I'm in the burbs ....

I was a country mouse but am now a town mouse again. Life is a bit different here. No manure piles, no free ranging chickens... BUT a marked decrease in mileage with my car. Not all changes are bad ones.
I took a quiz on how "green" I am. Apparently the fact that I own a car and a house that I heat (since in Canada we have this wacky thing called winter), eat meat regularly.....we would need 3 1/2 planets if everyone lived like me. Now, Call me crazy but I took it a little personally. I do what I can and while I know there is room for improvements and I am making them , its like its never enough for the environmental activists.
Case in Point: Ontario. They are implementing a long overdue policy to phase out plastic shopping bag use. this is GREAT, but when reports come in from the acivists they are being quoted as thinking it is a weak attempt at best. I think that if we show a little more approval for these things maybe they powers that be would be more willing to make more and more changes that the activists suggest.
Here in Quebec we have great shopping bags available for purchase for about a buck apiece. Each bag can hold about 4 plastic bags worth of groceries, depending on how big stuff is and how much you can lift. My favorites are from the Metro chain of grocery store...they have two sets of handle so you can shoulder the bags which I find way better since I am height challenged. Each bag lasts many trips. Another plus: 5 cent savings per use at grocery store that honor ecologically sound bags. Twenty trips and the bag is paid for.
No reusable bags for sale in your area? Get some made or make them yourself with your mad sewing or crochet skillz. Here is a mesh bag pattern available at Canadian Living's website:
http://www.canadianliving.com/CanadianLiving/client/en/Crafts/DetailNews.asp?idNews=237375&idSM=307
There's also a pattern in Knit 1 magazine's summer issue. Get even more EcoCool and use organic cotton or hemp yarn!!OR recycle old teeshirts by cutting them into strips and knitting or crocheting them into a bag.
Cheap to make or buy, there really is no excuse not to say" No Thanks! I brought my own bags."when they ask "Paper or Plastic?"