We didn't have that "green" thing back then...

I can't resist re-posting this ... thanks to Jenny Macdonald, thanks to Marion Power ... (both on facebook):

Think on this:
At the supermarket checkout recently, the young cashier suggested I should bring my own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. I apologised and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations." 

She was right about one thing -- our generation didn't have the green thing in “our” day. So what did we have back then? 
After some reflection and soul-searching on "our" day, here's what I remembered we did have:

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles repeatedly. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. 
We walked to the grocery shop and didn't climb into a 300HP vehicle every time we had to go two-hundred yards. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day. 
Back then, we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have the throw-away kind. 
We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 3 kilowatts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our day. 
Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that young lady is right. We didn't have the green thing back in our day. 
Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of Argyll. And a local electrician would repair it when it stopped working. We didn't bin it and buy a new one. 
In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the post, we used wadded-up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. 
Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the grass. We used a push mower that ran on human power. 
We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to the gym to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right. We didn't have the green thing back then. 
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. 
We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then. 
Back then, people took the bus, and kids rode their pushbikes to school or walked, instead of turning their parents into a 24-hour taxi service. 
We had one electrical socket in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest chippie.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then? 

Feel free to post this on so another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smarty-pants young person can add to this... ;)
Thank you!

For some great ideas about recycling and reducing litter, see here: http://www.grab.org.uk/
and why we should bother to recycle, here: 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/may/24/greenpolitics.localgovernment 
==> we're fast running out of landfill sites, for example, not to mention the waste of resources unless valuable materials are recycled.

Festival of the Sea: Beach Clean in Oban with GRAB

In the context of SAMS' Festival of the Sea, GRAB Trust's Caroline Askew and several helpers participated in a Beach Clean at Oban Harbour on 24th May.

Have a green Christmas

Achaleven Primary School in Connel, Argyll, have been promoting green, sustainable, package and rubbish-reduced living.

Last Tuesday, 24 November, the school put on a coffee evening themed Have a green Christmas.

The children sold eco-friendly bags and cards as well as gifts to promote their eco work. Head Teacher Sharon Burt and her team put on a fantastic spread of baking; there were also a lucky dip and a raffle with great prizes.

Despite really horrible weather, the room was packed with parents and friends.

All money raised will be put towards further developing the school's garden.

(© Photo: Caroline Askew, The GRAB Trust)

Sustainable Oban / Oban Plastic Bag Free! were happy to be present with displays promoting the two organisations. Thank you for your hospitality, Achaleven.

The Story of Stuff -- Sunday, 29th November 2009, Benderloch, Argyll, Scotland

Dear All

On Sunday, 29th November, 2009, an extremely instructive and entertaining cartoon documentary will be shown at 7pm at the Victory Hall in Benderloch, Argyll.
Admission free -- donations welcome.

The Story of Stuff

What it's about:
"From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever." (from the Story of Stuff website)

Following on to watching this short video together, we will have a discussion and a "freecycle"-inspired STUFF SWAP. So, please bring something that you've long been wanting to get rid of and swap it for something someone else may bring and that you would like to have.

Mairi Stones and friends, as well as Sustainable Oban, look forward to seeing you there.

More volunteers would be welcome!

Hiya all

Since founding member Astrid left for Stirlingshire, the Oban Plastic Bag Free! initiative has lost some of its energy. We could really use one or two more volunteers to help contacting Oban shops and ensure their support of our initiative.

It would be a question of a couple of afternoons in the run-up to Easter.

Would anyone interested kindly contact info @ sustainable-oban.net, please (this is not a hyperlink -- you will need to copy-paste the address by hand to your outgoing e-mail).

We will be delighted to hear from you!

Plasticbag.org.uk - Sustainable Oban Meeting: Jan 23, 2009

Hello again

This is a quick reminder that the
next Sustainable Oban meeting at the Glencruitten Church Hall, Oban

Friday, 23 January, 2009, 7 to approx. 9pm

will include an update on our Initiative to get Oban Plastic Bag Free!

