[greenyes] The Old Bag Project

["LeNor" <lenor@no.address>]

I am interested in beginning a project Minnesota and eventually the entire
United States. Although I have no credentials for this particular project,
it is an idea whose time has come, because it is everyone's concern. I am
inspired by Julia Butterfly Hill, who as you probably have heard, was moved
to spend years in a giant redwood to prevent a Northern California forest
from being cut down, the experience caused her to now dedicate her life to
the planet as a sentient being. She is a fierce advocate for the environment
she is and a great speaker and incredible human being.
One thing that stuck in my mind that she brought to my attention was that
when we shop in grocery stores, we use all these bags, there are bags for
every kind of salad vegetable we are buying for the salad, bags we leave the
store with etc.

I was looking around on the internet and came across a website [
http://www.abc.net.au/science/features/bags/default.htm ] that showed photos
of these bags being caught in the stomachs of sea turtles and other animals.
It is a hideous thing that these bags we use and throw away are ending up
killing some of our wild life. One website showed that one city, not in the
United states, went on a bag hunt and the residents came up with millions of
these bags they put in one place and photographed.

I was so moved by this that I began to take my own large plastic shopping
bag to the local co-op I shop at so I didn't have to use and bring home more
bags. The woman at the counter told me that I was not allowed to shop into a
bag and that I had to use the plastic basket to shop into. She checked my
bag to make sure I was not stealing. Behind me were some canvass bags she
indicated I could buy. I was aware of those canvass bags they are 8 dollars
a piece. Earlier in the day I had priced them. At the local thrift shop I
found zero canvass bags for sale.

I would like to start with a bag design or netting for vegetables, made of
light weight thin cotton, or hemp or [?]. And I would like to flood all
produce departments with them. The goal is to offer them for free and
encourage and educate stores to use these instead of plastic bags. The bags
would have to be reusable, or we would be missing the point, as Julia Hill
said, the world is not our garbage can. Ideas for this project are
appreciated. You can read the responses so far to my e-mail campaign "The
Old Bag Project". read responses to the `Old Bag Project'
http://www.mninter.net/~lbarry/responders.html