No Paper Nor Plastic

China has recently banned the use of plastic shopping bags at supermarkets and other shops to chip away at the nations growing consumption of oil and looming environmental crisis. It is reported that China uses about 3 billion plastic bags a day, allocating 37 million barrels of oil annually. The bags also are banned from all public transportation, including buses, trains and planes and from airports and scenic locations.

Environmental organizations, including Greenpeace, praised China's move, and the president of Worldwatch Institute, an independent research organization in Washington, said "China is ahead of the U.S. with this policy.” Agreed.

Because these flimsy bags are used once and discarded, adding to waste in a country grappling with air and water pollution as a result of rapid economic transformation, I think this is a positive stride towards a greener China. Clearly, there is more to be done, but such new policies keep more optimistic (compared to last week when I ranted about the end of the world).