Because Virginia has become the state where the sun does not ever shine and the rain does not ever stop, Recycla had to drive her children to school. Again. Because walking to school in the heavy pouring rain and boggy mud actually sucks and it’s not the way to get the day started off well for the Recycla children, especially the younger one, who’s not a fan of school on a good day.
Recycla doesn’t like to take the car out for only a one-mile round trip drive, so she decided to also run errands and make more efficient use of the car. As the fridge in Recycla household was echoing in its emptiness, Recycla felt the time had come to go to the grocery store. She grabbed her cloth shopping bags and headed out the door with her children.
Recycla wasn’t really thinking about saving the earth while she was at the grocery store. She was just there to get milk, cereal, apples, and other necessities so that her children wouldn’t starve. She did put her fruits and veggies in her reusable produce bags, thereby eliminating the use of approximately four plastic bags. She also opted not to buy cookies for her children, knowing that she could bake something far yummier and for less money and waste. (Now if only Recycla actually bakes those cookies…) And, of course, Recycla had her groceries bagged in the cloth bags she brought from home. Recycla was at Whole Foods, which does not offer plastic grocery bags, so she figures she DID NOT use about six paper bags. If Recycla had been at a different store that does offer plastic bags, she WOULD NOT have used approximately ten plastic bags.
As Recycla was stowing her groceries in the trunk of her fuel efficient car, another car pulled into the space next to hers. The lady shopper got out and, briefly, the two women made eye contact. The other shopper glanced over at Recycla’s cloth bags and said, “Oops, forgot my bags.” She then reached into her vehicle and pulled out her own pile of cloth bags.
At that moment, Recycla felt a warm glow in her heart — probably entirely unrelated to the coat she was wearing — and realized that she had just made a difference. A small difference, true, but it doesn’t matter. Because all it takes is for everyone to make one change. Use one less bag today and next week that bag won’t be in a landfill or, worse, next month in the stomach of an animal that mistook it for food.
Now extrapolate a bit. Imagine if everyone eliminated just ONE bag every week. Or FIVE bags every week. Think about how many bags that is over the course of a year. Now, if you haven’t already, go find your cloth bags and put them in your car, on the passenger seat next to you, so that you’ll remember to use them the next time you shop. If you don’t understand the reasons why you should cut back on your use of plastic bags, or you need to know where to buy some, please click here.
It’s going to be a good day.
Am smiling still after reading this post. You are absolutely right.
I took a plastic bag tonight when I hit our local Giant Tiger (neighborhood everything store). BUT, I did tell them no bag for the milk (it comes in it’s own bags), and I did double up the butter and eggs into one bag and left the other one for the next customer.
I have to tuck a bag back into the bottom of my purse.
Hey Recycla – I have a question – way back when, at the turn of the century, women fishmongers used to weave “bags” out of newspapers. I’ve been looking for a “how to” do this for ever. Have you any ideas where I could look?