If you are new to “greening” your lifestyle you may have found yourself recently in a situation where you were standing in line at Trader Joe’s or your local Wholefoods market, shopping cart full of health conscious grub. You’re looking over your list to double check you have all the ingredients to try to recreate that fabulous vegan dish you had at the restaurant the other night. As you are patiently waiting your eyes have wondered over to the attractive blonde in front of you. You don’t want to stare so in your peripheral vison you notice what he is having for breakfast (crunchy granola cluster, rice milk, etc) as he one by one adds each item to the conveyer belt. Then he pulls out his neatly folded canvas shopping bag. Darn! I knew I forgot something! Don’t worry even the most experienced eco-veteran makes this mistake. As people anxiously wait in grocery lines you will notice its a great time to people watch (after you go over your grocery check list of course.) What a more perfect time to promote awareness of a waste free environment. Plastic bags take a whopping 80 percent of the grocery and convenience store market since they were introduced over a quarter century ago.

Plastic Bag Pollution Everywhere

According to a data released by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 2001 on U.S. plastic bag, sack, and wrap consumption, somewhere between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year. Of those, millions end up in the litter stream outside of landfills—estimates range from less than one to three percent of the bags. Plastic bag pollution has been attributed to the Plastic Vortex in the Pacific Ocean.

If you think about in how many instances the average person uses plastic bags and understandably so, they are convenient, almost always handy, and available in abundance. So what is a good alternative to those oh so convenient plastic bags? Well one of the morst popular ways today is the reusable canvas bag. It has become somewhat of a movement. It’s such a fun, smart, and cost effective approach to helping our beloved marine life and environment.

Plastic Bag Ban

I think we need to fight back against the plastic bag industry just as countries like Ireland, Bangladesh, South Africa, Thailand and Taiwan have done. Some U.S. cities are trying to follow in their footsteps as well by taking a stand such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Portland.

Tony Lowes, director of Friends of the Irish Environment in County Cork, said the 15 cent (about 20 cents U.S.) tax on plastic bags introduced there in March 2002 has resulted in a 95 percent reduction in their use. “It’s been an extraordinary success,” he said.

Although such a high increase in the US would cost thousands of job losses and an increase in energy consumption, maybe a much lower tax would do the trick?

Reusable shopper bags can be the practical, cool, and smart way of taking this matter in your hands. Believe it not, some people that may not even think twice about using a canvas tote may reconsider just by seeing an eye catching design or noticing an increase of people carrying them at the store. They may not want to feel embarrassed for being a green offender. Or they simply may want to just become part of the movement!

Whether you’re toting around your eco shopper tote to work, the pool, your kids soccer games etc, they can be very handy and fashionable too. You will know deep down that it’s the right thing to do all the while consciously or subconsciously effecting the decisions of others around you. Some cities already banned the plastic bag, if you live in one of those cities, you already have to use reusable bags. Amazon sells a pack of six for a good price.

Make your tote shopper bag an eco accessory like I have. These days you can get them personalized and with thousands of designs on the market today it’s easy to showcase a specific cause you care about.

I urge you to pick up a couple of eco friendly shopper bags as they remind us of our responsibility to the environment while preserving its beauty for all inhabitants.