Areille - the Lioness of God: A BIG Gold star for Whole Foods!

Sunday, January 27, 2008

A BIG Gold star for Whole Foods!

Continuing with the theme of my previous post: I took a trip to Whole Foods today. I have mentioned it a few times before - I really love that place and every time I go there, they give me a new reason to. I know it's a bit expensive ... but I think it's worth it.

As the check out lady bagged my groceries in the cloth bag I brought along, I noticed a little sign which said something like this - "Bring your own bag. Whole foods is plastic grocery bag free for Earth day, 2008". I asked the bagger what this was all about and she said that Whole Foods has completely STOPPED using Plastic grocery bags since this year. They did a trial run in Austin first in Dec. They got such an amazing response from shoppers that they have now initiated it company wide. Of course they will still offer paper bags, but they are the first and one of the few food retailers that make their paper bags out of 100% recycled paper! How amazing is that? I would any day pay those extra few bucks on my groceries to support a company like this one!

39 Comments:

At 1/28/2008 11:18 PM, Anonymous said…

If you had to pick up just a couple of standard grocery items and not the speciality stuff at whole foods would you be willing to drive a few extra miles to shop at Whole foods if you could get the exact same items at a much closer HEB?
At 1/29/2008 3:08 AM, zaph said…

dayym girl, last 2 weeks have been a flurry of activity here. what's up, no 'accounts' to settle at work?
At 1/29/2008 5:25 AM, Mommy G said…

Anand: nope ... my trip to whole foods happens only once in 2 or 3 weeks - and its mainly for speciality items which isn't available else where. I wouldn't go there to buy apples or soy milk when I run out! :)

Zaph: How u doing, honey?? Long time!!! Activity here coz I just have lots to say and you aren't around to talk to! ;)
At 1/29/2008 8:13 AM, Charanya said…

I brought cloth bags from India this time - the one they give at sari stores? Perfect for grocery shopping!! :)
At 1/29/2008 12:34 PM, Anonymous said…

Thnx for sharing about the cool 'BYOB' initiative by Whole Foods. (Happily surprising that their model got an amazing response, since in today's world, convenience has a higher value!)Now only if grocery giants such as Publix, Walmart.. could follow suit :D

I too try and carry Walmart's "Paper or Plastic? Neither" or then Publix's "Stop the cycle-Recycle" cloth bags, whenever i can! 'Cause that's still one-up over using recycled paper/plastic bags :)
At 1/29/2008 1:07 PM, Anonymous said…

Ever though of recylcing the tons of plastic bags you may already have sitting around at home? Or just saying no to any bag at all and taking the cart to your car and putting the stuff straight in the trunk? Inconvenient? Yes! But, still saves bags, paper or plastic, if u don't have a cloth bag for a chance visit to the grocery store or forgot yours at home.
At 1/29/2008 8:54 PM, Anonymous said…

If you only buy items from whole foods that you cannot get anywhere else, then are you not trying to weasel credit for supporting the store for its initiatives when you say "I would any day pay those extra few bucks on my groceries to support a company like this one!"?
At 1/30/2008 6:08 AM, Mommy G said…

ugh anand ... you are annoying! I meant ... even though whole foods groceries are more expensive (the speciality and the non-speciality kind), it's worth it. I didn't say I am currently buying the apples and soymilk there .... but I wouldn't mind it. If it was as close to my place as the nearest HEB, I wouldn't be choosing HEB over Whole Foods. In fact, I do have a local organic grocer nearesr to my place on the same lines of Whole Foods who I always prefer over HEB.

Stop picking on insignificant issues ... and look at the bigger message here - support stores like WF and use ur own bag over plastic or paper!

