There has been a lot of talk lately about “Going Green”, taking action to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions, thereby reversing global warming. But is it all talk or has anybody taken any action? The PRNC challenges all Porter Ranch residents to Go Green.
We would like to recommend one step each household can take to be a little bit greener: stop using supermarket provided bags. According to myownbag.com, Americans use 14 billion plastic bags a year and recycle 1% of them. This costs us $4 billion in additional costs at the store and uses 12 million barrels of oil to produce the bags, which we use for less than one hour. Paper bags aren’t a good solution, because they use up 14 million trees a year.
What to do? The best approach is to buy reusable shopping bags and bring them with you to the store. Stores providing plastic bags are now required to offer reusable bags for sale. They are typically $1-2. Or if you don’t want to actually buy reusable bags, you could bring back the paper bags from your last purchase. Ralphs and Whole Foods will credit you 5 cents for each bag that you reuse. And Trader Joes awards a prize each week in a drawing of people who bring their own bags.
The best way to remember them is to keep them in your car or collect them when you make your shopping list.
To encourage the greening of your shopping habits, at the November 13th meeting the PRNC will give you a reusable shopping bag when you present this article or your market receipt showing that you used a reusable shopping bag.
With the holidays coming up, a reusable bag would make a great stocking stuffer.
