Get rid of those plastic bags without feeling guilty. I can finally get rid of some plastic bags I've accumulated without feeling guilty. The New York City Council passed a bill yesterday that will make large stores in the Big Apple collect and recycle the bags they pack groceries and other goods in. There will be bins in stores where you can bring your plastic bags, which can be from any store, of course.
Posted by Ed Levine, December 11, 2007 at 7:00 AM
Andrew Martin in his Feed column in the New York Times business section questions just how green the locavore movement is.
What spurred his question? Researchers at UC Davis are conducting studies trying to determine the actual carbon footprint of local food.
Isn't this kind of a silly academic exercise? We don't need a study to tell us that driving to a farmers' market every day in a gas-guzzling SUV to buy a pound of local produce leaves a heavy carbon footprint and is bad for the environment.
Continue reading »
Posted by Jamie Forrest, November 26, 2007 at 2:25 PM
Photo from dslrninja on Flickr.com
When I order takeout from my local Thai restaurant, the amount of nonrecyclable plastic that is used to carry all that delicious food to me is absolutely out of hand. There are the thick, round plastic containers (which are no doubt a huge improvement in quality over their aluminum predecessors) as well as plasticware I simply don't need, plastic soup and rice containers, and, of course, the plastic bag that the whole thing was delivered in. And then when I think about the fact that all this plastic gets used only once, the real guilt begins to set in.
Continue reading »
Posted by Lia Bulaong, April 26, 2007 at 4:45 PM
If I didn't tell you these colorful, beautiful bags were meant to carry your groceries, would you ever think it? Designed in Australia (and made in China), the Envirosax are meant to replace the 500 or so plastic bags that each one of us uses once and then throws away every year. $33 for a set of five bags, each of which is lightweight but strong enough to carry the contents of two supermarket shopping bags, and they roll up into a pouch you can keep in your glove compartment. I buy groceries in small amounts but frequently, like a good New Yorker, so maybe I'll buy a set, keep two bags rolled up in the bottom of my bag and make presents of the three left. They're awfully pretty and I can't imagine my friends wouldn't appreciate them.
They're currently on pre-order at Delight.com, as their first shipment sold out in under two hours, but they expect to have them back in stock at the end of May; use the code "Shelterrific" at check-out and you get 20% off. Alternately you can buy the bags straight from Envirosax, they've got a lovely black-and-white set that I really like too, but shipping from Australia can be pricey and takes two weeks to get to you; they do list brick and mortar retailers of their products in the States. [via not martha]
Posted by Meg Hourihan, March 23, 2007 at 10:18 AM
A couple in Manhattan is living "No Impact" for a year, which means eating only organic food grown within a 250-mile radius of Manhattan, composting in their apartment, and no carbon-fueled transportation. Oh, and did I mention no paper, and that includes the toilet variety? They've been making vinegar at home from fruit scraps, and shopping at the Union Square Greenmarket.
On one hand, Manhattan seems like a great place to do attempt this experiment. You can walk to so many places, or use a scooter or skateboard or roller blades. On the other hand, eschewing elevators means walking 115 flights of stairs in one day, which is what one participate estimates he did! The idealist in me loves to believe every single person makes a difference. The creeping voice of reality in my head says, "What a pain for a year. And in ten seconds, some coal factory somewhere undoes all your hard non-polluting work!"