Everyone's most welcome!


Finally, your blogger browsed the web in search of facts on the production of plastic bags.

Plasticbag.org.uk -- "the campaign to reduce the effects of plastic bags on our world" -- is a website that may well be worth your visit.

Cheerioh!

Oban Plastic Bag Free! on Oban FM radio

Oban Plastic Bag Free! is happy to acknowledge being given some excellent airtime on Oban FM radio this Sunday, December 14, 2008, from about 10:30 to 11AM. News editor Coll MacDougall invited Oban Plastic Bag Free! co-facilitator, Margaret Powell-Joss, along to chat with Councillor Roddy McCuish and Adam Hughes, President of the Oban Allotments Association, a sister organisation under the Sustainable Oban umbrella.

In the course of the radio chat, we highlighted the negative consequences of plastic degraded into microparticles that then attract toxins which mimic human hormones -- contributing towards reducing human fertility. We also addressed the issue of plastic pellets and microparticles being ingested by marine organisms and animals -- fish, mammals, birds, whose intestines are filled with plastic rather than food.
For more on this subject, view the video on the Marine Conservation Society website.

Councillor Roddy McCuish expressed his wholehearted endorsement of the Oban Plastic Bag Free! Initiative, asking each and every consumer to re-use bags and to stay away from non-biodegradable plastic. We appreciate his suppport and can only join him in his appeal.

Thank you, Oban FM, for providing this platform -- we will be back on ObanFM after our next meeting on January 23, 2008. More about that in our next post.

Winner of the Oban Plastic Bag Free! Poster Competition

The GRAB Trust project worker for Oban, Lorn and the Isles ran a poster competition to help with the Oban Plastic Bag Free Initiative. It was open to all Primary schools in this area. Nine schools participated in three categories – p1-3, P4-5, P6-7 – for a 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize in each category.
The Judges were David Lyon from Quarriers Rooftops Project, Michael Harvey (Shanks) and Elizabeth Mullen (Lorn & Oban Reuse Initiative = LORI)

The Prizes were:
1st Prize: handcrafted wooden pen made by The Employability Team, GRAB Jute Bag and GRAB Pencil made from recycled CD cases
2nd prize: a voucher to use in Orsay, GRAB Jute Bag and GRAB pencil
3rd prize: GRAB Jute Bag and GRAB Pencil.

The Winners were as follows (see photos at the end of this post):
P1-3 category
1st = Eilidh Munro (Barcaldine PS)
2nd = Shona McKenzie (Barcaldine)
3rd = Katie MacCorquardale (Barcaldine)

P4-5 Category
1st = Saffron Carmichael (Salen PS)
2nd Scott Paterson (Salen)
3rd Ben Collins (Barcaldine)

P6-7 Category
1st = Amy Greenwood (Barcaldine PS)
2nd = Charlotte Collins (Barcaldine)
3rd = George Needham (Achaleven PS)

The overall winner was Amy Greenwood, whose poster will be used to highlight the initiative in the windows of shops who are supporting the initiative.
Congratulations, Amy!
Prizewinners of Oban Plastic Bag Free Poster Competition: from back L to R: George Needham Achaleven PS, Amy Greenwood (Barcaldine and overall winner, Charlotte Collins (Barcaldine), Ben Collins (Barcaldine), Front row, Shona McKenzie (Barcaldine), Katie MacCorquardale (Barcaldine) and Eilidh Munro (Barcaldine). Photo © Julie Fairbrass, GRAB Trust, Nov. 2008

Oban Plastic Bag Free! at Oban's ABREEF Environment Fair

The Oban Plastic Bag Free! initiative was well represented at this year's ABREEF Oban & Lorn Environment Fair, 25th & 26th September, 2008. Thank you, ABREEF , Sustainable Oban and GRAB Trust, for giving us a platform to voice and illustrate our concerns about plastic waste in general and plastic bags in particular.
We spoke to lots of pupils, teachers and members of the public and found that there are large numbers of people who want to see plastic bags banished from our lives.