Noone is perfect ... so I don't know why you expect me to be! I advocate cloth bags, but that doesn't mean I have never gotten a plastic one from a grocery store! It's all about what you do a 'majority' of the time!

twopenny: Reusing plastic bags is definitely something I do and I think probably everyone I know atleast does once! It's esp. sad when groery stores end up using cheap plastic for their bags ... so not only do they have to bag it twice in the store but by the time u get it home, it has a bunch of holes.
Using your cart when you forget the cloth ... I have done that before and it is a pain. The pain has definitely helped me to not forget taking the bags! :)

Cha: Those cloth bags are awesome - so sturdy and good!!
At 1/30/2008 4:26 PM, Anonymous said…

It is not a question of picking on insignificant things :)

My point was that you shop at Whole Foods because they sell stuff that you do not get anywhere else and not because they are promoting a green initiative (which seemed to be the point of your message). Does the local organic grocer have the no plastic initiative? My guess is you shop there for organic stuff rather than any of their greener initiatives.

If you want to shop at a place that gives neither plastic nor paper bags then you need to shop at Sams Club which has been doing this for years. No bags - take the cart to your car directly. This beats whole foods anyday in the no-bag initiative, but my guess is you will not get the stuff you find at whole foods which is the primary reason you shop there regardless of any initiatives.

Sorry to be annoying, but the point is that when you decide to shop and support WF, the primary reason is their products and you would do that even if they carried plastic bags.
At 1/30/2008 7:50 PM, Anonymous said…

Since we are onto it, here's just tossing an idea around:

Let's say a grocery store such as 'Publix' caters to 100 customers every month. Assuming each customer, on an avg needs 3 decent-sized cloth bags for their groceries per visit, how about if Publix keeps around 300 + 75 extra cloth bags (25% don't get returned in time) as its monthly inventory, and keeps on circulating them, requesting customers to return them back on their next visit.

Do you think this might work, or is it kinda far-fetched, or no way?

To me, this is going a step ahead, giving customers no reason to either go in for plastic/paper bags at all in the first place, or even carrying their own cloth bags. For this to work, all customers need to do is just return the bags they *borrowed*, on their next visit, which is a reasonable thing to ask for - 'cause why would they want to stack them at home anyways? (Another assumption needed here is that the bags are not really attractive - just sturdy, Publix logo-bearing and having a COOL punchline, of course!)

Am keen on your responses/opinions :)
At 1/30/2008 9:16 PM, Mommy G said…

Anand: Again, I never said I shop there because of their green initiative. But I praised them because of their green initiative. Do you understand the difference?

About Sams Club, I do have a Costco membership which follows the same policy. But from my experience, for a single girl like me, shopping for groceries at Costco doesn't make sense. I might save on that plastic bag but can end up doing a lot of other wasteful unnecessary shopping! I guess it is useful for bigger families, but even there I have noticed ppl end up buying a lot more than they meant to ... which leads to waste ... which leads to more harm than a plastic bag.

And yes, the local grocer does promote bringing your own bag. No I don't shop there for the organic produce ... I buy regular groceries there! And no, I don't go there because of their green initiative, but I do go there, because they support local farmers and they aren't too much more expensive than HEB. So I can afford them and feel like I have helped a small business. And I am glad they too have a green initiative going.

GGS: I think thats a great thought but probably too ideal. This would be a perfect solution if grocery stores where willing to put in that extra money to help the environment. Cause they will have to keep a budget aside ... it's never going to be just one time deal ... those missing bags will constantly have to be replaced. And the bags can't be cheap ... they will have to be ultra sturdy otherwise customers might complain about that gallon of milk which slipped cause the bag broke. On the other hand, the plastic bags they give out today are obviously ridiculously cheap cause they have no issues triple bagging that gallon! Sadly 'selling' cloth bags and 'hoping' people use them seems to be the most that they can do today. Some day ... :)
At 1/30/2008 9:35 PM, @purV said…

Here's a first time visitor to this blog. Impressive.. Looks like there's a serious new yr resolution to contribute your bit save the plannet. Al Gore's got some fans here.. Great to see ppl wakin' up and hope this list grows on! :)
At 1/30/2008 10:54 PM, Anonymous said…

In support of Anand, you did say "I would any day pay those extra few bucks on my groceries to support a company like this one" which imho can be read as you would pay more at Whole foods for the same items you get anywhere else because of their initiatives.
At 1/31/2008 5:22 AM, Mommy G said…

nieagles: exactly! I said I "would", I didn't say, "the extra bucks I AM paying is so worth it".

