Two weeks ago Alisan ranted about the use and abuse of plastic shopping bags. Obviously it's going to take more than one rant to get folks to overcome this regrettable habit.

In fact, I think it's going to take government intervention.

For all the success of our local green please reusable shopping bag campaign (kudos to Emilie Lewis for her vision and persistence), asking "please" is just too nice an approach to this overwhelming problem. And "no thank you" is not an appropriate response from the nice old lady I saw loading at least 15 half-filled plastic grocery bags into the back of her SUV the other day (which is probably left idling while she shops during the winter) .

What are these people thinking?

The Board of Supervisor's in San Francisco have come up with a solution: ban the use of petroleum-based plastic bags in supermarkets and drugstores. If signed into law by Mayor Gavin Newsome, San Francisco would become the first U.S. city to enact legislation to do away with this enormous source of waste.

In fact, estimates are that San Franciscan's use over 180,000,000 plastic shopping bags each year.

According to San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi:

The ban would save 450,000 gallons of oil a year and remove the need to send 1,400 tons of debris now sent annually to landfills. The new rules would, however, allow recyclable plastic bags, which are not widely used today.

Lately, I've been thinking about circulating a petition at the upcoming Eco-Fair, trying to gain citizen support for a local ordinance banning unnecessary vehicle idling. Now, I'm inspired to generate support for a local ordinance banning petroleum-based shopping bags as well.

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