Photograph courtesy of www.photoxpress.comMan, there's just so much work to do...
A close friend, very green-minded, goes to a local mega-store to shop for groceries. After 20 minutes of shopping or so, she rolls into a check-out lane. Of course, being who she is, she pulls out 6 or 7 reusable bags to pack the groceries. The cashier sees the bags, and is annoyed beyond belief.
Now, to be fair, this is a high-volume place that keeps its cashier incessantly busy, and they have their bagging system pretty well figured out. The plastic bags are easily accessible to the cashiers, the bag racks are well designed, and the bags get filled up and moved out pretty quickly. I can see how reusuable bags would mess up the flow. But...
This is a store that has a surprisingly large collection of green goods and products. They've touted their commitment to the environment in advertising campaigns before. They even sell reusable bags themselves.
Choosing good quality reusable bags over new plastic bags is a no-brainer. The impact of plastic bags on the environment is not controversial. It isn't a politicized issue. It isn't a greenwashing confusion kind of thing. It's one of the most clear-cut decisions out there. You either don't use plastic bags, or you do and they end up in a landfill, in the ocean, or somewhere in the natural or urban landscape.
Some stores actively discourage the use of plastic bags. Others charge for them. Some jurisdictions have banned them. It's kind of surprising that such a fundamental matter would not only leave someone indifferent, but actually cause irritation. And it's also poor customer service.
But it's a snapshot of the present situation, still, in 2010. It's a reminder of the tremendous challenge we face in reaching out to the community, in educating, in changing habits, in establishing a new frame of mind, and in bringing about a paradigm shift.
Sustainability needs buy-in from the grassroots. Environmental literacy is painless in contrast to legislation. Arguably, a mixed system including both will be necessary in order to get us where we need to be. But I think that for all the work that has been done in promoting a more sustainable society, this is a reminder that there's still lots of work to do, and a lot of work at a very fundamental level.
