The CragBaby

Here are some plastic bag facts from the Mayor’s Green Team email as they strive to bring awareness about the importance of bringing your own bag to the grocery store and farmer’s market.

• Plastic bags are made from petroleum OIL and natural gas.
• Americans use more than 380 billion plastic bags annually.
• The US imports 12 million barrels of oil annually to produce plastic bags.
• Plastic bags do not biodegrade.
• A plastic vortex twice the size of Texas swirls in the Pacific Ocean between San Francisco and Hawaii.
• Recycling is not a viable option. Consumption can be reduced by carrying reusable bags.
• The best alternative is reusable bags.
• There are a growing number of countries that are banning or taxing plastic bags. In the U.S., cities are beginning to do the same.

Remember that a great alternative is Ruthie Pearl . =)

I recently posted about Lauren Yant’s startup, Ruthie Pearl . This year she has a booth at the Farmer’s Market and due to her presence there was picked up by the Daily Style on Dooce.com . Superb! And now she is all sold out on bags and quickly sewing more. Ha ha… congrats!

If you haven’t yet, you should check out her site and try to secure an order before she sells out again. =)

A fellow SLC climber and friend, Lauren Yant, has started her own business, Ruthie Pearl , selling fashionable, earth-friendly shopping bags and gift bags. Lauren is highly earth conscience and taken her activism to the next level by creating quality products with low impact, while offsetting all business energy consumption through wind power credits, reducing and recycling wastes, and educating others on global impact and how they can have a positive influence.

She was recently quoted:

"A lot of people think that environmentalism is a political movement, but it really isn’t -climate change is something that affects us all. People in my generation look at our grandparents who thought nothing was wrong with smoking and think they were crazy. I think that’s the same way that our grandchildren will look at us."

"They’ll wonder, ‘What were they thinking?’ If there’s anything that I hope people learn from what I’m doing, it’s that anyone can make small changes to help the world become a better place – and you can even look cute doing it. I simply hope that people start taking small steps to make smarter decisions for a better tomorrow."

The current selection of bags can be seen on the site and at the upcoming Farmer’s Market . Lauren has offered a 20% discount for any of the CragBaby readers. Just enter CRAGBABY as the discount code at the time of checkout. And then of course let me know which bag you purchased, as I am still trying to decide…. =)

My friend, the Greyhghost, gave me the heads up about a phenomenal recycling service in Utah. The company, Stone Castle, is in the computer and electronics recycling business specifically but recycles everything imaginable from monitors and hard drives to batteries, electronics, glass, plastics, microwaves, DVDs, cell phones etc. The company services Weber, Davis and Utah counties through a handful of location drops, but addresseses Salt Lake County with a pickup service. They pickup and recycle everything for free except monitors and tvs which cost a mere $5 fee.

To schedule a pickup appointment, call 801-731-9444 and tell them where you will leave the items. Fantastic!