Maybe my English was all wrong ... sorry ... but for clarification, I repeat, what I meant was: if I do change my grocery store for all regular items to whole foods, even though they are more expensive, it might be worth supporting a company who at least is doing something for the planet like starting off with the no-plastic initiative, promoting byob, using 100% recycled paper on the paper bags and many other things. Does this make things clearer?

And for those who aren't nitpicking: Whole Foods is a great place, do give them a chance & take your own bag no matter where you shop!
At 1/31/2008 5:23 AM, Mommy G said…

Thanks purv! I think there are more ppl than u can imagine out there who are waiting to make the difference.
At 1/31/2008 6:39 AM, Anonymous said…

Areille: True - what u just said! But frankly, if I were to opine on a BYOB initiative by a grocery, I would tend to think of it as somewhat impractical. 'Cause as much as I want to avoid using plastic bags myself, there are times when I forget to carry cloth bags, and so will customers. But hey - as u said, WF at Austin had an amazing response :)

Hence my ideal train of thought. Obviously there would be a lot of manufacturing overheads (for the cloth bags), factoring in the huge volume of customers. Plus the missing bags issue.

I was thinking more in terms of a nature organization (say, WWF-World Wildlife Fund) teaming up with Publix to sponsor the bags, market it strategically, and test it for a small popular store, just as WF did. Also, such bags could be mfd in India (say, thru WWF-India) at a much cheaper rate.

But probably too ideal a scenario! Well well, it was purely brainstorming on my part :D Surely some day, I truly hope.. :)

Anyways, u couldn't have stressed the bottomline more. I too would any day pay extra bucks to support mavericks like WF, who are trying to bring about a positive change. Its like paying extra for 'AnimalCareCertified' labelled eggs (for those of us who consume eggs), or then buying cosmetic products labelled 'Product not tested on animals'.
At 1/31/2008 7:17 AM, Mommy G said…

GGS: True that!! :)
At 1/31/2008 8:26 AM, Charanya said…

GGS...wouldn't it be nice if people started voluntarily buying cloth bags for their environmental benefits...people shouldnt want to use cloth bags because they are being given free in the store, but because they WANT to use it even otherwise. That's being a little idealistic of course, but sometimes a little forceful push in the beginning might end up garnering some long-term benefits...

Of course people can sometimes forget, but like Areille said before, it's what people do majority of the time and it's what they get into the habit of doing, that matters more!

Anand, so at the end of it all, I don't quite understand if you are pro-BYOB/green initiatives or a sceptic? Or are you just against the fact that living a "greener" lifestyle could potentially be more expensive (ex. shopping at grocery stores like WF??)
At 1/31/2008 4:49 PM, Anonymous said…

Charanya: Ideally people realizing that they ought to use cloth bags, would be really nice :) Also, if they proactively WANT to do it, there's a "feel-good" factor too, which won't prevail, if cloth bags are just given free. So definitely agree with u there.

But somehow I feel we can't wait for everyone to realize that. I think, when it comes to preserving our environment, majority of the people are somehow not able to make wise decisions; either they don't have the time, or then the info or insight to do so. I believe, in such cases, the solution needs to be robust enough to sustain the cause.

That's why my thought process of not even letting people worry about getting their own bags. Now that such a store-wide initiative would boost its brand value in the customer's eyes, and also promote eco-awareness, is a too-good effect which can be had.

