by Uncle
Bear
After
reading Melissa Napier’s excellent essay “Plastic
Bags,”
in the Foothills Transition newsletter, September 2012, my thoughts were, “What a
great concept. Imagine my not using plastic grocery bags (PGBs). I bet I can do
this.”
Then reality set in.
What
would I do without PGBs? While I grew up before they existed, now they’re an
integral part of my daily life. Stop using PGBs? Was it possible? Slowly I
began to develop a plan to do just that. Three days later I put it in motion.
Standing
in a checkout line with four small items I smiled. My purchases would fit
nicely in the tote sack I carry. This
would be, “One
small step in reducing my use of PGBs, and one giant leap toward helping save
Mother Earth.”
Arriving
home I realized I would have immediately put the (now offensive) PGB to use. “Now what am
I to use? And, what am I going to do when my stock of PGBs was exhausted and I
had no replacements?”
were my thoughts. Because I save and use plastic bread wrappers (PBWs),
it occurred to me, I could try substituting a PBW for a PGB.” With childlike amazement I watched myself
easily make the switch.
In
the final analyses how close to “PGB free” can I
become? I don’t
know. I do know, however, I’m enjoying all the challenges
connected with trying.
