On the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, I paid $0.05 for a plastic bag in which to place the whole wheat bread and organic fruit purchased at a local big box grocery store in Washington, DC.
Am I doing this right?
In 1970, I would have walked around the corner from my house to the local bakery to buy a loaf of bread made by people who live in town; I would have grown some fruit in my backyard garden or gone to the farmer’s stand down the road to buy fresh fruit from the farmer; I would have carried the purchased goods in my hands or in a bucket or in a bag that I had brought with me because that is what we used to do (we didn’t buy more than we could carry).
In 2010, I am concerned about my carbon footprint, the nutritional value of my food, buying locally-grown food and locally-made wares, and finding a place in my already-crowded work bag to stuff away my Made in China reusable bag.
However, living and working in a Metropolitan area has helped me to maintain a small, in comparison to others, carbon footprint. Yesterday, I walked to the grocery store – the weather was great. The whole wheat bread I bought is fortified with vitamins and minerals and each slice provides me with 4 grams of fiber — it tastes good. The organic fruits I bought probably don’t have pesticides on them or in them – they’re tasty, too. And, $0.03 of the $0.05 I paid for the plastic bag goes to the Anacostia River Clean Up and Protection Fund. The plastic bag is made of a minimum of 40% post-consumer recycled content and it is 100% recyclable – and I will recycle it at the convenient drop-off center in the same local big box grocery store where it was purchased.
So, we’ve inadvertently added a new layer of risk analysis to our daily lives. “Paper or plastic?” has evolved to “Paper, plastic, reusable bag?” Earth Day, and the awareness it promotes, makes us think about the choices we make and whether or not we think these choices can keep the Earth, and ourselves, healthy and productive.
Has Earth Day lost its way as it has changed hands over 40 years? What message does 2010’s Earth Day promote? As stated by a talking plastic bag created to promote Florida’s statewide bag recycling campaign: “Gimme a second chance! Don’t treat me like trash.”
We are beholden to the talking plastic bag.
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May 1, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Jonquil
Your 1970 was not my 1970. In my 1970, we drove to the supermarket to pick up groceries, which were loaded into a paper bag. My father baked the family bread, which got us kids mocked as weirdoes; before that, we bought Pepperidge Farm. Outside the growing season (we did grow our own vegetables), our vegetables came from the selfsame supermarket, and were trucked in from God knows where. There *were* no farmers’ markets. It was pretty much impossible to “eat locally” — although I lived in farm country, all of the farms were growing corn or pigs, although we could and did get excellent local apples.
So. When I look at my own life in 2010, things have gotten a lot better. I still garden. I have access to farmers’ markets, which I didn’t in 2010. I have access to *local* meats and vegetables and fruits, even though they’re so expensive that only the upper-middle classes can afford to eat them regularly. People who can afford to spend extra for food, can eat less processed food that hasn’t travelled as far. For everybody else? The variety of produce available in the supermarket is ten times what it was in 1970. Produce is fresher — it’s much less likely to be shrink-wrapped in packages sized for four.
If you’re going to compare now to then, at least compare the average person’s now to the average person’s then. 1970 was not a high point in the average person’s access to fresh, local food. 2010 is a little better on the variety, not much different as far as fresh and local go.