Frankly, to me, its all a matter of "attitude". 'Cause the changes we need to do are really small, maybe a tad bit inconvenient, but still small. As u've pointed out what Areille mentioned, its really the thought that counts, and 'what u end up doing most of the time' which is more important. I too am far from perfect, but am merrily basking in the satisfaction that atleast I am aware, and am contributing in my own small way :) Now, if only I could convince others - that's really the hard part.. Needless to say, our discussion is a great start!!

(btw, I had been to Publix today, and now they have started keeping Publix "green bags" (greenbag.info) in 3 colors - beige, green and black for a dollar each, as against the "Stop the cycle-Recycle" bag, which was 4 bucks. Am sure more people will be ready to shell out a dollar for a green cause :)
At 1/31/2008 5:52 PM, Improper Bostonian said…

Arielle: Moderators of blogosphere might sue you very soon for diverting the majority of blog-traffic to ur blog by writing such thought provoking posts since the turn of 2008 !!! :-)

GGS: "all customers need to do is just return the bags they *borrowed*, on their next visit, which is a reasonable thing to ask for - 'cause why would they want to stack them at home anyways?" If a customer, re-vists a store, it is most likely that he/she wants to buy something from the store...in that case, they can as well use the bag they brought along to "return"...cuz, it very very unlikely that someone will go to a store "just to return a bag" for saving the world...:-)

i hope you meant to return the "excess" bags, excess of what you need to do your current shopping...

but I have another solution...just like we have post boxes, water pumps (for fire-fighters) and garbage-dumpsters at many points in every locality, we should also have a box at some vantage points in every locality, so that people can drop off their cloth bags...once or twice a week, city corporation can send someone to collect the bags, and re-process/clean them for next usage at a store...that way you create more job opportunities and increase a country's GDP !!! this idea is similar to what we currently have garbage disposal/waste management, however you like to call it

But, none of this will work....:-)
At 1/31/2008 6:13 PM, Improper Bostonian said…

GGS: The reason why I said it won't work, is cuz you are expecting people to act wise to save the world...if people are wise and rational in their thought process, they wouldn't be electing corrupt/bad political leaders, do various things to hurt other people and many more...i mean, expecting the people to make wise/rational decisions is unreasonable, as the truth is people are not wise...

But no reason to panic...a solution does exist !!!

key is "economics", and key word is "mechanism design"...my belief is, unless you hit the offenders where it hurts the most, they would NOT get the message...to make the long story short, lets say that we have a formula that assigns a number for each usage of bad things (like a plastic bag)...so if a person uses plastic bag, a certain number of points should be credited to his social security number...at the end of the year, based on the cumulative points, a fine (based on the offender's annual income) has to be charged for the offender...this penalty should have an exponential functional form, I mean exponentially proportional to your annual income...so if I get charged 500$ for a certain number of points, Bill gates should be charged 5 million $, for accumulating same number of points, so that both of us are affected to the same extent for committing the crime against Mother Earth...for repeat offenders, the penalty has to again increase exponentially...similar penalties should be levied on stores who use plastic bags/other things that are considered harmful...after a while, once costs outweigh the profits, people "will" act "more wisely"... just like speeding is an offense, and you have speeding tickets and other fines, one should come with an appropriate formula that calculates number of points for each violation...but the problem with curret speeding fines, is that I get fined the same amount as Paris Hilton for speeding above the limit, but I learn as I can't afford the fines, while Paris Hilton gives a damn (and gets caught again and again for seepding and other violations), as a few 100 bucks is peanuts for her...thats why you need an exponential formula...so that it hurts offenders...Fines and penalties are the ONLY way you can enforce discipline in this world !!!

money such collected could be used for research to improve our environment, or any other social cause...unless it hurts, people WILL NEVER make rational decisions !!!
At 1/31/2008 6:31 PM, Improper Bostonian said…

GGS: We have laws for penalizing firms for damaging environment/ecosystem, like releasing toxic wastes from chemical plant into a lake or river...since people can die/suffer due to various ailments if water is polluted, it could be an issue as serious as homicide...

