I'm heartily indignant right now. Indignant at conversations had long ago and with people I don't even know, but if they were here and now, I'd give them a tongue lashing, oh yes.
6 years ago I commited, via New Years Resolution, to start using canvas/reuseable bags when I shopped. This was waaay before the greening/eco movement had made it so that everywhere, including my local latin market, has their own, logo stamped, re-useable bags for sale. I got weird looks. I had bagboys tell me, perplexed at my repeated requests to NOT wrap my groceries in plastic before putting them in my canvas bags, explain to me as though I were stupid, that the plastic bags are free. "Not for the Earth", was my usual retort. We went from having a surplus of plastic bags in the house, bags of bags in the garage, bags of bags in the kitchen, under the sink...everywhere there was space because this was before you could recycle them, and I wouldn't throw them away...to having one plastic bag holder packed to the brim with bags. But where did these bags come from, if I've been so good at taking canvas? Well, sometimes, ladies and gentlemen, I forget, ok? I'm not perfect. I end up at the store and realize my bags are at home. Oh well. Also, and this is the part that's got me somewhat indignant- I save ALL plastic bags. The ones that carry my pita bread, the ones that carry the bread, the ones that carry the ones that carry my bread. Despite my best intentions to eliminate plastic bags, they're everywhere. And you know something? It's ok.
Sometimes you just need a freaking plastic bag, ok? As the conversations fueling the indignation reminded me, the justification for why we're packing our groceries in multiple bags to carry the 50 feet to the car, then another 50 feet to the house....or even to walk home with (triple bag it then) is that sometimes you need a plastic bag. We uuuuuse them. Ok. I get it. I use them too. But I cannot believe that anyone who goes full gangbusters at the store on the "free" bags actually uses all of them. And I'm aggravated today because I just had to pack up a BAG OF BAGS because I had too many than fit into my little happy chef's butt (this is my grocery bag storage. And I don't even want them. As I bundled up a bag from the wheat bread I bought from Costco, and went to shove it in his butt, I marveled at the thought that these people who tell me they HAVE to get the bags, because they uuuuuuuse them, though I never say anything about their bag consumption...it's obviously their guilt upon seeing my canvas bags and the need to justify their consumptive behavior. How many of them throw away the bag their bread comes in? And this pisses me off.
Yesterday I sold my first eggs to strangers. I've sold to friends before, but never to strangers. I put an add on Craigslist, and boom! Business. I met the cute hippie couple next to the theater before rehearsal and sold them my eggs, then chatted with them for a little bit about chickens, compost, veggie gardens, and flax seed. You know, hippie talk. They were lovely and brought me cartons for my future eggs and gave me some flax pulp they had just received for their worms to try feeding to my chickens. All in all, a nice experience. On my ride home after rehearsal, I was chatting with a castmate and I said something to the effect of having not paid attention to something as it was "hippie talk" and he laughed and rebutted that it was ironic that me, raiser of chickens, would be berating that sort of thing. But I'm not a hippie. I do have hippie tendencies, but I mainly just have eco-OCD. And I like keeping chickens.
This notion that in order to care for our planet you need to be some kind of liberal, labeled hippie person is so very damaging. 18 years ago I took on the challenge of the purple rag, which is a challenge to define a noble life and then to live it. In my journal entry from the night I took on this challenge, I espouse very clearly the importance to me of living a life that is careful and respectful of the earth. This is 18 years ago, people. I'm not saying I started the green movement or anything, but I'm pretty damn impressed with 19 year old me. I also talked about not "preaching" about my life choices, but to just live the best life I can and to lead by example, not by words. But here I am blogging about it. Oh well, it's supposed to be a lifelong challenge.
Make a conscious effort to stop using plastic bags at the grocery store. I promise you, you will still end up with bags you can uuuuuse. Look to ways you can stop throwing so much away, and think of things you can do that won't even change your life much, but will help the planet. And if you need a tote bag, I know where you can get some.