APRIL 9, 2006
Do
you ever say never at the grocery store? I try to say never when I go to the grocery store. The question is: Would you like Paper or Plastic? I proudly display our canvas sacks, and say neither thank you because I am trying to say never to either at the grocery store. Sometimes I forget, but this canvas bag is an outward and visible sign that I am thinking about the earth and the consequences of my actions.
No, it is really not a huge deal in the scheme of things if I take home a paper sack. I will always recycle the bag anyway, but carrying canvas is a good behavior pattern to adopt. If we all carried canvas fewer barrels of oil would be used and fewer trees cut.
I went home after we had gone to the farmer's market and pulled out our canvas bags. We have about twenty of them that we have collected through the years. About 10 are plain, but the writings on several tell a story that perhaps we all should listen to.
- Hughes Market - on the bag "This bag helps the environment by reducing the use of paper and plastic."
- Earth Day - 1991
- Coastal Clean Up Day - 1992
- Santa Monica - "A Sustainable Community"
- CCOF - Support Organic Farmers
- BSR - "Business For Social Responsibility"
- TJ Willey Farms - "Everyone Who Eats is a Farmer"
- Nissan Corporation: "Reduce, Reuse Recycle"
I do not see these too often at the grocery store anymore. And, I am always asked paper or plastic? With a smile I say neither thank you, for we brought our own. Now I am working on our grocery to credit us a nickel a bag the way Whole Foods does when we shop there.
Let's reduce our dependency on foreign oil, and American oil, and Venezuelan oil by saying no to the plastic bags at the grocery store.
--Peter