Being green is more difficult when you’re on the go, isn’t it? As my mom used to say, one of the hardest things in life is learning to just say no. Here are some of my new no’s for on the go:

Say no to receipts for things I would never take back

I use debit for almost everything and my purchases show up on my electronic bank statement. I’m not going to take back gas, or my daughter’s haircut, or the new crown on my dead tooth, so why do I need a receipt?

Say no to plastic bags for produce

I need five apples, four pears, and a bunch of bananas. Do I need three plastic bags as well? No. The clerk may get annoyed, and she will have to touch my fruit, but so did the teenager who stocked it and I’m planning on washing it well.

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Welcome to the Third Carnival of Green Crafts!

Before we begin, let me just thank all of the crafters who participated in this month’s carnival for taking a weight off my mind. After reading all of these posts, I now have NO worries at all about landfill space anywhere in America. Seriously, y’all, crafters are obviously the solution to the trash problem. Go us!

Before we begin, a few administrative notes: We’re pleased as punch to announce that the fourth Carnival will be September 4th at Whip Up. Send in your posts via the carnival submission form today! For background information about the Carnival, please see the Carnival of Green Crafts home page. And in case you missed the previous editions, here are the first Carnival, here at Crafting A Green World, and the second Carnival, at BlogHer.

Thanks so much to all the crafters who shared their posts with us for this edition of the Carnival. Let’s dig in!

Eco-Friendly Materials

Tiny Decor gathered a list of the Top 10 Modern and Eco-friendly Fabric Sources on Etsy. You HAVE to see what she’s collected, there are some real knockouts.

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The announcement comes after Los Angeles County supervisors caused disappointment in January when they abandoned a threat to ban the bags, choosing instead a voluntary program where stores were to “encourage” customers to bring reusable bags. In other words, the status quo.

The City Council also voted to ban Styrofoam at all city-owned facilities, including LAX, by 2009. Though Los Angeles collects Styrofoam for recycling, there isn’t really a market for it - by the time it is melted down, very little material is left. Last I heard, Styrofoam was being stored until another solution could be found…like a ban! Ta da!

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The proposal was be enacted in a two stage process. Beginning in January of 2009, all foam products would be banned, but restraints and grocery stores would be allowed to switch to plastic products if they hadn’t found a biodegradable replacement. The second stage would go in to effect by 2010, at which time all plastics would be banned, leaving only biodegradables.

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1) Gather your bags. I separated mine by color, but why not go crazy and mix and match?

2) Start by cutting off the handles and the bottom of the bag. The result will be a nice smooth rectangle, as the bottom gatherings will have been removed.

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Gorilla  in the Greenhouse, an episodic show premiering today, doesn’t preach at kids, but instead engages them on their terms and empowers them to take action. Animated by the people behind such web classics as The Meatrix, it features four smart kids and a wise green gorilla, facing the big green challenges of our day, with inventiveness, action, and most importantly, a rockin’ song.

Not many people could pull off making a catchy tune about a garbage island in the Pacific Ocean, but in the first episode, “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” they show otherwise. With people such as Ralph Guggenheim, one of Pixar’s founders producing, this moves beyond merely being entertainment to being a bridge to further conversation with your children about things happening in the real world, and what can be done about them.

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According to the Whole Foods Market website, Americans toss out about 100 billion plastic bags annually (we recycle a pitiful 0.6% of our plastic bags), crowding landfills with an energy-consuming product (it takes 430,000,000 gallons of crude oil to make the 100 billion bags) that lasts for at least 1,000 years. Whole Foods estimates that their action will save 100 million plastic bags in 2008, alone.

By drawing attention to their company policies that are good for the earth, Whole Foods also gets some good press. Was this part of their plan?

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Luckily, some clever crafters on Etsy are using widely discarded materials to make unique bangles!…

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Fantastic news! We can rid the country of an ugly, harmful menace and give ourselves a big slap on the back whilst carrying our shopping home in natural resuable bags. Great!

Or… is it really all that great? Am I the only one who might be a little bit sad to see them go? I won’t miss the bags themselves but I will miss the creativity they inspire.

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Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

I drove through route 3. It runs across Argentina from north to south, next to the Atlantic coast. Here you can see a beautiful landscape, steppe to one side and deep blue ocean to the other.

Patagonia: it’s a land of dinosaurs, oil and strong winds. The latter is responsible for a horrifying realization–how dirty it is! The last time I visited Patagonia was six years ago, and I didn’t see the mass amount of plastic bags everywhere.

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New York and New Jersey require retailers that use plastic bags to offer a recycling program, the city of Oakland, California, is considering a ban, and China announced a countrywide free plastic bag prohibition in January. Ireland took the lead in Europe, taxing plastic bags in 2002. Customers who want them must now pay 33 cents per bag at the register. The Irish government says the tax has reduced the use of disposable bags by 90 percent! The tax also raised millions of dollars in revenue.

The city of Paris decided to ban non-biodegradable plastic bags in large stores in 2007, in an effort to reduce pollution. Israel, Canada, western India, Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Taiwan, Singapore and Bangladesh have also banned or are moving toward banning the plastic bag.