since it is ONLY polar bears and other animals that die and not humans, due to usage of plastic bags and other harmful objects, no fines/penalties will be levied...also lawmakers will be bribed by various lobbies, and in the end nothing will happen to improve the current status of worsening environment...

on a concluding note, dont worry about things beyond your control...just live, enjoy your life, and at the end, the world will be wiped off, and everything will start from scratch...not that you don't know this !!!
At 1/31/2008 8:17 PM, Anonymous said…

Charanya,
To answer your question I am pro green initiatives. What I dislike is people trying to take credit for something that was just incidental. For instance when I shop at WF I do it because of the products they carry. I do not claim I do it because of their green initiatives. If I want to save the environment I BYOB at Walmart or HEB and do not wait till a particular store makes it an initiative. WF can afford a BYOB because of the kind of people who shop there. It is also partly economically driven given the kind of image they portray. It is a great store and my shopping trend at WF will not change because they stop carrying plastic. On the other hand, if HEB tries to "force" a BYOB or does away with plastic (they do offer re-usable cloth bags at a reasonable price) they would lose a lot of customers to Walmart and other stores given the different customer base.
At 2/01/2008 5:51 AM, Mommy G said…

anand: Who took credit for anything here?? I said Big Gold Star for Whole Foods .. not Areille!
At 2/01/2008 11:35 PM, Payal said…

Hi Gayathri! Very interesting collection of thoughts! Cute that you admit you're a trend follower... not many people keep it "real" enough to do that!

Adding fuel to this fire about green and bagging, I'm with you mostly. Green is a system like any other, and no system is 100% efficient. So we just have to remind ourselves of the way it used to be. Ever gone produce shopping in India with your gran or someone when you were very young? No cloth bag = newspaper wrapping! Plastic bags provided by grocers is fairly recent in India but unfortunately has caught on rather quickly. We don't think about it often enough, but there are less than six degrees of separation in the ecology of quotidian life. I.e. everything we do, starting from the toothpaste we use to the numerous shots we have at a club has an implication on ecology because that's how chemical and manufacturing dependent we've become. The way to mitigate that is to look back and re-examine the road we took to get here, and then react to our findings.

In fact, with all the "green" advocacy, I still haven't figured out why the Olympic council ended up with China as the next host country - they have no regard for their own resources, but they are also, under the Olympic banner, harming the environment with their move to control rain over the stadium by releasing chemicals into the air that cause rain clouds to disperse without shedding moisture. A reaction to something so blatant has to be global but no one is speaking up.

So, wherever you're shopping, extra marks for carrying your own bags!
At 2/02/2008 5:52 PM, samurai said…

Areille,

Even though WF
s policy of no plastic is commendable, HEB is not all too bad either. They are the ones who got the best record when it comes to locallized procurement (not only FMCG and produce, but various other items actually). I am a strong supporter of 'less mileage' on goods that I buy. If I know a certain good had to make 2 round trips around the world just because it would be 5% cheaper, then I would not buy it.

If you award 'energy-points' to WF and HEB, then both of them would probably earn the same. I cannot say the same about Walmart or Safeway.
At 2/02/2008 10:59 PM, Ankit said…

I have to admit that this whole post has been so informative and it gives me the feeling that next time when I go to any grocery store all the things will be looking, screaming , yelling at me like "pick me" "pick me" I'm 100% nature friendly..............
At 2/03/2008 10:41 AM, Anonymous said…

improper bostonian: Quite some comments from u'r side! So, here goes -

Basically I meant - u borrow bags for all u'r grocery needs from the store and return them when u don't need them. The drop-off points for the cloth bags is a better idea - much more convenient.

Looks like u've given up on most people :D Also, as *seemingly reasonable* u'r system of penalizing-people-to-hurt-everyone-equally may sound, its just not fair. Its as good as penalizing someone for earning more!!Besides that's really micro-management, 'cause who would assign a number for bad usages, such as using plastic bags. Its just not practical - am sure u already know that!

