Environmentalism is in the bag

By: BRIGID BRETT - for the North County Times | Thursday, March 6, 2008 9:10 PM PST ∞

This winter, for the first time in years, the ravine alongside my house flowed with water. There were days ---- no, weeks ---- when everything was wet and green and cold. Bundled up in thick sweaters, listening to the sound of my dogs splashing, and gazing across at Palomar Mountain's thick blanket of snow, I found myself scratching my head and wondering who on earth could possibly have dreamed up the idea of global warming. After all, my little corner of the globe was anything but warm.

In that moment I understood why so many people scoff at science and dismiss the findings of approximately 2,500 scientists in more than 130 countries who spent years studying the effects of carbon emissions on the environment and concluded that humans are responsible for all or most of the current planetary warming.

It all feels so abstract. Unless you have plans to visit Montana's Glacier National Park this summer, you may not care that in 1910 the park had 150 glaciers, and now there are only 27. If you're a diver or snorkeler and thinking of heading to Belize over the next year or so, it will matter to you that coral reefs are bleaching (dying off) at an alarming rate and that this coral bleaching is tied to rising ocean temperatures. But will it matter otherwise?

Most of us don't see coral bleaching and glaciers shrinking as we go about our daily lives. We can't actually see greenhouse gases the way we can see smog. When the air actually looks dirty and smells noxious and makes you wheeze, it's easier to want to do something about it. Even if it means letting go of old, familiar habits and inconveniencing your own life a little in the short run.

This is why I appreciate Fresh and Easy, the new grocery store in Escondido. Although its CEOs probably haven't seen the Great Pacific Garbage Patch ---- the cluster of plastic garbage twice the size of Texas that has formed far out in the ocean between Los Angeles and Hawaii ---- they're doing what they can to cut down on the use and abuse of plastic bags.

For 20 cents, you can buy a large, heavy-duty shopping bag, designed to be used over and over. When that bag has worn out, they will replace it for free. They also have recycling bins at the exit, special parking spaces for hybrid cars, energy-efficient lighting and other environmentally conscious features.

Cutting down on plastic bags may not seem like such a big deal, but once they're in the environment, they take months to hundreds of years to break down.

Somewhere between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year, and as they decompose in the environment, tiny toxic bits seep into soils, lakes, rivers and oceans. And they choke thousands of turtles to death.

Fresh and Easy does not have to care about any of this ---- not the soils, rivers, lakes, oceans or turtles. After all, they're in the business of making money by selling groceries, not caring about the world.

So when is Starbucks going to start putting out recycling bins for all those empty latte containers?

Valley Center resident Brigid Brett is a freelance columnist for the North County Times. Contact her at brigidbrett@aol.com.

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