One could say that we’re living in a fascinating moment in history. I would also say that it is overwhelming. In the past two years, spurred by a horrible natural disaster in Hurricane Katrina and the release of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, U.S. media headlines have begun to swim with mention of global climate change. Thank goodness, the national debate has shifted from the question, “Is global warming a myth?” to “Exactly how bad is it?”. In the days when many argued that climate change scientists were overreacting, my take on the issue was that global warming was happening. Ironically, I also managed to avoid reading about much of the evidence that would support my view. Maybe not ironically… maybe intentionally. It’s scary stuff.
The national debate has changed, and I am now sitting neck-deep in overwhelming quantities of complicated, contradicting information about environmental activism and climate change. Because conservation is now “in”, a “light green” movement has emerged, asserting that we can help the planet without changing our lives in drastic ways– how about just cutting your shower a minute or two short? Buying recycled toilet paper? Trading that Lexus SUV in for a Lexus hybrid SUV? It is exciting to see a shift in national consciousness toward concern and conservation, but once everyone (read: corporate America) jumps on the bandwagon, the message is bound to get watered down.
Read the rest of this entry »
A Few Statistics
- Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide, with the US alone burning through 100 billion.
- Producing 100 billion plastic bags takes 12 million barrels of oil
- Worldwide, 1% of all plastic bags are recycled
- Estimates for the amount of time it takes a typical plastic bag to break down range from 500 to 5,000 years
Bag Quest
It happened in stages: First, I started thinking of plastic bags as more than simply a vehicle for my groceries– it was an extra item. Next, I began to realize how many of them there were, eating up the cabinet space below my sink. From there, I began to politely inform grocery employees that I was “fine with a lot of items in each bag,” at which point the grocer would put twice as many items in a bag, but double-bag it. Then I realized that a local grocer had recycling bins for bags and dropped them off when I could. Now I use our odd variety of canvas bags to complete the shopping task.
I don’t have it down to a science yet; in fact, I often curse my way down aisle ten and have to leave a full cart to retrieve the forgotten canvas bags from my trunk. But people, I can’t tell you how great it feels to be free from the single most prevalent consumer item on earth. Granted, now I’m realizing that plastic bags hold most of my food purchases anyway, but the plastic Kroger bag is officially banned from my life, and it wasn’t even that hard.
Read the rest of this entry »