State Plastic Bag Ban Considered

(February 5, 2008)

- Elisabeth Rosenthal, New York Times

Container Contest: County Takes A Look At Ban On Plastic Grocery Bags

(February 4, 2008)

- Rachel Tompa, Monterey County Herald

Motivated By A Tax, Irish Spurn Plastic Bags

(February 2, 2008)

- Lynda Arakawa, Honolulu Advisor

China Bans Free Plastic Bags

(January 9, 2008)

- CNN

Plastic Bags Fly into Environmental Storm

(November 16, 2007)

- CNN

Human Behavior, Global Warming, and the Ubiquitous Plastic Bag
(September 30, 2007)
-Peter Applebome, New York Times

The Great Plastic Bag Plague
(September 5, 2007)
-Tara Lohan, AlterNet

Plastic Bags are Killing Us
(Aug. 10, 2007)
-Katharine Mieszkowski, Salon News

What can you do?

1. Take the pledge.
2. Join the cause on Facebook.
3. Share your ideas
   on how to make the change.

Plastic bags are ubiquitous. Each year the world goes through some 500 Billion plastic bags. Of that, WorldWatch Institute estimates that about 100 Billion are used and discarded in the US alone, at the cost of 12 million barrels of oil.

Only about 2% of these bags are recycled. Most have a short lifetime with a consumer -- they are used for the few minutes it takes to get from the store to home and then they're thrown away. Plastic shopping bags can last up to a thousand years in a landfill. In the environment, they break down into tiny, toxic particles that become part of the soil and water. They contribute to the plastic debris in the ocean, which kills an estimated 1 million sea creatures each year.

Strange Days on Planet Earth: Dirty Secrets

Plastics in the Ocean

Bisphenol A and Endocrine Disruptors

Biodegradable plastics