Baby Steps

I am a Democrat, which means I'm contractually obligated to worry about the environment and do my part to "green" things up. I do feel that everyone can do something in their lives to make the earth a better place, but I don't think it's up to me to tell you what should fit into your lifestyle. I am also not going to lecture you for not doing enough, or for picking the wrong things to do. I'm no evangelist. I think that every little bit helps, so if you take the time to recycle all your Bud Light cans but you still drive a gas-guzzling pick-up truck, I'm not going to complain. No one can do it all- just do something.

Lately I've decided I need to stop using so many plastic shopping bags. (I can't put down the Ziplocs, though. Sorry.) At the grocery store, they default to plastic bags but if I mention it several times up front they will put my groceries into paper sacks. Then I recycle them. I've thought about trying reusable bags at the grocery store, but I come out of there with a lot of bags each week. I'm just not ready to figure out the logistics of that.

The other place I see a real need is at Target. They don't even offer paper bags at Target, so I was pleasantly surprised to see "official" reusable Target shopping bags. Another opportunity to save the earth from a couple of plastic bags on a weekly basis. Or so you'd think. Unfortunately, it seems Target did nothing to inform its staff of the purpose of the bags, leading to the following two experiences:

When I first bought the bags, I had the cashier ring them up first and then I started tearing the tags off "so we can go ahead and use them." The cashier ignored me and was steadily putting items into plastic bags until I said, "I think those can fit in here- let's use them instead of the plastic bags, okay?" She looked at me in utter amazement. "You want to put your stuff in those?" Wow. I explained to her that it was kind of the point, so she just shook her head and filled up my bags.

On my next trip, I handed the bags to the cashier before she started ringing things up. "I think it should all fit in here," I said, thinking that surely Target had sent out an employee memo by now. She turned the bags this way and that and finally said, "Where are the tags on these?" I told her that they were mine. "These are free?" she asked incredulously. Sigh. No, I explained, they are mine in that I bought them and now I bring them with me every time I come. They are REUSABLE. She seemed okay with that explanation and proceeded to take my dishwashing liquid, stick it in plastic bag and stick that bag inside my reusable bag. "No no no!" I quickly said. "But I don't want this to leak in your bag," she said. "But that defeats the purpose!" I countered, realizing again that Target had never actually bothered to explain said purpose to its employees.


Eventually we got the bags filled up, and I was able to convince her that I could just carry the big box of diapers by the built-in handle rather than by the handle on a plastic bag. (Like I said, it's about doing what you can. And I can't do cloth diapers. But at least I'm not carrying the disposables home in a plastic bag!) I'm starting to think I should write a letter to Target. I don't expect their employees to start using reusable bags, but I think they should have a general understanding of why someone else might.

My next goal? Move closer to my work so that I don't use a gallon of gas each day on my commute. But then I'll still have to use a gallon once a week to get out to Target. If I take my bags with me, that ought to all even out. At least that's the way I understand it to work.