I think the government is involved in enough already, to be quite frank. They tend to spend way more (of our) money and way less time on these issues (unless you count talking about it) than the average concerned citizen. It would be much more cost effective to continue spreading the word and let the market work its magic.

Laws that are made can also be amended and done away with. Knowledge is for keeps and presentation is everything. If the presentation of the facts make sense and are presented in a rational manner then people will discontinue practices that damage Earth on their own.

There is an insideous side to the whole "our lives are wrapped in plastic" reality. Even if plastic breaks down by exposing it to sunshine - it is really only breaking down into smaller and smaller bits of plastic. It never goes away. It does have effects on living things. There are plenty of things about it that we haven't discovered yet (good as well as bad). The truth is that plastic will forever be a part of our civilization but we really need to develop a way to break it back down into its core components (I believe it will be with the aid of specialized bacteria and heat) - but that research is soooo under funded. So the video shows the dangers posed by plastic bags on large ocean going animals, but it fails to point out the danger of plastics ending up in our soil. Damage to protozoans doesn't draw as many tears as baby seals. I've got this list in my head of things the human race is gonna be sorry about centuries from now - bermuda grass is on that list and plastic bags are on it too.

When I can I bring a cardboard box with me when I grocery shop. The only problem is that most grocery stores keep tabs on stuff going out the doors, and they need to see stuff in the plastic bags in order to know that I paid for it. I've even had store managers demand that my purchases be bagged inside my box or else they had to put the little day glow stickers on things for me to leave. I mostly shop at Sam's where they don't provide bags.

We buy groceries at Trader Joe's. We have two of their big tote bags, and any of their paper bags that we have to use, we reuse and reuse and reuse...no plastic bags from there. It's very difficult to get anything but plastic at any other retail store...hardware, clothing, etc. all use plastic.

We shop at Aldi's a lot and use cardboard boxes. I want one of those totes that say "plastic blows".

We try to take our own totes to the store. If we do get a plastic bag it goes in the re-use bag in our house and I use them as many times as I can. I'm really fond of stores that don't bag your stuff or at least give the option of brown paper bags that I can put in the compost after I'm done using and reusing them until they are not good for much else. I really do try to be as "green" as possible.

World market will stop all plastic bags in 2009.
As an environmentalist I could scare you out of your skin
with what we are doing to our planet,The slide show is just
a very small sample of what those bags do.

Blueangel

In Maryland the large groc. stores had the totes you could buy for $.99. Each time you use one they give you a nickle. I have several and try to use them as often as possible. I'm sure there are stores here that do the same, I'm just not aware of them. Not worried about the nickle but the tote yes.

I'm find it hard to beleive the number of people that take a bag for just one small item. Trader Joe's is a great example of how easy it could be for the merchants to convert to paper.
I understand from one of the chains main people that they really don't get complaints. When a customer ask why the lack of plastic, the customer is also satisfied with the reason, PLASTIC and IT'S AFFECTS ON THE EARTH.

Lowes Foods gives us points each time we use our own tote. I use my Shaklee tote, a doorprize at a Shaklee meeting. It has won me over. What a great idea! Thank you for caring.

Am I the only one that it irritates when they put my 10 pound bag of potatoes into a plastic bag? And when they put my gallon of milk in a plastic bag? I always take them out and say please use the bag for something else. It just makes me grit my teeth.

I have a cloth bag from Bilo, Walmart, and picked up two a Lowe's when shopping for lumber. My DH said we needed a cart for the screws he was buying when I saw the bags hanging next to the registers! I said yippee and bought two.

I'm taking a large bags of plastic Walmart bags back to the store today for them to recycle. I am going to migrate to all cloth bags.

We've been recycling all the bags we don't use to line out trash cans for years but have recently switched to the reusable totes. My hubby is better about it than i am, but since he does the bulk of the grocery shopping that's good. We bought 2 huge ikea bags when we stopped in june and he uses those as well as my target one and his lowe's one. I have the best of intentions but always forget the bag in the car. Just a matter of changing habits. If i only get a couple things i carry them by hand.

And, no, you aren't the only one, country girl- it irritates me to no end when they put something that already is heavy and has a handle in a bag. I do the same thing- take it right back out and make them put something else in it. I was in a wally the other day and got a watermelon and specifically said no bag. Not only did the clerk look at me, hear me and then not listen- she triple bagged it so it wouldn't rip! I just glared at her and left. Wasn't worth fighting over. Some people are clueless or dorks or both.

The cutest thing I saw was a shopping tote made out of old jeans. Now THAT is recycling. A bit heavy though for most shopping trips but it would certainly have held that watermelon!

Nancy the nancedar

I bought some woven mesh, net-like cotton bags online about a year ago. They are washable, too. I keep them in my car and use them for trips to the grocery store. Like someone else pointed out, Lowes gives you points for doing this.

Sally

making a bag out of old jeans would be fairly easy, too! Just cut off the legs and sew up along the bottom, then attach a handle and you're done. If you wanted more width, you could cut a piece for the bottom, and possibly stiffen it by using a couple layers or some plastic between layers. That is a cute idea!