Modern Menace

Nothing is simple when it comes to protecting the planet. All too often we all do what is easy and what's most convenient while throwing the planet Earth's life into a precarious balance. I am as guilty as the next person when my attitude drifts towards "let the next person take care of it" and last weekend sure proved that theory.
I had just completed a full day at a Book Festival where I was given three reusable bags that the Festival hoped I would fill with books.

Being the tight wad, I mean thrifty person I am, paying for any book is out of the question but I was determined to put the bags to good use. Stopping at the grocery store on the way from the Book Festival I would use the new bags to carry my groceries to the car, saving planet Earth from another menacing plastic bag. For almost a year I've been carrying a reusable bag in my car and have only used it a few times so I don't know why all of a sudden I thought I was going to use all three of the new bags on my stop that afternoon. Maybe I was having one of my "Save the Planet" moments. Yes it was probably one of those moments because I had just spent the entire day with a bunch of Prius driving, tree hugging, pansy sniffing, peace loving intellects who would not carry their books or groceries in a plastic bag even if you paid them to do it.
Into the store I went, reusable bags in hand. I walked all around the inside of the store looking for other people with reusable bags but did not see a single reusable bag other than the ones I had in my hand. Using a reusable bag instead of a recyclable plastic bag is such a simple task yet the task is always pushed into the background. It's only the things we love to do, things that are easy and convenient that create an emotional response. Billions of those white plastic bags blow all over the planet. They end up in our rivers, oceans and land in the planets trees causing a modern menace.
I'll leave a couple of the new reusable bags in my automobile with the best of intentions. Hopefully my mind will not be adrift the next time I stop to buy groceries and I"ll think to carry the reusable bags into the store. Even if I don't fill the bags with groceries, people will see me with the bags in my had and think " he must be a kind, loving, and very caring kind of guy". Maybe I better just stick with plastic because before you know it I'll be paying for my books and driving a Prius to the grocery store.