Daniel Burnstein, author of the University of Illinois Press book Next to Godliness: Confronting Dirt and Despair in Progressive Era New York City, wrote a guest column for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Seattle’s new bag law.

“Many people contend Seattle’s new law requiring a 20-cent per bag fee is frivolous and exemplifies government’s tendency to curtail individual freedom. But far from being frivolous, this innovative law will decrease the annual production of bags by 184 million – and the resulting 4,000-ton reduction in greenhouse gases will be multiplied many times over if Seattle’s model is replicated widely.”