Sustainability to me is all about finding ways now that will not negatively affect or deplete our future natural resources. A simple example to start off with are the ultimate depletion of plastic bags in supermarkets. People are being educated about the effects of plastic bags; the extremely slow degradable rate, the amount of natural resources (crude oil) used up to produce them, and the health hazards it has once incinerated.
The solution: retailers have promoted the idea of BYOB, or Bring Your Own Bag. Most major supermarkets now carry mostly paper bags or sell cloth bags, which can be brought back over and over again to use. Whole Foods is one great leader in this issue. As of Earth Day of this year, they have eliminated the use of plastics bags in their stores nationwide. Even better, for every bag you use to bag your groceries, they give you a discount! (Where I am, 5 cents per bag) I'm not 100% positive about other markets, but I would love to know from anyone else!
Here's another great idea: I always keep cloth bags in my car or anywhere I go. If I go to Wal-Mart (which I see only use plastic bags), I tell them to put them in my cloth bags or I bag them myself! Put aside the shame and try it next time! I've gotten so many positive comments about it and never the "He's up to something" look. It's completely acceptable now, which is a great relief. Really simple actions like that makes you realize the amount of plastic bags you have reduced as an individual.
Also, next time you go to a drugstore and you really don't need to put that candy bar in a plastic bag, just tell them you don't need a plastic bag!
I would love to hear any comments or feedback and your stories...
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