Typing with a wrist brace is not practical...

Every store I shop in here in the good ol' Eugene has at least a few shoppers who have their own reusable bags. Walking through the aisles, you'll see them filling their carts with all of their favorite organic goodies (or perhaps several cases of Orange Slice soda), with their eco-friendly bags neatly folded and waiting. These shoppers with their own bags are everywhere. People of all races and ages, the young, old, really old, young but old looking... all waiting to use their neatly folded, pro-environment bags. My favorite in-store site is the new-to-using-earth-friendly-bags person who fills their bags in their cart, only to be emptied and refilled upon checkout. Perhaps it's a way for them to fulfill their secretive desires to shoplift without acting upon it, as they're tucking unpaid items into their own personal bags.

No matter what though, every time I see a shopper walking into a store with those store-branded bags waiting to be filled, I begin to question why I don't use them. Really, I care about our planet. I recycle faithfully, I would never litter and I even let my lawn die yearly to conserve water (or at least I use that excuse for its annual death). Until this point, I have even recycled the plastic (and paper) 'disposable' bags the stores use. But maybe it is time I take it a step further and actually purchase a reusable bag. Maybe I should care that much.

Mostly, there is only one obstacle keeping me from doing such a thing; which store brand bag do I choose? Is it permissible to carry a Trader Joe's bag into Wal-Mart? What about a Target bag into Albertsons? I want to avoid a tragic faux pas, but have yet to find an etiquette guide on this particular subject.

I almost gave up on the idea of trying to be more green, when I finally found the solution to my dilemma. A green bag, with no store brand that portrays the truth of the depth of my caring.