A few visual impressions of the event:

Our stall with stark images and tactile examples of sound, sustainable, responsibly-sourced alternatives.

Oban Plastic Bag Free! co-initiator and campaigner, Astrid Horward, smiling at the interest by pupils and the general public.
In front of her, some examples of sensible, sustainable, 100% biodegradable and/or 100% compostable products.

Campaigner Astrid talking to a member of the public.

There really is no excuse for oil-based plastic bags. Look at these examples of traditional alternatives from local producers:

Fiona MacDougall's baskets: a blue and white basket gives new lease of life to plastic bags; it sits atop a traditional crab creel.
Pip Weaser in action and almost eclipsed by samples of fellow basket weavers' work (members of the Scottish Basketmakers' Circle).

Finally, Annabel Gregory's hand-knitted and hand-crocheted bags made from sustainably sourced jute (natural dyes).

Our presence at the ABREEF Fair was a success. Most of the people we spoke to were in favour of a ban on plastic bags.

When they were shown the alternatives, lots of people asked, "But why, if such great alternatives are on the market, don't supermarkets provide them to us?!"
Our response was that there has not been the pressure from above or below, and the alternatives are costlier. Would people be prepared to pay for alternatives? The majority response was, yes. And a lot of people already take their own bags to do their shopping.

So let's keep the pressure up! Thank you for collecting lots of signatures to petition the Scottish government to Ban Plastic Bags.

Oban Plastic Bag Free shops

© Photos: MPJ, Sept. 2008

This a list of Oban shops and businesses who already sell their own reusable bags,
and/or have pledged to do so, and/or hand out only paper bags (in alphabetical order):

• Albany newsagent and convenience store (01631 564635) -- have stopped handing out plastic bags and provide organic cotton reusable bags for a modest amount of money.
• Bolliwood (walnut carvings, furniture & Pashmina suppliers) -- do not provide plastic bags; owner changed to paper bags after a conversation with the local street cleaner who showed her what plastic rubbish can do.
• Boots (chemists) -- have reusable cotton bag, proceeds go to a charity.
• Cancer Research Oban (01631 563 296): only hand out plastic bags they have received themselves and have reportedly never bought any plastic bags for the shop
• Coop Oban (supermarket; The Co-operative Food, Oban) -- the first supermarket to sell a reusable bag made of organic cotton; sadly, they also give away free "disposable" plastic bags.
• Homebase Oban -- provide brown paper bags.
• Island Design -- owner provides paper bags only and offers recycled plastic bags to customers who request a plastic bag.
• Kitchen Garden (delicatessen & café -- have an impressive display illustrating the nefarious effects of plastic on the environment -- well worth a visit! They were the first shop in Oban to pledge to a plastic bag free shopping experience.
Taken from their website: “The Kitchen Garden has decided that it can no longer be party to the huge proliferation of plastic that is inflicting so much damage to all life forms, especially those in the marine environment. Therefore, once our current supply runs out (estimated to be November 2008) we will no longer be issuing plastic bags to our customers. This alone will see 50,000 fewer plastic bags a year in circulation in Oban and beyond. It is our intention to replace all our plastic products, not just the bags with environmentally friendly, renewable alternatives over the next 12 months.”

