capitalism 101

I love Loblaws' cloth shopping bags. Sure they could have been cuter. And maybe not so earnest. More like this one by Anya Hindmarch which is sold out everywhere except eBay where one can be had for about $400 (original price $10). Despite the style deficit of the Loblaws bag, it's only a buck and it's black so I don't mind if the coriander stems are muddy. Apparently it can be used 50 times and it holds twice as much as a regular plastic bag, and if you follow their calculation based on the average number of shopping visits it all adds up to a billion fewer plastic bags. Pretty encouraging. But my first reaction was less favourable: Why are we paying $1 for Loblaws-branded bags that surely cost no more than a quarter to produce? Shouldn't they subsidize the bags with the money they'll save from using fewer plastic bags? Or at the least, shouldn't they offer to do something charitable and green-related with the profits? I don't know. Maybe. Then Live Earth changed my mind.

Now I don't mean to be a wet blanket but I just didn't get it. I caught bits and pieces of the concert (Toni Collette? Singing?) over the weekend and found the whole spectacle rather embarassing. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wondered what was powering the pulsating wall of stage lights. Or what was being served at the concession stands and how about all that garbage? I was glad to discover they actually had a "green policy" governing these things, and some good steps were taken. But mostly I wondered what the whole thing was about. Raising awareness? Okey dokey. We're listening. What now? Please don't keep telling me to take the bus. Or to turn the water off in the shower while the conditioner is doing its thing. Because I'm not ashamed to say it: I won't. I need easier. Nudging the thermostat up a couple of degrees in summer, organic fertilizer and native plants in the garden, turning the lights off, cloth bags instead of plastic? Check, check, check and check.

I've come to terms with the $1 Loblaws bag. "Green" absolutely should be for-profit. It's the only way things will happen.