Being Green is Not Easy... When I Forget

Enemy #1 in my personal battle to be eco is my own forgetfulness. I leave the house without the reusable grocery bag. I get to my local fair trade coffee shop only to realize I left my reusable cup at home. It starts to rain, and without an umbrella, I'm tempted to buy one of the flimsy one-time use ones from a street vendor.

We Live in a Disposable Culture
Unfortunately, our society is set up to make forgetting a problem easily solved. We live in a disposable culture, one that is built on convenience. You don't have to bring your own bag, because the bag is there. You don't have to tote your own cup or umbrella, because they are easily within reach.

But it's these disposable items that are filling our landfills. According to the World Watch Institute, Americans throw away some 100 billion polyethylene plastic bags a year, and only .6 percent of plastic bags are recycled.

This Waste Has a Global Impact
Each one of these bags and each one of these plastic, Styrofoam, or paper coffee cups, requires natural resources such as crude oil and natural gas for production, has a hefty transport footprint, and can cause major damage to natural habitats (sea turtles and birds eating plastic bags for example). Europe's Royal Society of Chemistry says when six tonnes of paper cups biodegrade anaerobically they produce 2370 kg methane and 3260 kg carbon dioxide -- two major global warming culprits.

It's habit that is the real problem: I know what I need to do, but I forget! I've been trying out ways to fix this, and maybe the best solution is a "go-bag," something that I can prop by the door, and always grab as I head out. It holds a compact, lightweight disposable bag, my reusable cup, and my umbrella.

Do you have a solution for forgetfulness? Comment below!

More from Graham Hill on Huffington Post
::Would You Kill What You Eat?
::Europeans Happier than Americans yet Half the Footprint
::Should Airlines Give Bottled Water to Flyers?
::Phones as Fashion: Can You Resist the New Apple iPhone?

More From Huffington Post on Waste
::Three Things I Could Live Without: The Bath Mat, the Paper Towel, and the Cocktail Napkin
::Top 10 Most Useless Items of Crapola

More from TreeHugger on Bags, Cups, and Umbrellas
::I am Not a Paper Cup
::Bring Your Own: Reusable Bags, Cups & More
::Teen Finds Way to Decompose Plastic Bags in Just 3 Months!
::Minimalist/Modernist Reusable Tote Bags
::Eco-Tip: Travel/Reusable Coffee Mugs
::Umbrella Inside Out: ID and Fashion 2006

Photo: Junshi Nakamichi/Getty Images.

Comments

[noneIn2008]

To be neogreen is easy,do what you want and just buy carbon credits.

However, you have hit the point that if you really want to be green, it takes real work and thought. It is not about telling others what to do, but living the goal yourself, with your every action.

[azyuwish]

I have two large hemp re-usable grocery bags and one small one which I keep in my car, like passengers.

PLUS i use LARGE handbags. When I shop for small objects, say shampoo, razor blades, sunscreen, band-aids etc. I always just put the items in my handbag. Saves a lot of those small plastic bags the drug store always uses.

Time for men to start using handbags too, for this very reason. Additionally, they can also store their water bottle, cell phone or Blackberry, plus a paperback in said handbag.

How about carrying a handbag around with you Graham? You're man enough to do that, right? ;-)

[ilovemydoggy]

You hit the nail on the proverbial head. I have all of my eco grocery bags in the trunk of my car filled with stuff -- so I can't use them when I go in to shop. The trick is not to get paralyzed with guilt or fear. Cultural anthropologist V. Cornue has a good posting about it today at http://www.Vaboomer.com "Mountain Gorillas & Polar Bears"

[Trilby]

Yeah. My husband can't remember anything either. Luckily he has me as his designated brain. Not a job I wanted but oh well. Somebody's gotta do it.

[azyuwish]

We're twins! Or our husbands are.....

[TimmySlagle]

Graham,

Here's my suggestion: Don't worry about it. Manufactured goods all come from materials taken out of the earth, so when they go back into the landfill, you are just completing the circle of life.

Did you know that it takes more energy to heat the water to wash a ceramic cup, than it takes to manufacture a styrofoam one? (Not to mention all the waste water that hasto be dealt with) And the energy required to fire and glaze a ceramic cup could produce thousands of styrofoam cups. The advantage of a reusable cup is largely Psychological.

[Kasandra]

Boy I don't agree with you at all. Already over-demanded oil wasn't sitting ten feet below the surface of the ground (for the most part) it was up to 3/5ths of a mile down. Plus that land is not usable for much of anything once a landfill goes in. There is the danger of leachate entering the water table which is then untreated. You're just looking for ways to excuse yourself from being responsible. Whether it takes more energy to do one thing or the other isn't important in the long run. It's the effects of that production. The energy needs to become more green, obviously, but by products of Styrofoam production, especially Styrene, are carcinogenic and a CNS agent. Not only are workers and the world at large subjected to these toxins, when you put a heated beverage in them, Styrofoam cups leach tiny amounts into your drink and into your body. The hydrocarbons created when it's manufactured affect the ozone and on and on and on...

Plastic bags are clogging up our waterways, affecting marine life, filling our landfills, littering our cities, choking children, pets and wildlife and yes, eventually they will break down into toxic materials that will infiltrate the water table.

TO THE DIARIST: Why not put your small umbrella and your cup inside your bag, roll it up and either put it into your purse, attach it to the bottom of your briefcase, or tuck it under your arm?

[TimmySlagle]

I was talking about styrofoam cups, There is no leachate, because they never biodegrade. Nor is there any scientific evidence of them causing cancer

And so what if the land is never usable? I thought putting undeveloped land aside is a good thing?

Finally, there is no evidence of any damage to marine life from plastic bags. Mine end up buried in the landfill, miles away from the ocean. I think you're just looking for ways to scare yourself.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3508263.ece

[WalkingWorried]

One thing that I think you have overlooked - styrofoam cups are made from non-renewable fossil fuels, whereas ceramic cups use renewable resources. The energy used to produce a mug could be from renewable resources such as wind, solar etc. so you are attempting to compare apples and oranges.

[TimmySlagle]

"you are attempting to compare apples and oranges."

I actually think it's you. You are comparing the raw material used in styrofoam, to the energy required to make a mug

The energy to make a styrofoam cup is so miniscule, that it could easily come from wind or solar, whereas the massive amount of electricity to fire up a kiln would take an enormous acreage of wind farms or solar panels.

Raw materials used in the manufacture of mugs require strip mines and huge carbon belching dump trucks, and the the glazes are full of deadly toxins which are also mined.

Meanwhile, the stuff in styrofoam comes from a little hole in the ground, which is pipelined to to plant. Styrofoam is mostly air.