Seattle mayor Greg Nickels has a new green proposal on the table: start charging 20 cents per disposable bag at grocery stores, according to HeraldNet.com (Snohomish County's online news source. Who knew?).

I'm all in favor. The article author, however, is not so much (emphasis mine):

I’m all for green progress. I’m totally in favor of paying more for greener options. I’m also a huge fan of Conlin’s push to make food waste recycling mandatory in Seattle.

But this move strikes me as a bit extreme or at least premature.

Then again, maybe I’m just not ready to let go of plastic bags entirely.

While I often use reusable bags at the grocery store, I still rely on plastics when I forget them and then, like many people, I reuse them for other purposes, including cat litter disposal, lunch sacks for work and as general trash bags around the house.

I have a friend who relies on the water-proof nature of plastic bags for the disposal and transport of dirty diapers when she and her kid are on the go. In a world without cheap, mass-produced, mass-distributed plastic bags, what are we going to do? Buy high-end new bags for such purposes? How will this impact low-income people who can barely afford to buy groceries?

Is it just me, or is this last bit a tad ridiculous? Of all things to worry about on behalf of the poor… sacks? When any Value Village has piles of canvas sacks for pennies? Pu-leeez.