Marilyn Heltzer letter: In small ways, saving the Earth
It can start at the grocery by bringing one's own bag. Isn't the future of the planet worth it? "Paper or plastic? "Neither. I've got my own bags,"
Maybe we can encourage more of this here? What do you think?
"EARTH DAY" EVENTS (click here)
I've gotten a few puzzled looks before the folks at the checkout counter realize that the bags I brought in are there for a purpose: to pack my groceries. In our town, we still have "carry-outs" who bag your groceries and help you get them out to the car. They're a congenial lot who have been carefully instructed about double-bagging, and who chat pleasantly about the weather.
They, and the cashiers, have indulged my eccentricity. They carefully load up the heavy paper bags with handles that are on their third or fourth trip to the store, or the bright green cloth bags that one of our groceries now sells. They've tolerated my, "No, no ... don't put that meat in another plastic bag, it's already wrapped" And they've been kind about my little rants about how plastic bags are a product of foreign oil and take forever to disintegrate in the landfill. Or my other cash-register-side speech about how Australia has banned plastic bags in its grocery stores, and how in most European countries, taking your purchases home in cloth or string bags is routine.
I don't push it as far as to announce that this is what I am doing to save the Earth: the Earth that I and others of my generation have pretty well fouled up. I truly would like to leave it in better shape for those kind carry-out kids.
My earth awareness went into high gear this past December at the height of consumer frenzy. I read an article about groups on the West Coast whose members had pledged to recycle, reuse, barter goods and services, and to avoid buying anything new. At the Christmas dinner table I announced my intentions to do just that.
Buying a few consumables is OK, but I get my computer cartridges refilled and use both sides of any piece of paper. Not buying other things means I just don't go into most stores. That saves a lot of time.
And at my age, I've got a house full of stuff and all the clothes I'll ever need. Well, I might start looking a little dowdy, but there are a couple of secondhand shops in town that can fulfill my need for "new."
Gifts are the greatest challenge. Try telling a 12-year-old granddaughter that we're going to hit the Goodwill for her birthday gift this year. That one might not fly.
I started the bag thing in honor of Earth Day, coming up on April 22. I don't usually observe it, but this year, I might, on my morning walk, think for a few more moments about the beauty of the Earth, and how lucky I am to have this particular path through the woods to walk on.
A lot of things have come together to make this year, and this Earth Day, different.
It's Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." It's the plight of the polar bears, with Arctic ice melting under them. It's my frozen septic system, unprotected by snow. It's last summer's drought and unusual tornadoes and hurricanes in the past few years.
It's the frogs who have disappeared from our pond. When we first moved into our house, spring nights brought a cacophony of frogs. They have fallen silent.
It's even the decline of gnats and mosquitoes. When I started taking that woods walk 15 years ago, there would be days when I'd have to swath my head in netting in order to foil the insects. Bridal veiling worked well. But I haven't had to do my bride act in about three years.
And yes, it's the war. It is a war that is undeniably about oil. Petroleum is the basis of those plastic bags and so many of the other daily "necessities" of life. OK, maybe it's a stretch to connect our determination to consume with the sad face of the dad who has lost a son in Iraq, telling us on the 5 o'clock news what a great kid he was and how much he loved his country. But that kid may well have been the one who asked the "Paper or plastic?" question in his hometown grocery store. And his death was not worth my convenience.
Something bad is happening to our Earth. My reusable grocery bags may just be symbolic, a sort of "this do in remembrance of me" for the Earth, and for the generations to come. Then again, maybe it's the small acts that can make a difference.
Marilyn Heltzer is a writer who lives in Bemidji.
Posted by: mjwilliams on 4/02/2007 at 9:04 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
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