Monday, July 13, 2009

Bag Lady On A Mission



My husband started it. He came home from work one day with a reusable shopping bag (Where he got it, I have no idea.) and vowed to carry it with him for evermore, never to bring a plastic grocery store bag home again! He gave me a big speech about saving the planet, how plastic bags are not biodegradable and how we need to start doing our part at the supermarket. He was very excited, very sincere, very *ahem*cough*over-the-top*cough*, about it and he meant every word. This was about three years ago, way before the current trend in Los Angeles to “bring your own bag” shopping.

As I stared at him blankly, taking in his latest revelation, I wondered if my husband even knew where our local supermarket was. Grocery shopping is "not his thing”, if you catch my drift. I wished him good luck on HIS “plastic bag-free mission" and went about my business. Then I called my friend to have a good laugh about it.

Little did I know, my friend had a few "save the planet” ideas of her own. She was knee-deep in the book Omnivore’s Dilemma and was now on HER own mission-- That mission was chicken! My friend wanted better food choices to feed her growing child and was willing to make the added effort to find, and the added expense involved, to make it happen. After all, we live in Southern California, how hard could it be?

After extensive research, she found a truly organic, cage-free, roam around in the sun, chicken, to feed her child-- You know, a real chicken. It’s not as easy to find as you might think-- which, come to think of it, is shocking. But finally, after searching high and low and racing cross-town, in Los Angeles rush hour traffic, to pay a ridiculous sum of money, for a raw chicken, my friend found her chick-o-dee and was thrilled…. Right up until the butcher put her beautiful “pure” chemical-free, Sunshine State chicken into a plastic grocery bag. Talk about a buzz kill.

We discussed it, half laughing, half frustrated, and hands-free of course, as she drove home with her bird in the backseat. That was our “tipping point” as they say, and we both pledged to join my husband and swore off plastic (and paper) bags at the supermarket.

The idea of being “ahead of the curve” was appealing to us, although San Francisco, at the other end of the state, was really the mother of reusable bags (in the U.S.). And we liked the idea of “making a difference", all be it a very small one. We found some pretty cool shopping bags too-- Eye-catching and just the right size for large or small trips to the market.

The bags were just the start, as I expanded MY "Mother Earth mission", learning about more things I could improve on. I joked about tracking my carbon footprint as if it was the shoe sale at Nordstrom’s, but knew it was important. My friend and I also explained reusable bags to her child and the commitment we were making. She was all for it and anxious to join in. Big time!

In fact, early in the learning curve, gung-ho child busted both of us, on multiple occasions, for mindlessly taking a store's plastic bag. That resulted in carrying groceries out of the market in our coat pockets and purses. You learn fast not to forget your reusable shopping bag once onion dip is in your coat pocket-- Try explaining that to the dry cleaners! It can be a messy proposition but a commitment is a commitment-- especially in front of an impressionable 9 year old.

Fast forward a few years later and I’d estimate at least half of the shoppers at my local supermarket now bring their own reusable bags. My friend’s child ALWAYS does-- I only wish my memory was that good. I’m forever running back to the car to get my bags. But-- Not once in the last two years have I brought a plastic grocery store bag home with me! I’m pretty proud of that.

And yes, my husband takes total credit for it, although he’s yet to step foot in a grocery store!

Are you “saving the planet”?

Welcome to The Fifty Factor - Joanna

Photo Credit: © Willee Cole - Fotolia.com

44 comments:

  1. I'm trying! I have some really nice reusable bags. However - my brain is not so great! I'm forever forgetting them until I'm in line. I'll keep trying though!

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  2. Uh oh. I guess you are counteracting my mission to destroy the earth! :)

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  3. at least hubby was a catalyst...give him a little credit. (have to stick up for my fellow man, you know.) we compost, recycle...we should probably do more.

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  4. Okay, so I'm going to get my pagan card revoked here, but we need to get a grip...like anything else, some of this stuff is going to bankrupt us and not have any good effect but lining the pockets of some really clever people who started a lot of this noise.

    I'm sure you saw my post on Solstice Secrets Ye Must Know...

    And, finally, as my blessed father used to say, "Queenie, ain't none of us gettin' outta here alive." So far as I can tell, he's correct!

    And, if I don't have plastic bags, how will my neighbors feel about me leaving my dogs poo where they made it?

