http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/reusable-bag-clean.html

Useful links

• Homepage | http://www.avaaz.org
• Campaign history | http://www.avaaz.org/en/report_back_1/
• Blog | http://www.avaaz.org/blog/en/
• Donations | https://secure.avaaz.org/act/?r=donate&lang=en

Tip: In this season of consumer celebration most people tend to go overboard waste more then regularly.

Here is one aspect of this celebration where we can save a little waste:

• From the people of Earth911.com: TreeCycling

And a few various tree recycling sources:

• http://www.recycleyourchristmastree.com/
• http://searchchicago.suntimes.com/homes/news/1354745,HOF-News-arbor02.article
• http://dpw.lacounty.gov/epd/xmastrees/index2008.cfm

Here are some pictures from the event:

• Step 1: Don’t push it!

• Step 2: No really….., don’t push it | Although going green is becoming the ever more popular lifestyle, to a lot of people it’s hard to shake certain ideas they might have about being green (you know, going green = living like a hippie in the woods with no water or electricity….). So take it easy and start introducing a greener lifestyle to them through simple changes like:

• Step 3: Start slow by providing a simple easy to do routine | Example: next time you visit you friend(s) or family leave a container to deposit their plastic in. By doing this they’re doing a great thing for the ecosystem and are greatly reducing their garbage output. Let them know where they can go to recycle the plastic in the area or, if need be, offer to pickup the plastic when the bin gets filled.

• Step 4: Suggest some small changes | Example: change an incandescent lightbulb to LED or CFL, suggest replacing some kitchen paper by a reusable kitchen towel or recycled kitchen paper

• Step 5: Send them to ecotipsforlife.com….

Tip: Buy a large bag or two that you can reuse. In our case for example, we have a bag that, when loaded, almost fills the entire shopping. We got the bag at Ikea for under $1. You fold it up and throw it in your shopping cart, do your shopping and while checking out you pack the stuf into the reusable bag instead of plastic or paper. Outside the savings in plastic or paper it also has a great time-saving advantage since you now have fewer bags to pack in and out of your car. Make sure to get sturdy large bag you like and feels comfortable to you.

Also you may want to opt for a cooler. If you have any perishable items like dairy and meat products and you don’t want lying around in a warm car, you can also keep a reusable cooler in the back of your car. It can be a real fancy one or just one of those cheap ones you can pick up at Walgreens. They keep cool for a very long time and you can use them for years. This way you can also do some errands on your way back from shopping and you don’t have to race like hell drive fast to get home to keep your groceries in a preferred state.

Calculate your personal impact
Example: Let’s say you shop every week and have an average of 5 plastic bags every time. Using this scenario you have just saved 260 plastic bags (5 bags per visit times the 52 weeks of a year, 5 x 52 ). Did you know it takes 20 years for a plastic bag to decompose? This way you will save the planet at least 5200 years of trying to decompose the one-time plastics you used for only about 30 minutes.