April '09

Hello Friends and Family,

Earlier this year I made a number of commitments to myself about ways I can help protect our environment. Sometimes I think it's easy to be overwhelmed by the threats to our environment and that can make us feel paralyzed. So, one of the commitments I made was to send out a monthly email message with one simple, straightforward bit of information and one simple thing we each can do to have a positive impact. This is my first installment. And this blog is where I'll keep a record of the hints I've sent out.

Data: Although plastic requires less energy to produce than paper, plastic is derived purely from petroleum and is unable to biodegrade. Plastic consumption increases our dependency on oil. Just 14 plastic shopping bags contain enough embodied petroleum energy to drive a car 1 mile.

What to do: I'm sure most of you already take your own bags when you go grocery shopping. (If you don't, start now!) But don't stop with grocery shopping. Take your own bags when you go to the drug store, Target, Home Depot, anywhere you shop. If you're an IKEA shopper, they sell those big blue shopping bags of theirs for only 50 cents. They're great for using at places where you might buy larger items like Home Depot or Target.