That'll do, pig
Mary Isakson
I love the pithy eloquence of Farmer Hoggett’s famous line from the 1995 movie, Babe. It's an amusing theme that runs in the back of my mind, reminding me of the importance of avoiding wastefulness.
Every day while cooking, eating, shopping, commuting, and even relaxing, moms make hundreds of choices that involve balancing our families’ resources with consideration of our environment. It would be paralyzing to spend hours consciously deliberating each decision, of course -- so it makes sense to pick out key issues and train yourself to focus on them.
Non-biodegradable plastic bags are an easy and obvious target. Their use has proliferated wildly over the past twenty years. See, for example, this September 2, 2003 National Geographic News article regarding their impact on the environment, and efforts to promote reusable bags in their stead. A more current piece in the Christian Science Monitor also addresses efforts to ban non-biodegradable plastic bags. Even though I reuse my bags as garbage can liners, my family, left unchecked, can accumulate a phenomenal number of bags. I have lately been training myself to reduce the number of bags I bring home.
Certain retailers are helpful in this effort, most notably vendors in the farmers’ market who routinely ask, "Do you want a bag?" rather than automatically providing one. "No, Thanks," is my default answer. I try to only accept a bag when I truly need it, pressing my purse, a tote, or even my gym bag into service instead.
I have carried this lesson over to other stores, where retailers otherwise automatically bag every little item. "I don’t need a bag, thanks." I blurt out while paying, trying to say it quickly, before the clerk has grabbed a fresh bag from the rack.
A word of caution: Unload all totes promptly, lest you forget an item. I can tell you from experience that it is unpleasant to discover a banana in one’s jacket pocket a few days after a shopping trip. Never mind the time the juice container fermented.
Free access to non-biodegradable bags has helped to make them ubiquitous, promoting mindless consumption. It is easy to envision retail shopping without them; many of us can still remember the days before their use was common. Reusable alternatives are readily available. Developing the habit of carrying a tote is not a major inconvenience. It is an easy thing to say, with regard to the overuse of plastic shopping bags, "That’ll do."
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Overuse of bags can drive me nuts too. I think bagging gallons of milk drives me most nuts. Only one fits in a bag, and they already have handles!
I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few items - four cans of tuna, a brownie mix, a vidalia onion and a bag of carrots. As the checker reached for a second bag to put the carrots in, I said, "Oh, you can just put them into the same bag with the other things" which he inde Sometimes. Unfortunately, before I had the chance to stop him he then took the one bag and put it right into another bag. Sometimes less is more.
I once told someone that I didn't need a bag, instead of just keeping the one on the ream they were begining to pull it off they threw it away... I told him I was trying to save bags not waste them.
Just wanted to let people know...Kroger (a midwestern grocery store chain) now has reusable bags. Bags can be purchased for $2.99 and they give you $0.05 back on every purchase that you use them. In addition to helping save the planet you are saving money too!
I started my own business designing reusable grocery bags because I couldn't stand the piles of plastic bags I was accumulating!!(and in NYC they are NOT recycled!) I also didn't want to be a walking billboard for my local grocery store, so I make cotton bags that are stylish and functional! I find it easy to remember them by always keeping a few in the trunk of the car and hanging them by the front door after I unload all my groceries. There's always one folded up in my handbag, too.
check them out at http://www.minusbags.com