At times, one does resign to the attitude or conclusion that fines and penalities are the only way out, 'cause if rationale and logic doesn't work, chances are - nothing will. Also, u are somewhat right in saying that so long as its just animals suffering, most people don't care. But I have to say - u'r concluding note surely is way too passive!

My take: Even if its just animals who are suffering, there are lots of die-hard conservationists, who care and have dedicated their lives successfully. And though u are of the opinion that nothing will happen to improve the current status of worsening environment, there are actually lots of case studies where species have been brought back from the brink of extinction, dying ecosystems restored, etc..

There are personalities who have been pioneers and role-models in the field of nature conservation - Dr.Jane Goodall, Sir David Attenborough, Dr.Alan Rabinowitz, Steve Irwin (Croc Hunter), to name a few.. Dr.Temple Grandin (author of Animals in Translation), who herself suffers from autism and hence relates well to animals, has designed 70% of US slaughter-houses so that the animals there (primarily cattle) do not suffer at all.

To me, no one should ever take the stance that nothing's gonna happen, and just live with it. I still strongly believe that if people are made aware about involving eco-issues, they want to change, to act, contribute, to do their part. The key here is AWARENESS. And targeting the YOUTH. Encouraging people to participate in green activities, celebrities promoting eco-friendly messages, Oprah airing episodes on living green, etc.. are some of the ways of doing so. Its hard to imagine that many hunters are turning into conservationists and joining anti-poaching groups. There is HOPE!!

And then u always get inspired watching passionate people, doing what they truly care about. Here's an amazing clip on Steve's proudest moments, which all nature-lovers ought to see:

http://animal.discovery.com/beyond/index.html?playerId=203719213&categoryId=211217094&lineupId=212352045&titleId=219230611

Having said all that, my Q to u: are u gonna carry cloth bags on u'r next visit to the grocery store?
At 2/03/2008 11:03 AM, Anonymous said…

The link didn't get pasted right, so here it is again:

http://animal.discovery.com/beyond/index.html?playerId=203719213&categoryId=211217094&lineupId=212352045&titleId=219230611
At 2/03/2008 11:05 AM, Anonymous said…

Its getting truncated somehow, so here's another attempt:

http://animal.discovery.com/beyond/index.html?
playerId=203719213
&categoryId=211217094
&lineupId=212352045
&titleId=219230611

Pls concatenate all this together in one string - no spaces anywhere.

Hoping this works :)
At 2/03/2008 11:37 AM, Ankit said…

Payal

Don't be so hard on China as they have now completely banned the use of plastic bags. That is what this article is saying

http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/china-plastic-bags-47010907

And if this link doesn't work google "china bans plastic bags" and go with the first link
At 2/03/2008 12:53 PM, Anonymous said…

Payal: I agree with Ankit here, 'cause after you raised the point about China controlling rain, it got me thinking too.

'cause yeah - the Olympics is a huge event. But after researching a bit, I think what I came across is that - China is actively trying to get Beijing clean in 6 months time - banning plastic bags altogether, banning taxis and trying to curb pollution, which causes smog, etc..

In fact, I think such events need to be held in countries where they need to revamp their environmental strategies.

But indeed it is one of the worst cities to hold Olympics, if they don't get done in time. Here's a good link:

http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2007-06/can-china-clean-its-act-time-olympics
At 2/03/2008 1:10 PM, Improper Bostonian said…

GGS: fyi, I do use use cloth bags now, and infact have been using it for as long as I can remember in my life...my parents and grandparents still do, and have been doing so all their life, in india...so there you go...

fyi, I am a greenpeace activist... honestly, I feel one doesnt have to watch animalPlanet to firm their resolve to protect Earth... its down to my conscience to do for Mother Earth, mainly due to Hinduism, and I am comfortable with my skin...

