This isn't about Paula Creamer. I just added her to the page to cheer me up.

The ubiquitous filmy plastic bags we use to carry our groceries are convenient, free and - no surprise - popular. But unless they're properly recycled, they'll exist on earth for 1,000 years before decomposing. And they will not go quietly. In the USA, we use 100 billion bags a year.

Paper bags, meanwhile, generate 70% more air pollutants and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This is because four times as much energy is required to produce paper bags and 85 times as much energy is needed to recycle them. Paper takes up nine times as much space in landfills and doesn't break down there at a substantially faster rate than plastic does.
So, what's the answer? Canvas. Go here, buy some and take them with you to the grocery store. Empty the contents and take them back the next time you go. One person can make a difference, if there are enough of us.

Then...

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court rebuked the Bush administration Monday for its inaction on global warming in a decision that could lead to more fuel-efficient cars as early as next year. The court, in a 5-4 ruling in its first case on climate change, declared that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.

We needed the Supreme Court to tell us that?

Whatever else comes of the decision, "this administration's legal strategy for doing nothing has been repudiated," said David Doniger, counsel for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group involved in the case.

Other states that have adopted California's standards on emissions of greenhouse gases are: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Cleaner cars and less plastic. That's a start. Did anyone see that 60 Minutes piece on Sunday? Scientists have taken core samples from ice in Antarctica that tells them that greenhouse gases have increased, starting at the time of the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. It's been almost two days since the broadcast and I haven't heard any anti-warming nutjobs coming out against the science this time. I guess maybe they can't argue with a core sample as easily as they can argue with Al Gore.

The report is here, and if you missed Sunday's program, it is worth the time to watch.

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