Paper or Plastic? Or should I say Pollution or..uh... Pollution?

That is a great question. The answer is neither says Oprah. (I promise I will quit promoting Oprah for a while after this post.) Ecobags are now in high style when it comes to grocery shopping. Instead of using paper or plastic you should bring your own bags that you can wash and reuse every time to go pick up some food.

Their bags are made from certified organic cotton, recycled cotton, hemp and hemp-cotton blends and natural untreated and unbleached cotton as well as other natural, renewable fiber products and sturdy reusable source goods. Sounds like a good idea to me.

I know other countries have started to use these eco-friendly shopping bags long before we had the idea to use them in the U.S. I believe one of the countries was Australia. The particular website above started their company in 1989. That seems like a very long time ago to me. I cannot believe we were starting this trend so long ago. What a shame it is that it is just becoming more widespread now because now we are really in trouble with our global warming, climate change, and everything else we are doing to destroy our planet.

Devil's Advocate

Just because I am a huge follower of this Oprah phenomenon of making the world a better place to live doesn’t mean I don’t disagree with some of the ideas on the show. I really disagree with http://www.greendimes.com/. Matt Damon, a movie star, was the one who came on the Oprah show to promote the website. I do believe that stopping junk mail and planting trees, which is what the website is about will help our planet but I do not think we should pay for it.

To start, the cost is $20. Not that I am against paying a little bit of money for our environment but I feel like we shouldn’t have to pay for this service type of service. There are plenty of websites that you can go to and click on that will planet a tree for free. This website will planet 500 sq. feet free in your name for registering for free.

Another issue I have is stopping the junk mail. I discontinued getting bank statements in the mail and I now receive them electronically. This saves a lot of trees and it costs me nothing. The email statements also save the company money and it was so simple. I use Bank of America and I know they do this service for Debit cards, Credit Cards, and my Savings Account.So if you want to start simple I would suggest going through your electronic billing for credit cards or banks and see if they offer to stop mailing you statements and for you to receive them electronically. I bet you’ll feel better if you know you’re helping our environment.

Light Up My Life!

There are a few more ideas on that Oprah show that I wanted to share. The GE energy efficient light bulbs will not only help save the environment but they will help your wallet as well. Here’s a description from Oprah’s website:

"GE Energy Smart lightbulbsGE Energy Smart bulbs use 70 to 75 percent less energy than incandescent lightbulbs and last up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs. For example, by using a 26-watt compact fluorescent lightbulb—equivalent to a 100-watt incandescent lightbulb—users can save up to $59 on energy costs over the life of the bulb. Saving energy saves money and is better for the environment."

For a complete list of energy saving and eco-friendly idea’s go here.

Just changing one single light bulb will help. This almost seems unreal. I do not understand why everyone is not going out and buying at least one. It benefits everyone and the environment. My mother just told me that Lowe’s was doing a sale on these light bulbs and that they were selling them for 98 cents! That is ridiculous. This light bulb idea seems like a good idea to me. If you are unsure you should just try it. I need to save a few dollars on my electricity bill so I’m definitely going to try it too.

"O"

There are numerous people out there, mostly women, who look to one higher power for advice in love, life, money, health, and almost everything else there is to imagine in life. That higher power would be Oprah. She is definitely a leader and has millions of followers. So, being the follower that I am, watched her show on Going Green and decided to go green myself.



The show introduced a whole new world of cleaning products for me to use that would make my house clean. Interestingly enough every single one of these products has no scent. Scent doesn’t mean clean. The smell of nothing means clean. This interested me. For all of my 21 years of living, 18 of those under my parent’s roof, I’ve come accustomed to smelling a fresh scent of Pine Sol or Mr. clean and mentally becoming satisfied living in a “clean” area. Now I realize that the “clean” scent isn’t very clean anymore!

I’m tempted to try an organic cleaning product. I would also like to try some rewashable towels or cleaning tools as well. One’s that I can reuse over and over again and not have to throw away like I do with paper towels when I am cleaning the mirrors.

I hope Oprah has made a few more followers than just me. Somehow I believe she has.