mayor Bloomberg wants to charge a tax on plastic bags in New York City to get people to bring their own bags to the store.  Jon made the very good point that five, six cents…that’s nothing.  It may very well do nothing to stop people from just getting a new bag or five every time they go to the store.

Susan Dominus, writing for The New York Times, says that stores in rural France, where she used to live, charged for bags, but had a better form of behavior modification: shame.

You’d start loading your groceries onto the conveyor belt, and then would have to explain to the clerk that you’d forgotten your bags. She would grimace. For some reason, the bags had to be paid for in a separate transaction. This was slightly more laborious for her, and checkout time at [the store] was a precise, even tense, exercise in speed.

Yes, in France (and some other European countries) it’s as simple as making the idiot who forgot his or her bags feel like the world is ending for all the other shoppers, because of that one person.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced plans to levy a tax on plastic bags within New York City. “The most beautiful thing” that kinda creepy, kinda deep guy next door from American Beauty ever filmed (watch the clip below) is not going to come for free anymore in the Big Apple, if Hizzona has his way, with Bloomberg proposing adding a 5 cent tax for each bag.

The Mayor says the plan could raise $16 Million in revenue each year while encouraging shoppers to cut down on the number of the plastic bags they use from retail stores and move toward using their own reusable bags for their shopping needs.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m in Montreal this weekend visiting my family. And this morning while out getting groceries with my dad, I was trying to convince him to purchase re-usable canvas bags. And for this first time, he agreed. I paused. This battle was never won before so why such an easy defeat? My dad explained that he can no longer use plastic bags when throwing out our garbage thus eliminating his justification for getting grocery store bags.

And why can’t he throw out plastic bags you ask? Well, it started with a confusing answer. First, he tells me that the city dropped off a large brown bin where he has to throw food waste, leaves and other things listed in a packet of instructions that with the bin. Kitchen refuse? Leaves? No more plastic?

A compost bin! I exclaimed in the middle of IGA.

My dad was a little fuzzy on the details so when i got home, I discovered all of the literature (photo above). and in fact, the city gave all Cote St Luc residents a compost bin. The first pick up is Oct. 12, 2008.

How amazing is this?

Read the rest of this entry »

The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

TakePart Gang:

Everything I Know About Climate Change, I Learned in the Fifth Grade by Martin Musatov

When Torture Is Condoned, Is FISA That Shocking? by Wendy Cohen

* * *

Nicole Hughes:

Baltimore Woman Turns Tragedy Into Art

Why Don’t We Do More to Stop Global Warming?

* * *

Andy Kondrat:

Foods You Should and Shouldn’t Buy Organic

Paper or Plastic? The Environmental Impact

* * *

Jon Popham:

The Energy Independence Bill: A Filibuster Odyssey

“Bruno” Fools Mossad Agent

* * *

Gina Telaroli:

While Iran Tests Missiles, Test These 5 Iranian Films

Mao’s Out, Time to Capitalize On the Olympics

Every time you go to the grocery store, and the guy at checkout asks, “Paper or plastic,” do you freeze in a moment of panic trying to figure out what the right answer is? Now, if you freeze in panic because you really want to get the answer right because you need approval, then I’m not sure we can help you. However, if you freeze because you’re trying to figure out which answer is better for the environment, then you’ve come to the right place.

Today, treehugger.com posted an in-depth comparison of paper bags versus plastic bags, including where each type comes from, how each type is produced, and how each type is recycled. For example, for a plastic bag,

plastic bags are typically made from oil, a non-renewable resource. Plastics are a by-product of the oil-refining process, accounting for about four percent of oil production around the globe. The biggest energy input is from the plastic bag creation process is electricity, which, in this country, comes from coal-burning power plants at least half of the time.

But, for example, simply to recycle a paper bag

Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve been going bananas over apes on the blog this week. And we just learned about an action-packed web series called Gorillas in the Green House. The show inspires young people on how to take real-world steps towards a healthier environment.   A visionary green gorilla and four kids live in a magical greenhouse in San Francisco and they use their imagination and music to tackle the environmental challenges facing our generation.

The pilot episode  called The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, follows the gang as they overcome a  plot by Dr. Morlon Hufflebot to create an island of plastic bags in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

takepart learn how you can tame the plastic bag beast. And watch “10 Things you can do with a plastic bag!”

Related:
Gorilla In The Greenhouse: Schoolhouse Rock For The Green Age?
Apes are people, too!
Chimps and The Dawn of Man : Social Action + Cinema Videos of the Day

Target, where I bought Wayne’s World 1 AND 2 for $7.50, has gone one step further towards awesomeness by offering to exchange their plastic bags for reusable totes. Though I can’t find any information on Target’s website, from the “What Do You Stand For” website:

Send them your used plastic Target bags, and they will send you a coupon for a free reusable tote. They’ll even pay the postage by turning the cover of Newsweek, which features a pre-paid business reply label, into an envelope…

Target, which already prints 10 ways to reuse on the side of each plastic bag, partnered with TerraCycle, an eco-capitalism company, and Newsweek to turn plastic bags into reusable “Retotes.”

Read the rest of this entry »

I mentioned that the Bag Monster and Eco Elvis got into a bit of a scuffle last Christmas, but what exactly IS a Bag Monster and what’s he all about? Well for one, the Bag Monster would like to get rid of all these ridiculous plastic bag bans and earth-friendly reusable bag habits. Here he is below asking the Santa Monica City Council not to run him out of town:

Read the rest of this entry »

Environmentalists cheered when China announced recently that it would ban flimsy plastic shopping bags. As of June 1st, supermarkets will be forbidden to give free plastic bags to their customers, a more stringent measure than most developed nations have adopted.

But the War on Plastic Bags has caused some predictable collateral damage, forcing China’s biggest plastic bag manufacturer out of business, as the Guardian reports:

The shutdown of Suiping Huaqiang Plastic, which employs 20,000 people, highlighted the social costs of a government drive to clean up one of the world’s most polluted environments.

Read the rest of this entry »

Plastic bags are getting a bad rap globally; from Asia to Africa to Europe and North America, shoppers are being forced by bans to BYOB (bring your own bag.) But Ireland’s managed to convince consumers to switch to reusable bags without instigating a ban, as the New York Times reports today:

In 2002, Ireland passed a tax on plastic bags; customers who want them must now pay 33 cents per bag at the register. There was an advertising awareness campaign. And then something happened that was bigger than the sum of these parts.

Within weeks, plastic bag use dropped 94 percent. Within a year, nearly everyone had bought reusable cloth bags, keeping them in offices and in the backs of cars. Plastic bags were not outlawed, but carrying them became socially unacceptable ” on a par with wearing a fur coat or not cleaning up after one’s dog.

Plastic bag-buyers who find themselves subjected to scowls from more sustainably-minded citizens can console themselves with the knowledge that the 33 cent tax goes to the government to fund environmental enforcement and cleanup programs.

Learn more about the problems created by plastic shopping bags and find alternatives at reusablebags.com.