Environmental Enlightenment #16 (Reusable Produce Bags)

I've been taking reusable grocery bags on my shopping trips for quite a while now and whenever I got to the produce section I always felt bad about having to use those thin plastic produce bags. I tried to rinse them out and reuse them, but at the most I could get two uses out of them. I had no idea that reusable produce bags even existed until I happened to come across an ad for them in a magazine. Right away I knew I had to have them!

Environmental Enlightenment #6 (Picking up litter)

Since my parents scolded a drive-by-littering I have become increasingly aware of all the trash in the streets. Add to this the fact that the snow recently melted revealing a nice coating of trash (mainly plastic bottles.) In all seriousness it makes me feel gross. It saddens me to imagine plastic bottles being tossed out of cars with the thought of...? I know that people care about their homes and personal space and it makes me very sad to think that those feelings don't extend any further than their front doors. Also, the recycling drop-off center for my neighborhood is at the end of the block. Come on people! Combining all these factors creates a perfect storm of annoyances for me. So instead of complaining, I decided to do something about it. I'm going to set aside some time each day to go for a walk (exercise, yay!) and pick up trash along the way. I'll end my walk at the recycling drop-off center and return home with any un-recyclables. Of course picking up trash involves some precautions for health reasons so I will be wearing plastic gloves. I did some research and discovered that latex is in fact biodegradable, but landfills don't necessarily create the best environment for decomposition. On the other hand (pun intended) there is a synthetic latex glove made from Nitrile which most recycling facilities are now able to recycle. I haven't decided which glove is the lesser of two evils yet, but I'm hoping to make that decision by tomorrow in order to get this show on the road!

Environmental Enlightenment #1 (Reusable Bags)

My first step towards becoming more environmentally friendly was reusable bags. Easy enough, right? Well, not for everyone. People have told me that they often forget to bring their reusable bags with them to the store. I did this too at first. It's a habit that takes some getting used to and now I try to keep some bags in the car at all times. Still, I rarely see people in stores with reusable bags when I go out to do my shopping. Yet I see them for sale in just about every grocery store. Usually for $1 a bag. Not bad! I've seen reusable bags for sale at big chains like Target, Home Depot, Walgreens and Forever 21 (just to name a few). Even at places that sell the reusable bags it seems like the cashier is always thrown a bit off balance when I present my own bag. Again, I think it is the habit of bagging in paper and/or plastic that is imprinted into our brains.