My mom has always been a great mentor to me on saving the planet. She has never lectured on global warming or the effects and outcomes of not recycling, but she has always lived the motto of reduce, reuse and recycle, even if she wouldn’t call it that. I can remember going to the grocery store with my mom when I was little, she always had cloth grocery bags to use. I never remember seeing the other moms using cloth bags. She started using reusable cloth grocery bags in 1979, when it was not so cool to use them. Not until last year have reusable bags really gone mainstream. Most national or local grocery stores have their own bags for you to buy and use at the store. I have heard some of the statistics on plastic bags and it is pretty depressing, but we can all start helping out now.
If you don’t have any bags yourself go out and buy some. Support your local farmers market and buy them there. If they don’t sell them buy them from your favorite grocery store. Keep them in your trunk or by the back door. It will help you remember them when you go out shopping. If you forget your bags when you go out shopping or if you are just going in for one item, don’t take a bag. This is another great way to reduce your consumption of bags. If it is one item do you really need a bag?
Two websites that I have found to help spread the message as well as help with the problem are 1 Bag at a Time and ReusableBags.com. These are two other great resources for getting reusable bags. I don’t really believe that all the worlds problems will be solved by using reusable bags, but I do believe that it will make a big difference if more and more people will start using them.
If you know of other great resources to find out more reusable bags or other great places to purchase them from, please leave a comment.