I'm all for it. If you really need cheap plastic bags ... um ... buy then for 20 cents!

While we're at it, can we get rid of 90% of the packaging on products? That would be keen. Does cereal need to come in a box and a bag? Does everything need to be individually wrapped? Humans can take more toxics/pests into their systems that our babysitter society thinks ... maybe we should stop with all the individual wrappings and such.

Then again, I'm a pinko from Massachusetts.

I'm done with people thinking they can get things for free... especially things that damage the environment. If you're gonna trash our earth you'll just have to pay for it - literally.

Wow. That's awesome, and even better, this would probably be supported by the grocery industry because it'd help their bottom line (a long, long, long time ago, I worked at a supermarket, and they were *paranoid* about using too many bags, becuase they claimed they cost $0.02 each).

I've used canvas bags for years. It started because of the green side of things, but, man, it's just way easier to deal with two canvas bags of food rather than 15 flimsy plastic ones. That fact alone should sell people on reusable bags, really.

Grim, what grocery store did you work at that was paranoid about using too many bags? I need to start shopping there! Seems like every time I go to the grocery store without my cloth bags (oops, occasionally I forget them), I get one plastic bag per item, or worse, they double-bag everything. It's ridiculous!
Whole Foods recently phased out plastic bags here in Mass., dunno if it was just here or everywhere but I think that's awesome!

I hate plastic bags as much as the next person but can't we admit that the Nickels idea of digging a huge tunnel to replace the viaduct will do a whole lot more environmental damage than a bunch of plastic sacks? And he vigorously campaigned AGAINST the surface/transit option for dealing with the monorail. Plus, he's the same guy who killed the monorail at the first sign of cost-overruns.

I'm not saying that I want plastic sacks or whatnot, I'm just saying I think Nickels talks a better environmental game than he actually delivers. When is he going to ask developers to make any sacrifices to make Seattle greener?

ChrisB, you're absolutely right, which is why I'm glad he's finally doing something. All one can do is hope it leads to more, and possibly encourage him in that direction. Overall, though, I have been underwhelmed with his action:talk ratio as Mr. Green Mayor.

Oh, and you should read the Times and the PI's stories yesterday; a perfect example of the two papers' different biases (from where I'm sitting, more like the Times' bias vs. the PI's evenhanded approach). The Times is all "what will the poor families do? How are we expected to make this life-altering change????" while the PI is all "so, here's what's going down and why; what do you think?"

Oh lord, the Monorail. Don't get me started.

The cost of plastic bags, seriously?? With health insurance costing hundreds of dollars a month, they want poor families to worry about an extra 20 cents for a shopping bag???

Republican-biased newspapers are so effing WEIRD.

Chris, while I would probably agree with your complaints about Nickels if I knew the issues you're talking about (Grimsville is a long, long way from Seattle, so it's Greek to me), you're getting off topic. The issue at hand here isn't "Is Nickels the MOST. GREEN. MAYOR. EVAR?" but "Do you support the notion of a tax on disposable plastic grocery bags."

If you support it, support it. Something like this is going to have enough hassle getting put in place without the way-way left fighting with the left as they both fight the left-centrists, without bringing in an axe to grind about unrelated issues.

And while I totally respect and sympathize with your idealism (I'm wagering a guess from this and other political threads on here that we're generally on the same page with the issues), your approach is exactly why the left's laid down and let republicans walk all over it for years: In-fighting and sniping. You can't swing for the fences every time you come to the plate. Home runs make the highlight reels, but it's those ugly singles and bases on balls that usually win a ball game.