Calfornia lawmakers votes to ban plastic bags in supermarkets

It looks like single-use plastic bags are a thing of the past here in California. According to the LA Times and GOOD Blog, lawmakers voted 41 to 27 on Thursday to ban the bags in supermarkets, but retailers will still be able to provide the bags for a nickel.

So how many plastic bags does California use? About 19 billion every year, which averages out to 552 per person! Kind of insane, no?

California Bans Plastic Bags -GOOD Blog
California lawmakers act on flurry of new bills -Los Angeles Times
In California, a Step Toward B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bag) -The New York Times

image by Anna Otto (NYT)

An interesting read from the Opinion section of the New York Times on cussing and why we do it. The piece is a collection of six short articles by educated – or educating (four of them are university professors) – people explaining “Why Do Educated People Use Bad Words?”

People need special words to convey emotion, which is, by nature, ineffable. For those who use them, swear words are linked to emotion in a visceral way. People who speak more than one language report that they always curse in their native tongue; they can say swear words in a second language but they don’t feel them — the gut link to emotions just isn’t there.

-Deborah Tannen

Why Do Educated People Use Bad Words? -The New York Times