Washington, D. C. has joined the growing list of places recognizing that disposable grocery bags are an energy-wasting scourge. The plastic ones are not only responsible for killing various marine creatures and birds, they are a blight upon the land. The paper ones are heavy and bulky, which means that making and delivering them for their (typical) single use requires extraordinary amounts of energy as well as creating a demand for logging.
It's time for Salem to join the movement: put a nickel or dime tax on every paper or plastic bag from a retail outlet in Salem. Merchants will fall all over themselves to provide lots of options for inexpensive and durable cloth and net bags. Before you know it, there will be about as many bags laying around as there are pop-top beer can lids.
And Mill Creek and the Willamette and all our storm drains (that clog with plastic bags) will thank us!
UPDATE: Tom Toles, the brilliant cartoonist, nails it.
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