    To everything there is a season...even plastic bags!

    Here's to better living through Chemistry!!!! Hip Hip Hooray!

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  5. like you, I forget to take it with me, the idea hasn't fully sunk in, I thought the stores were changing to paper bags but they never did, but if you bring in your own bag, they take off a few pennies from your grocery so that's one incentive to bring your bag, but they were also quick to put your items in plastic bags so by the time you take your bag out, it's too late, I am still searching for the one good bag

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  6. I was in Europe about 20 years ago and noticed that they didn't even have bags in any stores. You either brought one with you or carried groceries in your arms as you left. I like to use the plastic bags for garbage bag liners. Am I bad? At least I don't buy plastic garbage liners this way.

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  7. first time (I think, I often forget) commenting on your blog; I'm close by in the Temecula area; I'm terrible about forgetting to use reusable bags; I do use the plastic bags to clean up after a certain corgi, and I know its not good for the environment. I'm trying to get better; we actualy did use reusable bags the other week at Albertson's when we bought some wine and Teva tea bottles my son likes

    betty

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  8. I posted a long blog about ideas to be more earth friendly, earlier this year. We bring our own bags too to the grocery store. Greg is very considerate and thoughtful about the environment. He deals with chemicals and has to be... I'm learning :-)

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  9. I know someone who made bags out of cut-off blue jeans...She sewed the legs up and put a shoulder strap over the top. Called it a BOOTIE BAG....tried to take it for grocery shopping but people thought she was stealing...good intentions, though....

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  10. I am too embarrassed to even comment. But I am so proud of you for sharing your passion with us.

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  11. Please don't be hatin', no I am not. My grocery store recycles their bags. If I ever have any to bring back after using them for trash bags, diaper bags, ect., I just recycle them. My daughter uses cloth bags, though, and so do a lot of my neighbors.

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  12. I use them as much as I remember to take them into the store. I even keep them in the car. Usually I remember about 75% now. Actually they hold more and it takes less trips to haul everything in so it's easier on me.

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  13. I keep reusables in the car and use them mostly because they charge for plastic bags in a lot of places now. I even recently washed my reusables! Here, we have to put organics in a green bin, paper and bottles and certain plastics go in a green bin, and that leaves a lot less for the actual garbage bin which is picked up every 2 weeks. Blue and green bins are weekly pickup.

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  14. I'm trying. I really am. I have about 6 bags and I use them regularly when I keep them on my front passenger seat so I won't forget them. The problem is, I have to move them sometimes to the backseat or the trunk (yikes) and then I forget to return them to the front seat until I'm in line. I get soooo mad at myself and swear it won't happen again. Yet....

    I'll keep trying though.

    Hugs!
    Kat

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  15. OH me?? Total bag freak :) Shopping bag, that is. Seriously. I have so many of them and can't walk past one without buying it. AND we use them. The village we live in banned plastic bags...India is famous for how bad it is in dealing with it, so we jumped ahead of a future problem and cured it now. I hate plastic bags....

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  16. Unfortunately I live in a country where they wont even allow you to pack your own bag. Someone is employed to happily put two (three if your lucky) items inside plastic bag after plastic bag. Expats like myself are trying to do our bit to help educate ... Imagine trying to explain the need 70 years ago in the USA - That's where we are now!

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  17. I have been using re-useable bags for years.. I even made some of my own out of cotton.
    I am now collecting them it would appear!
    Got any different ones over there? LOL

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  18. We bring our own bags to the supermarket...I am getting better at remembering;-) We recycle everything we can and my big thing is, I try to buy all of my daughters (she is 2)toys used, on craigslist or a local web site..especially if I buy her something plastic. The things I have bought her are practically new and the best part is they're usually half price!! I got her that awesome fisher price (real) digital camera for $20...it retails for $65!!

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  19. Our local IGA store offers paper or plastic. Half the time I get the plastic which I then reuse as "garbage bags" in the little wastebaskets in our lodging. The other half I get the paper and then return a bunch of them to the store when I've got a cupboard full. They can re-use them.

