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Mother Jones‘ hometown, San Francisco, yesterday became the first U.S. city to ban non-recyclable plastic bags from use in retail stores. Not only do conventional plastic bags take up space in landfills—1,400 tons in San Francisco alone—they also require petroleum for their manufacture. City supervisor Ross Mirkarimi said, “We can’t sleepwalk into the future. The end of the era of cheap oil is here.”

Bags made from biodegradable materials such as potato starch are actually stronger than plastic bags, but cost more to produce.

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PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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