Click on the photo for an enlarged view. You will then be able to read the caption: "To give an example of how long plastic lasts in the ocean. In 2001 a piece of plastic found in an albatross stomach bore a serial number that was traced to a World War II seaplane shot down in 1944 (US Fish & Wildlife)"
Have pledged to change to biodegradable plastic over the next few months, including packaging (see their website).
© Photograph: MPJ

• Millstone (Health and Wholefood) -- hand bags out on request; also provide strong cotton bags for £2.00 each, and sell string bags from local string bag producer Annabel Gregory.
• Oxfam Oban (01631 566465) -- have a non-plastic bag policy (but hand them out quite freely).
• Tesco's (supermarket with a credit point system for regular customers who bring their own bags, a good idea -- sadly, they also have tons of thin plastic bags on the checkout counters).
• Waterstone's (bookshop)
• Whitmore and Hamilton (gifts and jewellery etc. made in Scotland) -- still hand bags out on customer request but strongly support initiative and are interested in changing when bag stock is depleted.
• ...

and many more -- come back for updates to the list as more shops join up.

What do you people think out there? Should we list the shops that hand out plastic bags without asking and/or offer plastic bags rather than ask, "Do you need a bag?" ?

Oban Plastic Bag Free! Initiative launched

A public-private initiative was launched on Friday, August 29, 2008, to make Oban plastic-bag free.

The initiators were gratified to welcome to the launch meeting Ms Elaine Robertson (Councillor for Health), Ms Terry Donovan (organiser of the forthcoming ABREEF Environment Fair – http://www.argyllcommunities.org/ABREEF/) and Mr Bob McIllwraith (of ALIenergy – http://www.alienergy.org.uk/), some shop owners, as well as numerous members of the public.

The next photo shows the current committee members holding easily available reusable alternatives:

Margaret Powell (holding a wee woven basket from the Scottish Basketmakers' Circle, an organic cotton bag from Coop and an onya bag);
GRAB Trust (http://www.grab.org.uk/) coordinator, Julie Fairbrass (holding a morsbag); and
Astrid Horward, Eco-Promotion, holding a basket from the Scottish Basketmakers' Circle and a 100% compostable, fully biodegradable bag from BioBags Scotland
(photograph © by Carlo Beuger)

Of course we are hoping to make an impact and bring all the businesses of Oban on board.

Some sources of local and sustainable alternatives are (in no particular order):
• Pip Weaser of Kilmelford
artist and facilitator of the Scottish Basketmakers' Circle: http://www.scottishbasketmakerscircle.org; baskets grown and made in Argyll (baskets made by her group can be seen in the photo below, left)
• Annabel Gregory of Easdale Island

hand-made knitted and crocheted bags made from sustainably sourced jute (her bags in photo below, right)Annabel holding one of her knitted jute bags
(© photograph: MPJ)

• "Smile In Argyll" (an Oban artist) = pod no. 90 of morsbags sociable guerilla bagging: http://www.morsbags.com

(Photograph © MPJ)

• BioBags (Scotland) Ltd, Inverurie, Scotland
fully biodegradable, compostable carrier bags and more: http://www.biobags.co.uk (the ones in top right corner in photo below)

(Photograph © MPJ)

• onyabags for light-weight reusable bags made of parachute silk (sadly, not biodegradable); they also supply fully biodegradable bags: http://www.onyabags.co.uk
• ecomundi are the suppliers of the "Turtle Bag" (natural and coloured organic cotton string bags; see top right in photo below); also have lots of recyclable, biodegradable products: http://www.ecomundi.co.uk/eco/shop.php?cat=56

(Photograph © MPJ)

And for those of you who are reading this blog from across the Atlantic, i.e. in the U.S. of A., here's a supplier of organic cotton bags in the U.S., probably one of the first of its kind in the New World:
• ecobags -- the name says it all (they have a great website, by the way, with loads more information)
http://www.ecobags.com

We will be more than happy to provide contact details for people who don't have websites. Just send in a comment. NOTE: All comments are monitored, no commentator's details will be published here.

Finally, a website that lists loads of shops and businesses that sell reusable and recycled products. Check it out for yourself: http://www.sort-it.org.uk

Biodegradable, sustainable, non-plastic alternatives:
containers for big parties and the fast-food culture
(not that that is what I would particularly recommend) ...
(Photograph © MPJ)

We look forward to hearing from you!