Jameson Senger, of Mission Hills CA, is on a mission to obtain his Eagle Scout badge and benefit the environment by encouraging residents to use reusable bags.
Last weekend, Jameson, who teamed up with city officials on an environmentally friendly project, surveyed shoppers at two different Ralph’s grocery stores regarding their plastic bag use.
Through a brief questionnaire, shoppers will be asked questions such as “How many plastic bags do you think would be saved in the lifetime of one person using reusable bags?” and “How do you think most plastic bags are disposed of?” The survey also asked how often and where people use reusable shopping bags.
Jameson will report his full findings to the City of Mission Viejo and I’ll be sure to let readers know what he finds.
Sometimes I wonder if I am making a difference, but not today. Watch the kids at Hewlett-Woodmere in New York, singing about how easy it can be to save the environment one bag at a time! One Beautiful Bag at a Time.
The Nature Conservancy is promoting reusable bags as an easy way to help our oceans and celebrate Earth Day. They have a few cool articles I want to share.
First, they have their action page where they ask people to switch to reuable bags as a great way to protect our oceans. Thousands of marine animals die each year from ingesting plastic bags, and reusable bags help keep plastic from inadvertently ending up in our waterways.
Then they have a clear explanation by Conservancy Caribbean program director Phil Kramer about why plastics are so damaging to the ocean. Also, you will find a first hand account by Cara Byington who had a crisis in the checkout line after seeing the skeleton of a whale that died from eating plastic bags. We’re going to send her one of our new ultimate portable bags so that she will never have that problem again!
The Nature Conservancy is asking people to join in the conversation and send stories to them about their experiences with reusable bags. It’s a great campaign and a lot of fun to see other people understanding the problem and seeing that the solution is so easy! I hope you will check it out and share your stories with them or with us in our comment section. We always love stories from our readers!
Have you ever looked at a product in a store and wished you knew more about it? That’s what happens at Expo West, the largest natural foods trade show in the US, which happens in Anaheim every March. We spent last weekend there learning about other companies and showing people our products.
If you love freebies, it’s the place to be. We gave out bags to everyone who came by our booth and listened to us tell our stories. I told a lot of people about how it took me two years to convince my supplier in China to pay her workers properly, but once she did, she thanked me because it led the factory to better productivity and better quality. We told a lot of people about heat transfers and how popular more colorful graphics are becoming. We saw friends from shows in the past and reconnected with them and with many of our clients.
I am not ashamed to say I collected a few freebies myself. I eat Kind bars regularly and the guys at the Kind bar booth gave me free bars and a T-shirt! Can’t wait to wear it at the gym or out hiking. I discovered Sahale snacks, which are also very whole snacks in a lot of fun flavors. Every other booth had something with pomegranate in it, but my favorite was the Chobani greek yogurt with whole pomegranate seeds. Yum! We trade bags for greek yogurt!
People seemed to love our bags but we had a corner decoration made from two trays of wheat grass which seemed equally popular. Most people stopping by ran their hands through it. I’m not sure if it is the look of grass or the feel of that is so appealing but it was fun to watch people respond to it.
I can’t wait to see what I discover and who will discover us next year at Expo West!
One of the most popular features of our old site was our video. The photos of the ducks amid plastic bottles, the littered bags in the trees and over the prairies, and other images of the damage caused by bags seems to have hit a chord with many people.
The video had no clear place in our new site, but we love it as much as many of you do. So we are making it available here. It will have a more permanent link on our Links page, too.
I hope you will watch it and see why I have become committed to reducing waste and reusing bags and other items rather than throwing them “away.” When I watch it, I am reminded that there is no “away.” Throwing away means simply throwing things into our own environment, where they blight the beauty of our world and degrade the health of our eco-systems.
We can all reduce waste every day by reducing unnecessary waste. Bringing your own bag helps and every bag counts!
