Plastic bags are the bane of my existence, and I recently found another blogger who shares my conviction. And like the author of Living Plastic Free I also am confused at the sight of shoppers filling their eco-conscious canvas bags with plastic produce bags. This is a phenomenon that is near and dear to me because for the last year I’ve been working with other volunteers to reduce the consumption of plastic produce bags at the Olympia Food Co-op. So far our campaign has focused on education (signage throughout the Stores) and providing alternatives (canvas produce bags, and baskets). In 2009 we will be working on a proposal to implement a charge for each new plastic bag that each customer uses. We are hoping that the charge influences people enough to reduce their consumption of plastic bags.

Fortunately, there is a lot of support from Coop members for what we are doing. Strangely though, there is hesitation and resistance to charge for plastic produce bags. First of all, a charge would recoup the cost of the plastic bags, since they are extremely costly for the Olympia Food Coop to provide. Secondly, as we all know they are a strain on the environment, being made of a non-renewable resource, and they will never go back into the earth as an organic nutrient. And like other plastics, these bags photodegrade; breaking into smaller and smaller pieces, and when in water, the bits of plastic absorb toxins which are in turn are ingested by tiny marine creatures, which are eaten by larger and larger creatures.

Plastic bags may seem innocuous to us because we do not see their impacts here in Olympia, but they are an unnecessary, short-sighted, mis-guided convenience. Sadly, plastic bags have become so prevalent in our daily lives that they have invaded even the most sacred of Olympia’s places, the Farmers’ Market.

Olympia has a great Farmers’ Market. It runs most of the year and many growers participate in growing and providing fresh, local, and toxin-free food. The market is a cornerstone of the Olympia community; it brings us together, connects us to the people that grow our food and the earth in which our food grows.

That’s right...the produce you buy at the market is grown in the soil of the earth; for 3 months or so, soaking up the life of the earth, along with the rain and sun. All the vegetables are tended and cared for by our neighbors, the growers. Then with their hands, the vegetables are harvested and brought to the market. They are put on display with the dirt still in the crevices and folds, like memories lingering of their previous life.

Red, orange, white, brown, green, yellow, leafy, and bulbous

You make your choice of some carrots, a pepper, a few potatoes…

Your instinct is to reach for a plastic bag.
This time, do something different; say no to plastic.
Let the vegetable touch, skin to skin.
Imagine all the colors of nature mixed together without the sheen of plastic.
In reality the bags are truly unnecessary.
You will wash all of it when you get home anyway.

Despite the seeming insignificance of using one plastic bag, by not using any at the Farmer’s Market we are moving one step towards becoming the change we all want to see in the world. It’s time to start from scratch and reconsider the actions of our daily lives and see where we can transform ourselves from consumers to conservers. And to borrow the inspiring words of President-elect Barack Obama…

YES WE CAN!