I've been trying to train the checkout people at my local supermarket about this whole plastic vs paper thing...by refusing bags. We've been using our own (mostly free "found" tote bags) for grocery shopping for a good many years. And while these folks "get" it if you walk in with your own bags, there's still the "one item" disconnect: I don't bother to carry a bag into the store if I'm going to purchase just one or two easily-carried items. So inevitably I get the "is plastic ok?" as the clerk or bagger begins to shove my one half-gallon of ice cream into a plastic sack.

No, I don't need the bag...I managed to carry the item all the way to the checkout counter in my hand, I probably can make the car without additional packaging, thank you. Some of the folks come back with the "you can recycle the bag" rationale, which gives me the opportunity to talk about the reduce/reuse/recycle hierarchy (better not to use the bag in the first place, than to use it and recycle it).

And the more astute baggers have begun to recognize a repeat customer who doesn't want a bag when it isn't necessary. They glance at me, I'll shake my head "no", and the transaction is complete. Progress is slow, but we won't stop working the message...

knew there was some reason...

) -;

"men....unmotivated and somewhat effeminate."

now I can blame it on the PET bottles...

I remember the pet rock craze, who'd ever think folks would get a PET bottle... my bottles and flasks have always been my best friends, not pets.

( -;

oh, and on the rain water thing,

good call!

it IS pretty easy to hook up something to existing gutters and have a few barrels to catch it and keep it for future garden watering. using cool looking wood barrels is asthetically pleasing, and can pretty much blend in next to any typical American home and not taking up too much space neither.

peace.

My little point earlier about PET needs a little expanding, I think. Or I'm just in the mood to write about it...there are lots of claims true and false about the toxicity of manmade chemicals, and many, many areas where the science is far from conclusive. My point about the original PET post -- if something as basic as the chemical name of the plastic (polyethylene terephthalate, NOT polyethylene triphosphate) is incorrect in a claim, how can we trust any of the other information -- you know, the scary part -- to be valid? Too much is at stake to get this stuff wrong, or half-right, so let's get it right.

Ok, full disclosure, my company makes fabric from recycled pop bottles, so I'm a little sensitive about my supply chain...

As for plastic from corn syrup...does already exist. Poly-lactic acid derived from starch (specifically from corn at this point), turned into plastic bottles and, again in my case, fiber for fabric. Of course, there are the "why are we using food to make plastic when people are starving" and "are the corn stocks genetically modified" questions...seems that nothing is without some kind of drawback. And it's generally a little bit harder for the products to biodegrade than just throwing them on the ground -- works well in large-scale composting systems, not so much in your backyard pile...a question of how much heat the compost generates.