To Bag, Or Not To Bag?

BYOB

We used to, here in the aware and progressive state of New Mexico, have a law against plastic bagging of goods at checkout counters. Customers had to bring their own recyclable bags or purchase them at shopping venues. BYOB orders could include bags, boxes, backpacks, purses and even shopping carts. With covid that all changed. Antiseptics, you know. We were forced, once again, to accept the offensive use of petroleum product bags, resuming a practice which increases our carbon footprint here on this vulnerable planet. But I, in true activist fashion, realized that I didn’t have to. I already had a cart and found it the perfect receptacle to haul my groceries to my car and unload them into my waiting bags, all by myself. What a concept! I can use a cart to carry my groceries! It’s already a container and I do not need another. I have no stairs to climb to an apartment. I am an able-bodied, (if senior), citizen, here to do my part and get some exercise. And, I’ve been shopping this way for fifteen months now, without ill effect.

The plastic ban has now resumed, since it was assumed covid was over and global warming is not. I was shopping in Target the other day and found that they had NO BAGS, but lots of carts. I was struck by this fact and wondered if it was the chain’s choice or if they had simply run out. I was very happy seeing no bags, even if the carts are 100% plastic. It’s at least a reduction of plastics use and carts are reusable!

I often shop at forward-thinking and healthy food stores. Some charge customers who want to use the standard plastic bags. They offer paper bags, too. But, this morning I was surprised. No, I was offended! A trip to one such store implied no real rise in awareness in it’s approach to the offending plastic as the checker offered, “paper or plastic”, implying those were the only choices! The woman in front of me had to either be responsible for cutting down a tree, (Earth’s oxygenators), or increasing the carbon footprint! So I said to the very friendly checker, “Why not say, are you ok using the cart, or do you need a bag?” His quick retort indicated he had not ever thought about his perfunctory, store-mandated offer. He replied, “But, there are a lot of other considerations. A lot of people live in apartments.” And I quickly replied, “That’s right, so that’s why you offer, but a lot of people will automatically choose either paper or plastic because they’re used to it, and offering the new way makes people think about what they’re doing and the fact that the cart can be used instead of a plastic bag.”

Here, in the forward-thinking and progressive state of New Mexico, we are experiencing global warming first and second-hand. We have record droughts, life-taking floods and the smoke from fires raging in numerous states. We currently have the worst air quality their is, just short of zero visibility, due to the record-setting wildfires in the West. I cannot go for my walk along the sunny Corrales trails and I am wondering when I will, once again, be able to enjoy that life-affirming activity. The climate catastrophies will continue to worsen with consequences far beyond the diasporas we currently see. There will be unimaginable air, water and food shortages, worldwide. Driving home from the store, I considered purchasing some canned air. Yes, the movie, Spaceballs, predicted it and it is now a thing! It’s time to think about what we’re doing before that is all we have time for.

To Bag, or not to bag? Why is this even a question?