As San Francisco goes, so goes Boise.

That's not something you hear too often, but you will, if Corey Godfrey and his fellow anti-plastic shopping bag crusaders - newly christened "B.Y.O.B.B.," or "Bring Your Own Bags, Boise" - have their way.

The small grassroots group met for the first time Sunday afternoon at Veterans Park to strategize ways to make Boise disposable shopping bag-free.

San Francisco was among the first cities to adopt such a ban in 2007. Some countries have banned the bags, which have earned ignominious nicknames around the world, like "white pollution" in China.

Dressed in Bronco gear, Godfrey, whose day job is selling vacation club memberships, made his case.

"The average American family accumulates 60 plastic bags in just four trips to the grocery store. That's a lot of plastic getting stuffed away in drawers and under sinks," or making its way into the environment, he said.

He's always been earth-friendly, but has never considered himself an activist. Until now.

"I'm not a total tree-hugger freak, a radical who will chain myself to a tree. I'm just a very concerned parent and citizen. As a father of two, I don't want my children growing up with harmful plastic particles floating around in the world," he said.

Courtney White, a teacher in the business school at Boise State, said she's concerned about bags breaking down into tiny pieces that get into the ecosystem and groundwater.

"Water is finite. We drink it, marine animals live in it. As a business person, I don't think the convenience of plastic bags is worth the cost of the damage they cause."

B.Y.O.B.B. members are talking about getting Boise schools and businesses to go without plastic bags for a week. Many local stores are already selling reusable bags stamped with their logos, from Boise Co-op to Walgreens.

"In some places, it's actually a faux pas to be seen carrying plastic," Godfrey said.

B.Y.O.B.B. wants to encourage more local businesses to become public, community leaders in the anti-bag cause. A Wall Street Journal article noted that disposable bags cost American retailers $4 billion a year.

An article in the Journal just this weekend, though, noted that the issue of reusable bags is complicated.

Lots of the reusable bags produced and sold to consumers who are trying to do the right thing are made in China. Making them uses energy, so does shipping them here.

Then, getting in the habit of actually using non-disposable bags is another hurdle altogether.

"It's just a matter of changing habits," Godfrey said. "It's like putting on your seat belt. It's just one of those things you have to adjust to."

Anna Webb: 377-6431