TODAY'S WORD IS PLASTIC BAG

Marks & Spencers is a staple to English society like tea & scones to the Queen.  Now they’re making UK shoppers go green just like their logo, by charging them 5p (10c) for every plastic bag they request.  With 13bn plastic bags being give to UK shoppers every year, it takes up to 1,000 years for them to decay. This means damage is done every time you get a craving for their apple crumble or roast lamb oven specials. 

So now at Mars & Sparks, when you pay 5 pence for these no longer free plastic bags, all money raised goes to environmental charity, Groundwork -  an organisation investing in green spaces for local neighbourhoods.  Sir Stuart Rose, Chief Executive of the company, is aware that the biggest offenders to plastic bag usage is the food industry and is making the first steps towards ambitious environmental plans for a 2012 goal.

Back across the pond on New York’s subway street, Joshua Allen Harris has positioned plastic bag installations above the grates, periodically inflating into the ‘Air Zoo’ and the ‘Air Bear’.

So if plastic bags don’t go towards building new environments, they can go into the hands of an artist who can alter an otherwise noisy, grumpy, soiled New York space for a comic moment.

I told you it was all about balance and displacement.....