Nine months now into the La Marguerite blog, and I forgot the green bags again. If I, out of all people, still goes blank about the bags, what does that say about the rest of the population?
The North Karelian Experiment came to my mind. I can write and talk about green until I am blue in the face, but if the environment is not there to support me, not much is going to change. As long as the ‘Paper or Plastic‘ option is available, there is a part of my brain, that says the hell with all your green tirade.
‘Paper or Plastic’ represents one more piece in the Not So Green Exposure Project. The day Whole Foods ceases to provide the delinquent receptacles, I bet you, I will suddenly, miraculously, remember to bring the green bags.
Simple solution — when “asked paper or plastic” say none! Have them put it back in your shopping cart. Load the goods in your car (hybrid of course) and go home feeling green.
your life experiment is in the process of changing my own perceptions. although green for life. i realize that indeed, i am surrounded by petty carelessness.
worse—— i am participating in rebellious activity.
plastic for trash, paper for fireplace or vegetable storage, and the little recycling half reasons sneak behind the guise of green reasoning.
and the frugal fools keep on fooling themselves. we wait for commerce or government to take the first step. not in this political climate, they won’t!
tomorrow, cloth bag….mine is ecru colored.
PS: Pervenche does not want to go out in the rain.
For the average consumer, the day that the store has no containers for them, is the last day they go to that store
They supply the stuff because people want it. They can’t change unless everyone changes, since a business that doesn’t give people what they want is not a business for very long.
I wouldn’t sweat it over a few plastic bags. As I’ve said before, the biggest contributors to household greenhouse gas emissions and resource consumption are domestic electricity and heating/cooking, closely followed by transport, then together at about the same are meat, other food, and rubbish. That’s basically three-quarters of all your emissions and resource consumption. Get that lot right and the rest is not that big a deal.
Worrying about plastic bags when you (say) have an SUV and a jacuzzi is like worrying about the scratch when you have an arterial bleed. First things first. Don’t kick yourself for this minor stuff, keep your eye on the main goal, and on the big contributors. Do kick yourself when you drive a mile to the shops instead of walking, or eat cheeseburgers six times a week, or use a 5kW AC unit to cool the whole house when you’re just sitting by your computer all day and could use a fan, etc.
How about sticking a note over your front door handle or car steering wheel, that has to be removed when you leave the house, reminding you to grab some bags?
Or, you could have the reminder tattooed backwards on your forehead so you would see it in the mirror every morning. But that would be extreme!
Thanks all for your comments. I always marvel at the diversity of perspectives.
Roger, just so you know, even when I forget the green bag, I forgo the plastic bags for the larger produce items, I ask that the larger products not be bagged, I try to get by with only one paper bag (no doubling please), and I reuse the paper bag at home.
Nadine, you make me smile, as always . . . It’s raining like crazy here also, and yes, Pervenche is sitting on my front porch, waiting for more auspicious days!
Kyle, I can count on you for bringing the big picture. The article, though, is not so much about the bag story itself, but rather the bigger point about the North Karelian experiment. As long as the environment is not there to support people’s green intentions, actions will be slow to follow. Unlike you, however, I feel rather optimistic about the future. I feel a wave a change about to arise from cities mainly, and states like California. The political scene is also changing – see Obama’s victory in Iowa – . And I do believe that leaders are emerging all over to bring about necessary structural changes. It is happening very very rapidly.
Cowrin, I will to think about the tattoo . . .:)
And that was my point, too – that while [i]social[/i] change may be [i]encouraged[/i] by government, in the end it comes down to individual actions.
Consider for example desegregation in the US. The number of people actually prosecuted for lynching was very very small. Yet individuals decided to stop doing that, and when they stopped lynching, a lot of other racist behaviours, a lot of day-to-day nastiness just dissolved away. The real change started from the people, from individual actions, and they focused on the big and important things. The civil rights activists didn’t worry about whether the oppressed people should be called “coloured” or “African-American” or whatever, they worried about segregation and lynchings. They focused on the big things, knowing that the little things would follow after that.
When they focused on the big things and the movement became irresistable, [i]then[/i] the government stepped in to help and encourage the change. But it couldn’t have happened without the people acting in the first place.
I just want to emphasise that our governments are followers, not leaders; they can help things along, but they can’t make things happen – that’s up to us. I’m always wary when I see, “the government should do something!” because it often means, “I should do nothing.” I know that’s not what [i]you[/i] mean, but talk of how this or that government is being wonderfully helpful – that encourages that strain of thought, that we can just do nothing and rely on the government. If MLK and his buddies had thought that, then there’d still be segregation and lynchings in the US.
Yeap!
I have a few Chico bags and ACME bags from reusablebags.com and they always go back in the glovebox of the car. That way we almost always have them with us. The bags fold him into tiny packets so they’re easy to store.
Just a thought so you don’t forget. I try to keep one of the ACME ones in my coat all the time (I’m in Chicago, so yes, wearing the coat quite a bit now).
-Jason
http://www.screamtobegreen.com
It’s a good point. I always remember all the bags I have at home to use when I’m standing in line there to get new bags. Sigh.
Does anybody know about this site ( http://www.earthlab.com ) ? I have seen other environmental sites with carbon calculators like yahoo and tree huggers, but I am wondering what the deal with earthlab.com is, is it credible? I saw they also published a list last month of the top ten greenest cities ( http://www.efficientenergy.org/Top-Ten-Green-Cities-in-the-United-States ). Does anyone know if this site is better than say WWF site? Fill me in
I took their carbon foot print test and it was pretty interesting, but they said that I put out 4.5 tons of carbon while another test gave me like 15 tons? I think I trust earthlab.com’s test a little more (because my score is lower). Does anyone know about any other tests?
No, Adrian, I did not know about earthlab. There are so many carbon calculators out there.
My personal take on carbon calculators as of late: so what?
I don’t know about you and other readers, but I just wonder what is the practical use of carbon calculators. What do people do with the information? Does it lead to change in behaviors? I suspect not.
I prefer to focus instead on categories of actions. We know that cars, space heating, and lighting/appliances for instance are three main contributors of ghgs. Am I doing all I can in these three areas, is a more actionable approach, as far as I am concerned.
[...] social work model, gives meaning to how I, and the majority of Americans have been feeling and acting. It also validates social experiments such as the North Karelia Project. One of the most flagrant [...]