Publix is the grocery store closest to my home and overall I've been happy shopping with them. They have a decent selection of organics, carry national brands such as Amy's that prioritize environmental needs and I can get my almond milk there (that's what I switched to when I left soy behind).

They also use plastic bags, as most groceries do and although they take them back for recycling, this practice is a very inefficient use of energy, assuming it actually takes place. In any case, the bags themselves are an environmental nightmare.

When Larry and I started this blog, we decided to focus on the positive actions that food purveyors were taking toward sustainability, rather than the negative ways they fall short. There are already plenty of voices out there bringing attention to people's shortfalls and that's pretty easy because we've all got 'em. Matter of fact, our bathroom faucet has had a drip for months and we haven't fixed it because we're too busy writing about which restaurants and groceries are good conservers of natural resources. Go figure.  

So before we look at the bag issue, let's eyeball some of the other things that make me feel good about shopping at Publix. In addition to those listed above, Publix has a keen understanding about the importance of providing a good work environment for their employees. Just take a look at the benefits they offer and the investment they make in their people. It's impressive.

People are a renewable natural resource of the highest degree and when you care for them well, I say you can give yourself a pat on the back. So Publix, pat yourself on the back.

On the other hand, the Publix cashiers are just a bit too quick to swoop up my purchase(s) and plop it/them in a plastic bag, even when I'm only buying one item. This happens even when I buy something such as a box of laundry powder, which has its own handle or is tiny, such as a Larabar, which would be just as easy to carry without a bag.

Yes, I can (and do) say that I don't need a bag, at which point it is not uncommon for the cashier to remove my bagged item, hand it to me and then throw the bag away. Throw it away. 

Of course, it's not just Publix that does this. There's a general lack of awareness around the urgent need for good environmental practices even though public service announcements have started telling us which days we're on orange alert and it's not safe to go outside. We're kind of like Nero, fiddling while the earth burns.

So I decided to tune up and speak with manager Alonza Rhem at the Centerville Publix near my house about this. I asked if he might consider instructing his cashiers to ask customers who are making one-item purchases if they would like a bag before they throw the goods in one and hand it over.

"They would look at me like I was crazy," he said, looking at me like I was crazy. 

And that sounded crazy to me. What person in their right mind would want to contribute to polluting the earth for the dubious convenience of carrying out their coffee in a plastic bag in their hand, instead of just in their hand without a plastic bag?
 

"We have two thousand people a day going through this store," Rhem added. "We don't have time to ask everyone if they want a bag."

"But all two thousand people are surely not buying only one item," I pleaded. "Couldn't you ask just those people?"  

"If customers don't want a bag," he said, "They tell us."

And it's true, I do tell them, when I'm not distracted by digging through my pockets looking for my debit card or asking about the charity they're collecting money for at the register or shocked to find out from the headlines on the Enquirer that Elvis has surfaced again, in a Tuscaloosa convenience store and that he's married to an alien.  

Yes, it's my responsibility to make sure I'm not thoughtlessly contributing to the waste in the world.

But guess what? It's yours, too.