ZIMBABWE

It is a sobering thought that it is a luxury to have time and energy to worry about environmental issues like stopping the proliferation of plastic bags. Should we buy bottled water or drink filtered tap water? Compost or anaerobically digest our food waste? Take the car or ride a bike?
Our range of choices may be confusing but at least we have them.
Zimbabwe is in meltdown and people are terrified that they will not eat, drink or live another day.
Please everyone TRY in any way possible - MP, Media, UN, Aarvaz whatever you can think of to get action against Mugabe's regime started.
love peace
Sally

SHOPPING BAGS

I think I might be getting a tad obsessed with this issue but yesterday a spokesperson from Sainsbury's featured on the BBC Breakfast Business programme. He was there to announce some plastic bag news and to accuse the government of jumping on the plastic bag bandwagon to win votes. He had lots of good points and made them for five minutes in front of a full screen rendering of the Sainsbury's logo on one of their bags. Let's see what would that exposure cost on the commercial TV channels? I have smoke coming out of my ears about this.

The government may well be seizing an opportunity to gain the green vote by banning bags or taxing bags but at least they are not exploiting the issue as a marketing exercise. Its not that I'm hugely impressed by the way the government has dealt with the plastic bag issue, in a late-responsive rather than a trail-blazing way but I actually think that the government does have a genuine interest in decreasing the use of plastic bags. They have a landfill crisis to deal with, our carbon footprints to consider, emissions targets, the Kyoto Protocol etc. Sainsbury's just have to sell us stuff and the more their name appears in front of our eyes the more they will sell.
They gave away "free" jute bags recently. Sweet little house printed in one corner along with the web site address of their Home Insurance division. That is a gift alright - a gift to them because you are walking down the street doing their advertising for them. I would believe that they cared about the environment if they cut down on packaging in their stores across the board not on a few eye-catching offers and if they gave their customers bags that didn't turn them into walking billboards. And in the interest of fairness I have to say that M&S and Tesco's are just as likely to come up with something to steal Sainsbury's thunder.
I print CARRYABAG on all my bags because its my company name and I chose it because it is what I want you all to remember to do.
So do it. For yourself, those you love, the countryside and the planet.
Then once we have the place cleaned up we can sort out some other issues.
love and peace
Sally
x

Clean up the Beach

Our beaches are more polluted with plastic now than ever before. The thing about a beach is that its the edge and gets plastic blown down to it from the land and also brought in on the tide. Even if we were blameless and we are not we would still have the problem. Trust me, I live in seaside town where I see people walking away from their own litter on the beach and ignoring everyone else's. So even if we all cut down on our individual use of plastic and made use of the bins provided the tide would still come in twice a day carrying everything that floats and stays behind on the tide-line when the sea retreats. Other country's rubbish, other side of the world's rubbish, ocean liner's rubbish, probably rubbish from the sky as well - all bobbing about in the sea. It's time for us all to pick up the trash - never mind whether its your own or not - it affects us all and maybe, just maybe someone who watches us picking it up will think twice about dropping it next time. It may take a while but the more we see this as our responsibility the cleaner the beaches will be.

Let's give it a try - for all our sakes.

love & peace

Sally

More Plastic Bag "News"

Sainsbury's managed to get onto Radio 2's Saturday 1pm news bulletin today by announcing that they would be asking their customers to re-use their plastic bags. Is this really news or a way of plugging their brand? Do people really not understand that it would be a good idea to re-use their bags?
Am I the only one thinking that they are using the plastic bag issue to exploit the media and gain fabulous free advertising. I remember, going back some years, Sainsbury's gave 2p back for each bag we brought and re-used. This was a good thing and they provided a money box so you could give this money to a local charity. Maybe they still do this. My point is they didn't exactly make the BBC news with it.
The idea is always REMEMBER to carry a bag - its that easy.
Happy Easter

love, peace and chocolate
xx

Carry-A-bag everyone!

I am overwhelmed to see that everywhere I look there is a story about the awful plastic bag - newspapers are running campaigns, the prime minister is muttering about them,
LK today is running the story and quite frankly I think it is FABULOUS.
A slightly worrying trend emerged in the Sunday papers - the confessional cool cartoons and columns telling of swapping cupboards full of plastic bags for cupboards full of guiltily bought bags for life, the only difference being the expense and thus more money in the supermarket coffers. Hmmmmm!
I guess the supermarkets are having a bit of a chuckle about this - they already charge us for the 'free' bags in with the price of the food and now having taken the guilt on board we are buying their bags for life. Its not surprising that they've gone for this as they can charge us again - and more openly as this is seen as a positive thing. If we do remember to re-use them they get a longer-lasting, better quality walking advertisement on the street and if we don't then we keep on buying more to fill the cupboard under the sink.
Win Win Win.
You have to love you bag to remember to carry it with you - so find or make shopping bags that work for you, spend a bit more, make your own statement and it will be easy to remember to carry a bag.
x
love and peace
Sally

HEADLINE GRABBING BAG BAN

Pinch me! Yesterday I woke up to breakfast TVs coverage of M&S's decision to charge for bags - fantastic publicity opportunity - I must admit the spokesperson for the company being grilled by Kirsty later on on Newsnight was squirmingly uncomfy when asked to deliver anything beyond a sound bite. Get it right guys - you want us to get the good news, find someone charismatic to deliver it.
Our very closest supermarket is the unusual and surprising Lidl where they have always charged for plastic bags. They don't have hand baskets, so people without bags grab any cardboard box they find to load small shopping and I have noticed that people who buy a lot of stuff fill a trolley then refill it at the checkout and take it to the car to unload without using a single plastic bag. It's probably because they're so European that nobody thinks to question why their bags cost money. It's never been headline news.
Whatever - its a good thing that big stores have found a way of making themselves look
good and green.
Today shock horror every daily paper apart from the Mail headlined with Prince Harry fighting the Taliban. The Mail chose BROWN: WE WILL BAN PLASTIC BAGS and reading online I discover that this and M&S's 5p-on-a-bag charge is all in support of the Mail's BANISH THE BAG campaign launched YESTERDAY! How effective and speedy was that?
Well if it saves one more turtle, keeps another bag out of a tree and makes one more person remember to carry-a-bag then I'm 100% behind it!
love and peace
Sally
x

Fairtrade Fortnight

It would be a wonderful thing if we all chose Fairtrade all the time and this specially designated fortnight gives us the opportunity to try because the shelves are stocked and the giant plastic banana's are pointing us in the right direction. The Co-op is the small, local supermarket with the biggest commitment to Fairtrade, so if you've not been there then I suggest you give it a try. Shopping locally often means that you're left out of the statistics when it comes to monitoring the effectiveness of campaigns like Fairtrade Fortnight and making sure that your local Co-op sells out of Fairtrade produce is a way of being counted.
So.... it's my duty to go and buy bananas,mangoes,coffee, chocolate and wine!
Happy ethical shopping.
(I'm not being sponsored by the Co-op by the way)