Each year the world makes about 5 trillion plastic bags^{(art exhibit)} using about 20 billion barrels of oil, each bag able to last thousands of years. In 2007 cities began legislating against plastic bags from outright bans to mandatory surcharges, starting in San Francisco, then Hong Kong, Melbourne and now some countries in Africa, Israel and even the entire country of China are taking similar strides to cut down on the worlds bag obsession. Who's next in 2008?
posted by stbalbach on Jan 16, 2008 - 78 comments

The Algalita Marine Research Foundation's video Synthetic Sea is pretty shocking. "All we can do is stop polluting and hope the system will clean itself up in hundreds of years." So, what will be the fate of the plastic bag until the inevitable ban comes? Should they be Taxed? Should they be Banned ? Should stores charge extra for them? We don't really have a lot of time to argue about it.
posted by chuckdarwin on Jun 27, 2007 - 36 comments

Our shameless culture, by David Cox (The Guardian): Iran has shown the British what kind of people we really are: without honour and without shame. The Sun, the now officially approved disseminator of British military information, notes that navigator Arthur Batchelor was "tormented" by being called "Mr Bean". Understandably, he had to cry himself to sleep. Perhaps President Ahmadinejad feared that the goody bags might just prove a step too far. But no, they were gratefully received, in a response that aptly captures the infantilisation of a people that once ruled much of the world. Navigator Batchelor has however since complained that the quality of his own bag's contents was not what he had hoped.
posted by hoder on Apr 10, 2007 - 94 comments

Book Bags. That's right. Bags, made from books.
posted by empath on Oct 3, 2006 - 27 comments

Airline Bag Lounge Retro airline bags from around the world.
posted by ColdChef on Apr 12, 2005 - 11 comments

Odd Collections: plastic bags, X-rays, fish posters, air-sickness bags, uggly Fozzies, impaled garden gnomes, owls and bananas.
posted by grumblebee on Aug 28, 2004 - 4 comments

Bag Tag "We are sorry that our President is an idiot"
posted by alball on Jun 7, 2004 - 36 comments

Bountiful American Leather Babes On The Rampage: I was looking for umbrellas, traditional British umbrellas, to shade me from the Portuguese summer sun, when, all of a sudden, I came across a cornucopia of beautiful, classic American briefcases. I still use the capacious, weather-worn Schlesinger case my father gave me when I was twelve. Well waaah! Now I want a new one. The British cases are desirable too. In fact the whole damn shop is one big leather dream. I mean moleskines, fountain pens, books and bottles are all very nice - but real men, like real women, need truly big leather bags to carry their whole life with them. Along with a good umbrella, of course. One of those Malaccas with a hidden flask for whisky, perhaps.
posted by MiguelCardoso on Jun 4, 2003 - 16 comments

Bag +bag=bag
posted by swift on May 24, 2002 - 12 comments