Robert Bateman, president of Roplast Industries , a manufacturer of plastic bags, says it costs one cent for a plastic grocery bag, whereas a paper bag costs four cents. As a result, plastic bags account for four out of every five bags handed out at the grocery store.

In January, about 42 billion plastic bags were used worldwide, according to reusablebags.com . The majority are
not recycled or reused , ending up in landfills or as litter. Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade, breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces which contaminate the soil and waterways, killing animals that accidentally ingest them. Plastic bags are made from petroleum, a non-renewable natural resource, contributing to the diminishing availability of oil and damage to the environment from the extraction of petroleum.

While paper bags are in some ways better for the environment, studies suggest that more greenhouse gases are released in their manufacture and transportation than in the production of plastic bags.

The Film and Bag Federation , says that compared to paper grocery bags, plastic grocery bags consume 40 percent less energy, generate 80 percent less solid waste, produce 70 percent fewer atmospheric emissions, and release up to 94 percent fewer waterborne wastes.

So if we make the effort to ban plastic, why not ban paper as well? Or at least make customers pay for them. In the meantime, canvass bags cost as little as $3 and take a moment to remember before leaving the house. You can also take along some reused plastic bags for vegetables, and other containers to fill up on oil or shampoo in the bulk section. Also, if your city or grocery store doesn’t have plastic bag recycling, ask them to offer it.

Image courtesy of English People’s Daily Online. 

From Africa to Canada, Australia to Ireland, and in the oceans in between, plastic bag trash has become a pestilence seemingly without end. And everyone has taken a different approach to try and curb it. In Burkina Faso, women who discovered the ubiquitous trash was killing their livestock have developed a cottage industry that spins plastic trash into hand-crocheted dolls. Ireland, on the other hand, has managed to reduce plastic bag use 90 percent by charging a tax on the totes, and some places in Australia ban the bags outright.

Even though I always carry along a reusable string tote, I’m guilty of letting baggers at the grocery pack my purchases in plastic when I’m in a hurry, or I’m buying too much to fit in a single bag. I’m sure others do the same. And the problem is convenience: it’s just easier to go with plastic sometimes and say you’ll recycle later.

So maybe it’s time to put an end to convenience. A measure like the one being eyed in New York City probably won’t do much to stop plastic bag use by hordes of shoppers who — like me — just want to get their stuff and go. But a tax or a ban? That would have an impact. The bottom line is: does anybody really ever need to use a plastic bag again? Why not end their use now?

Imagine, driving, or riding, or whatever your shopping cart to the grocery store, detach the bike and wheel the cart into the store. Once at the checkout, no need for bags: just load the groceries into the cart, attach it to your bike and voila, a bagless shopping trip.

Of course, if you live in anything but a ground floor apartment it may not work so well, unless, of course, your building has an elevator. In any case, this just may have market potential.

Reuben Miller

Image source: Idealist

Bring your own. It makes it easier to say no to the bag when you have another to put things in. A small canvas bag works for most on the go purchases and can be found just about every where, in all sorts of colors. If you want to support a cause with your bag, your local public library, public radio station, or your favorite organization may have canvas bags for sale with their logo.

For larger quantity purchases such as a trip to the grocery store you’ll probably need larger bags and a few more of them. Many grocery stores have cloth shopping bags available for purchase at the register. Whole Foods has some available right now for $1 each, and they also offer a bag discount, giving you a ten-cents off for each bag you bring. Trader Joes is another location that offers reusable bags on the go. (This is also handy if you forget your bags.)

Bringing your own will also prepare you for those times you go into establishments that charge you for plastic bags. Ikea, for example, has recently started charging U.S. customers five cents for every bag used. Of course this isn’t new to those in Europe, where several countries have been charging customers for bags for a while.

Remember to bring your own. It’s one thing to own the reusable bag, it’s another thing altogether in remembering to bring it with you. Many bags can fold up fairly small and can fit in a pocket or purse. Keep your bags in your car so they’ll be handy for the next trip to the store, or keep them at the office if you pick things up on the way home or use public transportation. The most important thing here is once your goods have made it safely to the house, take the bags back out to the car or return them to the office for next time.

Ignore the confused looks and blank stares. Until this new trend catches on everywhere, you’ll probably get some resistance from store clerks when you say you don’t want a bag. You may also need to assist grocery store checkers/baggers with your bags until they get used to the concept. (I had to do this yesterday.) And remember, it is okay to say no even after the clerk bags your item. Politely remove your purchase and hand the bag back.

Can’t find any bags near you? Check out Envirosax or ReusableBags.com.

Amy says: I found myself at Whole Foods the other day buying more than would fit in the bag I brought with me. For $1 I bought one of their handy, reusable bags that tons of people are now toting around New York City. This is one trend I hope everyone follows.

More on plastic bags from GO:

"I’m Not a Plastic Bag" Craze Coming to US

Eco-Effective Choices: Paper, Plastic, or Neither?

Tip o’ the Day: Paper or Plastic? Bring Your Own!