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Green Journal - Chronicles of a greening woman
April 30, 2007

Inaugural Entry

I was standing in line at the grocery store a while back when a woman complimented me about bringing my own grocery bags to the store. She told me she knows she should do the same but usually forgets to put them in her car. In any case, she rationalized that since she lives alone, she doesn’t buy many things so she only needs a couple of plastic bags at a time.

I don’t know why but I kept on thinking about this woman. Why is it so hard for her and all of us to do “simple” things that we know we should do? After all, aren’t there hundreds or even thousands of simple green tips out there? Being the curious type, I asked friends why they don’t bring their own bags to the grocery store. Some said that they don’t have bags; some said it’s a hassle to “lug” bags around and some said it’s too hard to remember every time. Quite a few told me that although they realize that millions of plastic bags end up in landfills (and never disintegrate), their consumption, or lack thereof, is too small to matter. At first, my self-righteous indignation kicked in and I couldn’t believe the slacker responses from my educated and civic minded friends. I mean if it’s not a big deal, why did the city of San Francisco pass a ban on plastic bags in stores? But then I realize that I am really no better. Sure I remember to bring my bags to the store but how many times do I forget to bring my own coffee cup to Starbucks or use multiple Ziploc bags to pack a small kid’s lunch - too many to count.

As I am a self-recognized, type-A, result-oriented person, I am starting a small case study on “simple green tips”. My case study will consist of green journal entries written to track my actions, my inactions and the consequences. To make it doable, I’ve set a (personal) realistic goal of implementing one change per week but will track the cumulative effect of the changes. These changes will be every day things that everyone can do (rather than something like going out and buying a Tesla with your kid’s college tuition). The purpose of my green journal is two-fold: first is to motivate and remind myself to act on these simple green changes and second is to find others who would like to join me in implementing these changes to prove to the doubters that little changes can make a big impact.

Since the idea of bringing your own bags to the store started my tirade, I am making it my initial green entry. First, in response to my friends’ rationalization of:

“I don’t have any bags.” Well, grocery bags aren’t meant to be fashion statements. Any durable bag with handles or straps will do. If you really can’t find any, most stores are now selling large and small reusable bags. For $5, you can get 5 smaller bags that can carry a whole shopping cart’s worth of groceries, time after time. I spent $0 on my bags as I got them all from trade shows, community events or from the depths of my closet. My vintage Pan Am tote bag is a real conversation starter in stores!

“It’s a hassle to lug bags around.” & “It’s too hard to remember.” Yes, I agree remembering to bring bags every time is difficult, especially if you make several trips to stores in a week. My biggest problems are returning the bags back to the car and taking them into the store while occupied with getting the kids out of the car and safely into the store. To combat my forgetfulness, I actually hang my bags (after use) next to the backdoor so I don’t forget. And instead of putting them in the trunk, I put them in the car so I see them. My daughter is really good at reminding me and it’s a great green education for her.

“I really don’t use that many bags.” & “One person’s conservation isn’t going to make a difference.” Ok, statistics like 8 billion pounds of plastic bags and sacks end up in the waste stream annually is scary and can overshadow the impact of any single person’s action. I never thought I used that many plastic grocery bags either; after all, I have a small family and I try to consolidate my shopping trips. In the interest of this case study, I did not bring my bags last week to set a base line of my plastic bag consumption. For the 2 trips with average purchase for my family, I took home 11 plastic bags – 12 if I include the bag I refused to carry my gallon of milk!

So for my initial tally this week:

Number of times forgotten - None (hurray)!
Amount of resources spared - 12 plastic grocery bags
Time consumed to act on this change – less than 1 minute total: 30 seconds to gather my bags and hang them next to the door and probably 10 seconds to get them out of the car and into the shopping cart. Ok, to be fair, it might take a novice another minute to buy new bags at the checkout.
Extra upfront cost - $0 as I didn’t need to buy new bags

Next week’s action: bring my own cup to my local cafe. But so far, I think I’m off to a good start……

-CindyC