Here at Down:2:earth we try to come up with ways in which the average person could become more eco-friendly.

Sustainable Tip of the Week- Bring your own bag

If you haven’t heard the facts about the plastic bag issue, it’s worth investigating.

• According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year.
• According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion.)
• Plastic bags are made of polyethylene
• Polyethylene is a petroleum product
• Production contributes to air pollution and energy consumption
• Four to five trillion plastic bags are manufactured each year
• Americans use over 380 billion polyethylene bags per year
• Americans throw away approximately 100 billion polyethylene bags per year
• A plastic bag can take between 500 to 1000 years to break down in the environment.
• On average, we use each plastic bag for 12 minutes before discarding it. It then can last in the environment for decades.
• Plastic bag litter is lethal in the marine environment, killing at least 100,000 birds, whales, seals and turtles every year. After an animal is killed by plastic bags, its body decomposes and the plastic is released back into the environment, where it can kill again.

Until now Germany, Australia, China, and Uganda are some of the countries that have banned, or are working towards banning plastic bags. Although the U.S. has not banned plastic bags yet there are several companies taking a responsible approach to the issue.

What can we do? Say goodbye to plastic bags and say hello to stylish cloth bags…

EcoVixen made in the U.S from recyclable cotton. Left. ” You don’t want to return as a bag do you”?… Don’t mess with Karma. Right. I’m not made in China. Made in the United States…and proud of it.
For a proud and responsible Bostonian. A product of Sea Boston USA made from 100% Cotton Canvas.

ECOBAGS EarthTone Cotton String Bag Set. These colorful cotton string bags are great to store away in your purse, great for your produce.

Verde Bags were created by Gina Sample as a stylish statement against plastic grocery bags.
Happy Bags has a wide variety of bags with fun designs on them, some of them are even made from recycled water bottles.
Mini Maxi Shopper. Lorelei has this one and can vouch for how efficient it is. “I keep it in my purse because it can fold up to be a wallet sized pouch, and when I need it come grocery time, it’s there.”

This concludes our sustainable tip of the week. Tune in next week for more!

Sustainably yours
Nathalie Zegarra

It is amazing what joy these little bubbles can bring. I try to drink as much water as possible and I avoid sugary drinks all together. So my favorite drink when looking for some flavor is seltzer water with a splash of cranberry or a wedge of lime. However since I became aware of the huge water bottle issue, I feel guilty each time I buy a bottle of seltzer. Living with guilt is such a bummer. But it can be a good motivator to find a better solution.

Enter the Penguin by Soda Club. I have to start off by saying that I love this machine. I love the design and I love the crackling bubbles that it produces. I smile each time I see this penguin on the counter next to my Alessi sugar bowl – the two are quite a hoot.

Just yesterday I made my first bottle of seltzer water. It reminded me of the time I made butter in girl scouts. I stared at the clear bottle with all of the beautiful bubbles rising to the top and I could not help but wonder, where did these bubbles come from? Of course, they came from the CO2 container, but the moment was quite magical.

Details: Assembly was simple for someone like my dear friend Brenda who has no problem reading through an instruction manual and following the steps. It was a bit more challenging for someone like myself who prefers to plow through everything on my sometimes faulty intuition and muscle power. Luckily I am old enough to know my limitations. So when I opened the box and pulled out the parts and the manual, I set it back down and let it wait until I was in the right frame of mind. My husband rolled his eyes, thinking that he could probably assemble it blind folded as it was really only a few parts. But I did not want to damage the machine in haste, which I have done numerous times in the past trying to shove parts together. So I waited.

Yesterday was designated the day of assembly. I did not have any appointments to run to and could focus on the job at hand. My mind was clear, and I did a little seltzer jig to bring good vibes to the room. First I put all of the pieces out on the counter and opened up the manual. I read each stage and followed the directions. I got a bit tripped up trying to figure out how to open up the canister that holds the glass bottle. This is one of those things that just requires “getting the feel” for it. Once you have released the canister it pulls up and opens for you in a cool Star Trek way. After opening and closing the canister a few times I managed to get the feel and now it is easy.

I was a bit freaked out with the CO2 canisters. I do not normally handle things like this, so I had Hollywood driven fears that it would explode in my hand. It did not. I had some trouble trying to take a protective plastic cap off the canister, but my husband easily popped it off by using a butter knife as a lever. Very clever. In Hollywood that would surely have been a disaster, but I guess in real life it is okay.

Once I had everything assembled, the water bottle was filled with Arlington tap water and ready to rip, I pushed down on the penguin’s cute little bill to bring on the gas. I was a bit timid at first, again fearing that the Penguin would explode and trigger the pipes in our building to burst and then a tidal wave would engulf the town of Arlington. But my fears soon turned to pure joy when I hit the gas release button and opened the canister to find a bottle of bubbly seltzer ready to enjoy.

Ahhhh…. bliss….

Impact: As always, we need to look at the big picture. What waste does this machine bring and how does that compare with buying seltzer in plastic bottles, or just denying myself of seltzer altogether? Soda Club does a good job talking about the impact of their product and at this point I feel good about it. I can send the empty CO2 canisters back to the company and they will reuse them. Soda Club states that “Empty carbonators are returned to Soda-Club to be cleaned, inspected and refilled with CO2 drawn naturally from the air. Carbonators are reusable as long as they remain in good condition.”

So at this point I am feeling good about my penguin. The main impact comes from manufacturing the product and shipping. I used to think shipping was a huge issue, but now I am learning that it is a smaller part of the big picture. This leads me to believe we should look into this subject a bit more and blog about it.

Amazing how one blog always leads to the next.