As we head into the new year, on What’s Trending, Hongbin Jeong and Alexandra Parada talk about stories that got us thinking about both everyday habits and the future ahead. 

With shoppers still buying millions of plastic bags despite a five-cent charge, an NUS professor has suggested raising the fee to 10 cents, reigniting the debate over convenience versus sustainability. And zooming out even further, as listeners shared their predictions of life 27 years from now, we looked back at how people in 1998 imagined 2025, getting some things right like online shopping, remote work and even a deadly new disease, but missing others, reminding us that when we predict the future, we may be revealing more about our hopes and anxieties today than what tomorrow will actually bring.