Artists want photos of bags

These Chicago based artists are soliciting photos of your plastic bag collections. Before you crochet them into hammocks or wrap your leftovers with them (because your not going to throw them away right?!), take a picture and send it to these guys. They will do something interesting with it I'm sure:

Feb. 1, 2007

Temporary Services - We Still Need Your Help

For the past few months we have been re-using plastic shopping bags in a variety of ways for upcoming projects in Chicago and Zagreb. The enormous waste created by these bags is a global phenomena with impact everywhere. Most people wind up with more of these bags than they can ever re-use....

Bring your own bag to the Student Co-op

A student at Swarthmore passes on a lesson from down under:

Feb. 1, 2007
Recycle bags
Marshall Morales, The Phoenix, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA, US

Throughout Australia and New Zealand, I noticed a simple and powerful change for green living. Environmental action groups have worked with supermarkets and other stores to charge for the normally free plastic bags used to carry purchases...

O'Mama says "Pick up that mess!"

The crunchy mamas are getting the word out:

Reusable Bags Tackle Plastic Bag Mess
Vincent Cobb, O'Mama Report

Introduced merely 25 years ago, plastic bags are accumulating in our environment at an alarming rate. They're everywhere: strewn along roadways, stuck in trees, and piled up beneath our kitchen sinks. New, eco-conscious businesses are helping battle this growing problem by raising awareness and offering effective, affordable, high-quality products that help reduce plastic bag consumption...

OR Audubon Pledges to Use Reuse

“Plastic bags are the ecological bane of the world,” said John Gaylord, board member of Oregon's Audubon Society. The organization is recommending 14 ways for members to green up, and asking them to pledge:

Jan. 15, 2007

Corvallis Audubon Society goes green
Theresa Hogue, Gazette-Times, Corvallis, OR

An organization such as the Corvallis Audubon Society, which focuses on wandering the wilderness looking for bird life, would seem a good place for folks with an interest in sustainability and “green” living to naturally congregate...

The Courage to Use your Reusables

This mom had a lot of trepidation about using her reusable bags at the grocery store but she overcame that and tells this story:

January 05, 2007
I Can Do It!
Princess and the Pea blog

This week on our baby-steps journey through 2008 at IndieMom we've dedicated ourselves to taking our own bags shopping, something I've wanted to do for a long time but have never had the guts, so while I wasn't able to do it exactly as I had planned I did follow through with the challenge as best I could and was pretty darn proud and happy when all was said and done...

CRAFTY: Tablecloth to Bag

Handmade in Sussex, England from recycled table cloths and ticking. Pretty idea, wouldn't be hard to make one yourself:

1/4/07

More Shopping Bags
Bonnie Alter, Treehugger

We love carrier bags and regularly resolve to carry them around all the time so that we won’t have to resort to using nasty plastic bags at the supermarket. Here is yet another variation on the theme; this one made of vintage fabrics for a country-chic look...

go direct to the company's site

Wish List for Santa

I like Ms. Grodinsky's list - a Farmers market and environmental stewardship in the kitchen (including canvas bags):

A food editor's holiday wish list

Dec. 11, 2006
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/food/4391369.html
By PEGGY GRODINSKY, Houston Chronicle, Houston TX, US

Dear Santa,
Before I moved to Houston from New York City, I had never been to Texas. I accepted a job as food editor in what was to me terra incognita (Texas incognita?) in part because so many people assured me that Houston is a terrific food town...

Plastic Free Zone

Time to tackle the plastic menace

Dec 12, 2006
http://www.hindu.com/2006/12/12/stories/2006121217050200.htm
by Shyama Rajagopal, The Hindu, Kerala, India

Declaring a place or an institution as `plastic-free' has come to be a primary step taken by the people in the drive against plastics.
The use of plastic carry bags has become one of the biggest problems as people use these bags, as they are very handy. Anything and everything is carried in a plastic bag. It will be hard to take plastic bags out of people's lives.

Think

Think before using another plastic bag

Nov 24, 2006
http://www.stoneycreeknews.com/scn/viewpoint/viewpoint_666496.html
Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada

Ah... the plastic bag. While they are found everywhere these days, there was a time when they were more difficult to find.
Today they're found in the streets, tree branches and streams - in every corner of this planet. Around landfills they come loose from the other waste, become airborne and fly onto the neighbouring lands. Worldwide, stray plastic bags present problems when they clog sewer drains or endanger animal life.
Maharashtra, India has moved to ban all plastic bags after storm drains became blocked by bags and caused widespread flooding resulting in more than 1,000 deaths.
Many nations are implementing various levels of bans...