I am very excited at how much interest I have heard back from most of you! Some of you have told me that you have already been recycling for years, and to you I say keep up the good work it IS making a difference, and some of you sent me some questions and topics to possibly include in these emails to everyone. I have answered those individually, but I will include them in the group soon, I'm just trying to keep this to somewhat of an order.
I wanted to explain a little bit more about "going green" in that it is not all about composting, yoga, and recycling. There are many ways to go green and for each person that will be different as well. I just wanted to mention a cool phrase that I learned about from my readings, "shades of green". On the classic color wheel that many of us have learned in school, about which colors are complimentary to which, the opposite of green are the reds. Which is why Christmas time can be such a contrast-lol (You all know how I feel about Christmas) But my point is that you do not have to drastically change your life at this very second, (or ever) in the name of going green. There are many different shades of green for everyone. If you are only interested in recycling, then great for you, if you are also interested in organic foods, or yoga or composting or non-toxic house cleaners, etc. but just don't have the time to read or look up all of these topics, I'm doing it for you! These emails are not to brain wash you to do anything, just open you mind to other ways of thinking that are healthier for the earth, your health and your wallet.
Now on this last part, since I mentioned earlier that green is on the opposite of red, and most of us are probably in the red area "green" speaking and maybe even financially, alot of "going green" methodlogies will actually SAVE YOU MONEY! And I'm not going to include anything in these emails that I haven't actually tried myself, which I only think is fair.
But one issue I wanted to tackle is plastic bags. There are enemy of the world #1. I'm sure some of you have heard that the nuts and berries of California in some places have banned all plastic bags that you get from grocery stores, which sounds drastic, but when compared to the rest of the world, not really. This is a really useful website where I got the information below, and they have a lot of really neat products as well to help cure the problem http://www.reusablebags.com/
Facts and figures regarding the true cost of plastic bags


Want to know more about Ireland's wildly successful PlasTax? How about numbers on consumption? Think paper bags are better than plastic bags?...Think again, and be in the know.
Top Facts - Consumption Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year. According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion)
According to the industry publication Modern Plastics, Taiwan consumes 20 billion bags a year - 900 per person.
According to Australia's Department of Environment, Australians consume 6.9 billion plastic bags each year - 326 per person. An estimated 0.7% or 49,600,000 end up as litter each year.
Top Facts - Environmental Impact Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food. (these bags look like jellyfish which is a common tasty treat for these animals ~CMG)
Plastic bags don't biodegrade, they photodegrade - breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest.
Windblown plastic bags are so prevalent in Africa that a cottage industry has sprung up harvesting bags and using them to weave hats, and even bags. According to the BBC, one group harvests 30,000 per month.
Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation.
Top Facts - Solutions In 2001, Ireland consumed 1.2 billion plastic bags, or 316 per person. An extremely successful plastic bag consumption tax, or PlasTax, introduced in 2002 reduced consumption by 90%. Approximately 18,000,000 liters of oil have been saved due to this reduced production. Governments around the world are considering implementing similar measures.
July 2003, ReusableBags.com goes live, advancing the mainstream adoption of reusable shopping bags. (I've learned that some hippies have been using totes since the 70's, so I guess it is good that some things don't go out of style... now for those bellbottoms...)
Each high quality reusable shopping bag you use has the potential to eliminate hundreds, if not thousands, of plastic bags over its lifetime.
So I ask each of you to try and purchase just 5 reusable bags the next time you are at the store. I have bought some from Walmart, Publix( the grocery store in FL), Target, my library, etc. Most of them are just plain or have the store's logo on them and they only cost 99cents each. Now most of us could spend $5 on a coffee or one movie from Blockbuster, so instead please try to buy some and see the difference. I like the bags better because I can put the longer straps up on my shoulder to help carry heavy items like canned foods. Now, I'm not perfect, I know hard to believe (ha) and I have forgotten my reusable bags in the car and didn't want to make a huge seen of running out to my car at the cash register to go and get them and I was too cheap to buy more so I did the dreadful and took some home, but the next time I went to the store, I brought them with me and recycled them right back to store who gave them to me. I have also seen that alot of stores are putting up signs to help remind you to bring your recycle bags in.
Another argument that I have heard is that "well I use those plastic bags for stuff", like your garbage can, and stuff around the house, etc.(This is not the right place to apply the part of reuse in reduce/reuse/recycle) Well I will get into that later, but when you put garbage in them and think that you are "recycling" them, they are still ultimately ending up in a landfill and NOT biodegrading, they release harmful chemicals into the environment and leach into the groundwater supply after they eventually breakdown over 25 years. You can find some alternatives here: http://www.poopbags.com/multiple_household_purpose_bags.html Plus an interesting take on all the people who pick up their dog's tootsie rolls using plastic bags http://www.poopbags.com/Facts.html
And last but not least I'm sure a few of you think I'm leaving out paper bags, well they are actually about equal in being culprits of pollution, wasted energy and natural resources. Here is something I got from the website below it. The answer to the "paper or plastic"? dilemma is: Neither. They're roughly equal in pros and cons. While convenient addictions, they both gobble up natural resources and cause significant pollution. http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=7
But the easiest thing to do right now is the next time you run into a store and just get one or two things, ask the cashier to not put it in a bag at all. I usually just put item x in my purse or carry it out in my hand (you have the receipt no one will bother you) plus the person behind you might get the drift and do the same. And doing this doesn't cost you a thing and saves you the time of having to recycle it! (this is the part of Reduce/reuse/recycle)
So please let me know what you thought of all this info and if you want me to add anyone else to my email group please let me know!
*Carla*
P.S.Turn the water off while brushing your teeth please.