Going Green(er)
To my surprise, this month's Vogue has an extended batch of stories about green alternatives to conventional things - organic cotton clothes, sustainability, the whole thing. Very cool. They mentioned reusablebags.com as a site selling, well, reusable bags, some of which are Fabulous (and pretty, and rather hilariously expensive), with the harrumph that fer heavens' sake, fashion is about fabulous bags, too, y'all. So on top of the cashier at the grocery store yesterday mentioning that Massachusetts may be outlawing those recyclable plastic bags that seem to gather along the highways and byways of our fair Commonwealth, I decided it was time to - well, shop, a bit, but also add to my somewhat meager collection of inadequately sized fabric bags, and fit myself for really doing the grocery shopping using ALL bags I bring myself. We'll see how it goes. I ordered some black string bags and a couple of large black tote bags, which allege that they hold about as much as a regular grocery bag. Any suggestions for remembering to bring the bags with me? Probably get into the habit of storing them in the car, I guess.
The other thing I'm trying to do consistently is only drive the minivan when there's a lot of kids or gear to transport or a really long distance to travel. The rest of the time, when I drive (which I try to do as little as I can), I take the little car. Better gas mileage, less expensive, much more efficient. Also the dog doesn't seem to get carsick in the little car. The gas bill does wonders to concentrate the mind on conservation measures. Remember when Bush & Co. were going on about how measures conservationists suggested were unworkable because if implemented, they'd result in gasoline costs of $3.00 a gallon? Funny, huh. Now we've got the prices, all right, but without any environmental benefit attached.
I'm a wee bit jealous of my friend Laura's solar panels. My roof can't take them, apparently. Though there is something I need to research that is a slate roof shingle with solar cells embedded in it, which would be pretty cool. Next time I have a spare several thousand dollars lying around, I'll look into it a bit more.
Still haven't gotten the chain saw working. Still got a gigunda tree across the driveway. Hey, firewood! Just gotta get it the hell off the driveway. Yup.
See you around, I hope, folks - Javaroom? Knitting group? Fingers crossed for no last-minute foolishness.
posted by Liz @ 3:01 PM
3 Comments:
When we go to the grocery store, which isn't overly often, we still get the plastic bags. But given that we have 4 cats, one of whom is in renal failure, they most definitely get reused. The bulk of our food comes from the food co-op we belong to, though, so bulk purchases with no bags. The amount of packaging everything comes in is still rather alarming to me, tbough, even recycling everything we can.
With any luck those gas prices will maybe persuade people to buy/drive smaller cars. One can always hope.
(Btw, do you know how you can save fuel on those long drives? On second thought, just in case you don't, I'd better not tell you.)
I just started making some 'market bags' for my booths this summer. So, I have this idea. I'd love to now what you like/don't like about bags you try and, in return for your top secret market survey, I'll make you a bag - interested?
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