A few months ago, I got my family into recycling. It was more because I hated bringing that stinky ass trash can to the curb once a week, but there were other reasons as well. Our family consumes a lot of plastic, glass, paper & aluminum...and it was all going in the trash. We pulled out our trusty recycling bin and started recycling. Wouldn't ya know it, we went from around four trash bags a week to one, maybe two. I was impressed.

My attention shifted to another wasteful part of our lives. We had this plastic demon monster bag thing growing in our cupboard. Everytime I went to a store, it grew bigger. With my wicked awesome sewing skills and a wonderful idea, I created my own grocery bags. These aren't the superhippy canvas shopping bags that don't hold a third of what a trusty WalMart plastic bag will hold. Because of their design, they hold around twice as much as a standard plastic grocery bag...not to mention much cuter. I carry three of them in their own self-contained little pockets in my purse. Since they are with me everywhere, they get used everywhere.

Now here's the kicker, I've been using these bags now for over a month and have saved myself over 75 plastic shopping bags. Granted, it doesn't seem like a drop in the bucket when you learn that 60,000 plastic bags are used in the US alone every 5 seconds, but I'm one less contributing to the problem. By sharing this information with you, maybe passing on the seed of awareness and change may just inspire you to take up your own environmental cause.

Some more food for thought. Check out sites for another perspective about our impact on the earth:

Chris Jordan Photographic Arts

Plastic Bags Are Killing Us by Katharine Mieszkowski

Plastic Ocean by Susan Casey