Judy Sarvary of Princeton
The other day in the grocery store, I overheard the woman next to me at the checkout asking her daughter to run and fetch her reusable bags from the car where she had left them. At this point I realized that mine too were, unhelpfully, in the car. Oh well, I began to think, a few more plastic bags won’t really tip the planet into oblivion. Not the point, I reprimanded myself, as I unpacked my cart in record time, precariously piling up merchandise so that I could whiz out to the car and be back before I had created too many enemies.
Now I may not be your tree hugger’s tree hugger, but I have been earnest in my attempts over the last few months to say no to paper and plastic. I was delighted to see reusable bags appear in our local grocery stores last year, and even more delighted to see they give a credit for each reusable bag used. But merely buying the bags, I soon discovered, did not make me eligible for the Nobel Peace Prize. The next store visit the bags were at home; folded in the pantry where I had left them after unpacking the groceries, confident that I would remember, in my new green frame of mind, to take them with me.
So now I force myself to take them back out to the car. But still, there seems to be some deep-seated anti-environmentalist in my subconscious that actually wants me to keep buying plastic. Are the toxins in my plastic (but refilled) water bottle poisoning my mind? Why are environmentally friendly bags the furthest thing from my mind until my car is overflowing and I am searching for the shortest checkout line. More than once I have given up my spot to return to my car to fetch them. No pain, no gain, right? At least I now know it’s not just me.
I don’t leave for the store without my wallet, or my phone, or my — now essential — reading glasses. Why do I forget the bags? We are all so accustomed to relying on the convenience of plastic. We are trying to break the habits of a lifetime and acknowledging that is the first step. And helping each other is the second step. So come on now, fellow shoppers, we need a critical mass here. The more reusable bags we see going into and coming out of the store the more aware we will be. You know what else would help? A big sign on the doors saying “got bags?”
Judy Sarvary
Province Line Road
Princeton
