Reusable shopping bags don’t work if forgotten

Out of respect for Mother Earth and in fear of Al Gore, I have at long last switched to reusable shopping bags. And I’ve already made a large, if unintentional, contribution to the cloth bag industry. That’s because every time I go shopping, I forget to bring along my environmentally friendly shopping sacks, thereby forcing me to buy a whole new set. My collection could fill a landfill. Of course, I’d never throw them away. They’re reusable, after all. And Al Gore would kill me. Or, at the very least, he might make me eat granola.

I try to be a good steward of our lovely globe. I have a cabinet in my kitchen that bulges with baggy good intentions. If you’re crazy enough to open it, you’ll be hit by an avalanche of feel-good fabrics in every shape and size. I have drawstring bags I can wear on my back, ultracompact satchels in retro colors, well-woven market baskets and tony totes made of recycled waste. I also have an organic, hemp peasant sack. Carrying it makes me feel a bit like a character in a Tolstoy novel.

Don’t tell Mr. Gore, but I even have a stash of plastic bags in that cabinet. (I’m good, but not that good.)

The inconvenient truth is that while it’s good to be green, it’s not always easy, especially if you’re as scatterbrained as me. There are lots of products on the market designed to help manage our good-hearted notions of nature protection, such as bags that hook on to your keychain. The idea is that you won’t forget your keys, so you won’t forget your Gore gear. But if you’re like me, you easily can lose both, leaving you locked out of your house and forcing you to buy yet another reusable shopping sack.

And there are compact bags to toss into your purse so that you always have them with you. But again, if you’re like me, your purse barely has enough room for the really important things such as a brush and lipstick. Surely Al Gore can understand that.

Page 1 of 2

1 2 Next