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  20. I love my reusable bags, but not because they Save The planet, but because I've always despised thos3 plastic bags. For some reason, the check out clerk can only put 2 items in each plastic bag so I wind up with 100 bags and they spill in the trunk. The reusable bags, however, they load to the gills, I end up with just 4 or 5 bags that stand UP in the trunk. Whenever I run low on bags for used kitty litter, or bathroom trash cans, I get some groceries in plastic bags. The reusable bags make me feel a bit like a granola-head, or some self-righteous university type (the only people who use them in this community) of which I am neither...but, I like them anyway.

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  21. Oh yeah, I've been a big tree hugger since my Ranger Rick days as a child. Growing up in the country helped make me aware of "what you put out, you get back." So we compost big time, have our own organic garden (it's kind of the only way I know to garden), and go to at least one farmers' market a week--bringing our own bags, of course.

    And we didn't get our bags from no fancy Whole Foods or nothin'. Nuh-uh, these are genuinely repurposed bags, mostly free giveaways from stores, schools and conferences.

    On the other hand, we do frequently use store bags. At the grocery store, we sometimes make a point of getting paper bags, because we use them as our recycling sorters. (Did I mention we recycle?) And we will take plastic bags when we have to, because we can recycle them at our local grocery store.

    Did you know that, if you recycle them, plastic bags actually have less of an impact on the environment than paper bags? Still more than reusable bags, but, y'know, sometimes the lesser of two evils and all...

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  22. In France it has been some years since they gave out plastic bags at the supermarket and if you forget your own bags you must purchase a re-usable one from them. It is easy to do and I have got so used to it now that I don't think I have a plastic bag at home either. xv

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  23. Three cheers for the reusable bag club! I've never had to learn to bring my own the hard way--we use returnable milk bottles, so bags and bottles go in the crate together and into the Momvan on shopping day. I think it's the cold hard cash of that deposit return that keeps me motivated to remember:)

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  24. I bought some bags but I keep forgetting to take them with me. duh

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  25. You know those reusable bags are just a huge marketing ploy by Wal-Mart and Publix and other huge consumer retailers - right? So, naturally, we have them too. Ha! But whether you use them or not, the plastic still gets manufactured and still gets used. Kind of like animals still get slaughtered even though lots of people become vegetarians in protest.

    But I guess, if enough of us get on the bandwagon, we will slow the death of the earth somewhat.

    Viva la reusable bags!

    Another great post, Joanna. Thanks for being brilliant. My brain and I appreciate it.

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  26. Thanks for reminding me! I was semi on the bring your bag bandwagon, until my bags got squirrel-pooped, so I haven't used them because I need to wash/sanitize them....SO, I think I'll do that today! And then perhaps go to HEB and purchase some groceries that I can probably do without, just to use my green bags (they're green, the ones they sell here).

    Anyhoo, you have a pretty interesting collection of bags in different designs, whereas I? I have 4 or 5 plain green bags, and green only, because I refuse to buy the blue Walmart ones, and I refuse to pay extra for the UT or bluebonnet ones at HEB.

    Are you interested in hosting a swap? That would be fun - everyone send in a nifty bag, and get a different one in return! I would even splurge on a "cool" bag for something like that!

    I'm Victoria, by the way - I found your blog via a link from Sandi's blog, and I like it! Nice to meet you, so to speak!

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  27. We do most of our grocery shopping at Sam's Club where bags aren't offered. We always grab a few empty cardboard boxes and put our items in those. Of course, then I make my husband carry them into the house because they're so heavy!

    My favorite "save the planet" technique is more in the form of home projects. I love to take an item and make it into something else. Remember our back porch bar made out of antique doors? That's the kind of recycling I really enjoy.

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  28. Yep, my husband and I are doing our part. We bought those big carry out bags from Costco and use them all the time! I save cans, but I need to be better about saving plastic, so I'll have to work on that in the future!

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  29. my daughter-in-law Amy is trying to get me to use reusable bags, she said when she lived in Australia they openly scorn those who ask for bags at the market.

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  30. Yeah yeah yeah.....meet the Pope, take your godson to the circus, save the world.....you're a deckster, you are, and I don't come close! :)

    Tryyyyyyyyying......said in a whiny tone.

    In Germany, they make you pay for a paper bag if you don't bring your own reusable.

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  31. I'm trying! I really do try! I keep some bags in my trunk. I don't always remember them...
    I just wish that some people would wash their "green" bags. You would not believe how dirty some of the bags are that I have to touch. It's gross!

    Glad to know you, again. Thanks for saving our planet!

    Hugs!!

