Those reusable bags that are piled in my trunk....

OK, so another fad in green living is the reusable grocery bag. You know the ones that sit at the ends of the grocery isles. And the ones you bought that are sitting in your trunk that you remember as you come to get in line with a full cart...and then you feel guilty and think about buying a whole new set...

And they are not just at the grocery store. They are everywhere. You can even get them with the name of your favorite sports team. I just bought one for my sister at my favorite LOCALLY OWNED retailer, Lily Jane. It is made by Bungalow 360 and is a great sturdy bag. Much sturdier than the cheapies at the store (with a price tag to reflect that). There are even silk shopping bags for the stars with a very hefty price tag of $943. Yikes!

So how much good do these little numbers do? Well just as you suspected, one or two bags do not end global warming...and if they sit in your trunk they do no good at all. But if we use them, do they do good? NPR had an interesting story on this. One thing that really stood out to me was a statement that in the end, only 1% of the environmental impact of a grocery trip is in the bags. About 7% is in the packaging of all the other items in the basket, and 90% of the impact is in products themselves.

So the bottom line is, yes, use reusable shopping bags. They are good for you! But every now and again skip 'em so that you don't have to buy bags to scoop the kitty litter in or to put in your bathroom trash can. Also, if you do use bags, make sure they make it to a trash can or preferably a recycle bin. Don't let them float around and get stuck in a tree somewhere...that is so tacky! :) And if you spend big bucks on them, don't think that this is money invested into the environment...a silk shopping bag is all about the look. But a sturdy canvas bag will actually last longer, so it may be a good investment.
THis one is a little number I made from an old t-shirt. Not so great to look at, but works well and is the ultimate way to repurpose something old to do something good.

Reduce Reuse Recycle Repeat!!

Stop it!

This is a campaign that I really like...it catches the eye and is profound in its simplicity. Stop it. Stop litter. So simple, and yet, why can't we do it.

But you know what I realized this year...we are ALL litter bugs. I mean, I turned 30 this year and I like to think now that I am absolved of all sins of comission or omission committed in my twenties. And in my twenties I did not think much about the problem of trash. But everytime we throw a bag away, it is like creating a little timecapsule to be buried in the earth for future generations. Scary huh? I guess I had the idea that all that stuff would "rot" and be gone after a few years in the trash dump. But no, turns out all that plastic pretty much preserves whatever is inside it forever! Ugh! So I am thinking a bit more about what I do with my trash!

So step 1 is easy: RECYCLE. And oh, I am ashamed at how easy it is! I already have to carry my trash to the conveneince center, so all recycling means for me is sorting some of my trash before taking it. And it is amazing how much space this gives you in your trash bags! If you don't throw anything stinky away, they last about twice as long in the kitchen can. I have just stuck a second can outside for plastics, glass, and cans. Also, this month I finally got a box for paper. So now I am set. I am really happy because my husband has gotten into it too! It thrilled my heart the first day he called to me holding a plastic bottle of some kind and said, "Isn't this recyclable? Where do I put it?" I am thrilled not because my husband is some kind of bum that I have to drag around on stuff, it made me happy because he was choosing to do this recylcing thing with me, and when we both decide to do something we are a powerful force. But when one of us is not on board our behavior tends to "resent to baseline" as I say at work.

Anyway, so we have gotten step one down. Step two is of course to minimize the stinkiness of the trash in the can by composting. I have not made it quite to that level, but I have started throwing food trash over the hill into the bramble a little ways from our house. That is the benefit of country living. But I have been reading some stuff on growing my own food, and composting can really help that process, so I am going to work on getting it set up over the winter so that I have some good compost started for Spring. Here is one instructional site about composting. This site says that 30% of waste comes from compostable yard and kitchen stuff. Man, what if everyone had a hill to chuck that stuff over, it would really reduce our trash! But also, compost is actually a valuable resource, so by putting in our plastic bags and burying it with our trash, it cannot be used for anything and is wasted!

So back to the issue of trash. I found a great blog that comments on the trash of Nashville. It is called "The Earth is Not a Trash Can" and she takes pictures of and comments on trash around town that she finds. She also includes informative articles and commentary. And it is important that places like Nashville think about the trash problem now, while there is no crisis, versus waiting until a crisis looms, like in places like Long Island New York or Naples, Italy.
Picking up trash and recylcing that trash or our own trash is a small first step to helping our world. Also, think about your trash. Is there someone who can use what you are about to throw away? Can it be fixed? Can it, or parts of it, be recylced? Could you use it for a few more months? Can it be flattend so that it takes up less space in the landfill? Just a few small ways we can do something good for our world.

Got any trash tips to add? I think you will see more posts on the issue of trash in the future, but this is just a start.

NOT green, but VERDANT

Verdant... it means living, growing, green. So I am trying to go Verdant, not just green. Why? Why go verdant when everyone is going green? Well, the reason is, that I want to cut through the lies that have become the "green" movement. And I want to find a livable way to care for the environment with eyes wide open to what is going on in our world.

When I say the lies of the green movement, I mean that terms like "green" and "natural" have been hijacked by everyone from the makers of cleaning supplies to cell phone covers. And it becomes hard to tell what is just marketing and what is actually going to help the environment. And sometimes we spend hundreds of dollars on supposed "green" items when we can do things that are more important to the environment by making small and free changes right in our own home.

The second issue is that these life changes have to be possible. We have to determine what is important to do and then find good ways to do it. I plan to take a real world look at the issues that face us daily and give some inspiration and encouragement about how we can be better to the environment.

So I am going to try to cut through this crazy maze and find small ways that we can all live a little more verdantly each and every day.