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  32. we have been recycling for many years. As many of your readers point out the plastic bags are reusable and we do that.

    My wife does most all the shopping and she has a collection of bags to bring.

    I do think people get unreasonable about the whole thing. Some common sense always helps. Should we all stop consuming? I think it would be great if people didn't throw trash across the countryside.

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  33. I do have a few reusable bags and I truly give it my best. I use to keep them at home near the garage door, but would forget them more than take them. Into the car they went. I still forget and have gone back to the car to grab them. If I'm at the checkout with half of the groceries spilled out on the counter being scan I grunt, sigh... I might not be perfect, but I'm giving my best foot forward. Enjoy! xoxo

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  34. sometimes plastic :(

    mostly a bag from home :)

    wish they'd stop offering plastic and I would be better behaved.

    great post
    :)
    Ribbon x

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  35. I try, sometimes with more success than others. I forget to bring the reusable ones with me.. if I have them in my car, I'm driving my daughter's car - spastic stuff. Having lived in quite a few places, I've noticed that we're very likely to fall into whatever the standard is in a given location. In Holland, I wouldn't dream of showing up without my bags and that was almost 20 yrs. ago. Now in South Carolina, if anything, in 2009, I'm an early adopter :)

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  36. Hi everyone, Thanks for all your input.

    Reusable bags are my "thing". When I learned that the average American goes through 600 plastic bags per year, EACH and that plastic bags are essentially not biodegradable (they take more than 1000 years), I jumped on the "bag wagon". I know they are easy to use and great for garbage and dog poop, but they'll live on forever in landfills so I pass on them.

    It's interesting how reusable bag usage differs across the US and in other countries.

    Keep those cards and letters coming! I love hearing from you!

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  37. Hi All...I'm not sure how I found you (that's because I, too, am 50 something and the ol' noggin doesn't retain as much as it used to), but I'm here and have a comment on this exciting topic! A couple of years ago, I too, was ahead of the curve(along with your hubby) and bought myself 4 somewhat expensive bags online ($10.00 ea - they're really nice ones though and will last forever). This was before you could get them for a buck at the store. I was so proud of myself. My husband thought I was crazy and didn't want to be near me if we dared go to the store together with my bags in hand. It didn't take long, when we started seeing those cheaper bags, but he agreed, mine were nicer and then he wasn't as embarrassed to be seen with me. Nowadays, he now has one in his vehicle as well. Unfortunately, we don't remember to take them in to the store all the time, but we're getting better!

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  38. I'm trying. However---most of the time the bags are either at home or in the trunk of the other car. I promise to be better. I hate those plastic bags anyway - they are useless.

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  39. Well, ... I'm good with recycling, but seem to have too many plastic bags stored in my cupboard that I use to put garbage in, and gulp, disposable nappies, ouch. Do feel a little guilty about the disposables, but, I did cloth nappies with both my boys way back then and only used disposable when absolutely necessary. I have been enviro aware for many years, and try not to be a waste not want not woman. I'm just watching that rocket being launched right now, live on TV, all that burning fuel spilling out it's rear end, gee, wonder how much carbon emission is being wasted there.

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  40. I think of them as my new designer bags. I'm hooked on collecting the ones Whole Foods make. You can carry so much more in bags like these, and I have stairs to lug stuff up into the tree house so I really appreciate this added feature. Plus if you've ever had a plastic bag break with a gallon of milk in it & fall on your foot... [insert colorful word here]...[make that at least 3 colorful words]

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  41. You rock! I live in SF and I'm so proud of the city for outlawing plastic bags.

    In addition to tons of canvas bags, we have a couple of insulated bags that we got from Trader Joe's that are great because they'll keep your stuff cool for awhile.

    And kudos to your husband.

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  42. Definitely saving the planet - cloth bags, recycling everything... The Swedes are pretty advanced when it comes to the environment.

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  43. I have to admit to having at least 8 reusable bags in my house, and never remembering to bring them to the store. It probably doesn't help that I use plastic grocery bags to pick up my dog's poop about 2-3 times a day, does it?

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  44. We bring our own bags. The grocery store gives us a nickel off for each of them when we shop.

    As for carbon footprints... I'm greener than Al Gore. Hell, I even have a recycled dog.

    That's good enough for me.

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Thanks for stopping by and commenting, I really appreciate it.