I have not given up on people. "resignation" is a very strong... infact its you who said 'But somehow I feel we can't wait for everyone to realize that. I think, when it comes to preserving our environment, majority of the people are somehow not able to make wise decisions; either they don't have the time, or then the info or insight to do so. I believe, in such cases, the solution needs to be robust enough to sustain the cause." I was merely supporting that statement, and want to take TOUGHER measures to bring about a change...

I accept the fact that people are unwise in their decisions, and TRY to come to up with measures (like penalties) so that they make wiser decisions... its a perfectly practical solution... I want the govt to see these penalties as similar to taxes, which the govt charges its citizens to brings about a change in the community development... and when govt comes with a tax structure for people with different annual incomes, am sure they can come up with a differential structure for penalties for abusing the environment as well... so whenever you use a plastic bag in a grocery store, a certain number of points should be accounted to ur SSN #, as that a unique way of identifying someone...i am not distinguishing good usage/bad usage of plastic bags... i am just saying "using plastic bags are bad"...

my point is, for any reasonable change to happen, it has to come from the govt... and then you have to contend the lobbyists and oppositions groups in the corridors of power... I was referring to "since it is ONLY polar bears and other animals that die and not humans, due to usage of plastic bags and other harmful objects, no fines/penalties will be levied...also lawmakers will be bribed by various lobbies, and in the end nothing will happen to improve the current status of worsening environment..." in this context... not that I condone animals dying... its not a sign of defeatist attitude either, but understanding ground realities(based on my experiences both in india and in US for various causes), and wanting to take tougher measures to bring about a change...

if you ever take to streets, and actively take part in such protests (both monetary wise and spending time for the groups), then I guess you will get to see some of my observations... there is a word in the street, for people who watch oprah and animalPlanet and give out statements, and thats called "armchair pundits"... i am not one of them...no offense to oprah, but media generally tends to take issues only if it translates into selling more papers or getting more viewers... even though its arguable about oprah's intentions, atleast she does something in her shows, which is commendable...

on any day, i prefer to go to streets and get dirty... and I do my best... :-)

its very unlikely that I will be writing any more comments for this post...cuz if I havent spelled out my views yet, its very unlikely I can do better in this medium of communication...so i leave the last word to you...its easy for you to be disciplined, but bringing about a collective change wrt environment is very difficult...try joining a group for social change, and see for urself, if you havnt tried it yet...

and there are a lot of other issues wrt environment to fight for...

so my Q to you: "What are you made of?" are you an armchair pundit or you like to get dirty? :-)
At 2/03/2008 2:08 PM, Improper Bostonian said…

This comment has been removed by the author.
At 2/03/2008 2:09 PM, Improper Bostonian said…

GGS: :Btw, "on a concluding note, dont worry about things beyond your control...just live, enjoy your life, and at the end, the world will be wiped off, and everything will start from scratch...not that you don't know this !!!" was just a sarcastic comment...that was meant to be taken lightly, not literally...
At 2/03/2008 3:57 PM, Anonymous said…

IB: Great that u use cloth bags,and have been doing so all along! True that one doesn't need to watch A.Planet, etc.. to care. One sees a beautiful place, some amazing spp., is in awe and one just wants to preserve it :)

Glad that u were supporting my stmt. Tougher measures surely need to be taken. We, more or less are in agreement. There's just a difference in opinion in the way things ought to be implemented, which I think is fine, 'cause we have diff experiences to build upon on. And I am glad that u do think what Oprah does is commendable, whatever may be her true intentions.

U've spelt u'r views fine. I do get what u are saying too .. (No more comments from my side too, 'cause that would be kinda straying from the main theme of the post - am sure Areille is going - "Finally, they realized!";)

Either way, nice to have u'r views. And as for u'r Q, I have involved myself in several eco-campaigns, and interacted with a few organizations. Maybe not at the same political level as u have, but i get the picture..
At 2/03/2008 4:39 PM, Charanya said…

Yikes! G3, you need to start a brand new blog for pple who wanna comment on your blogs!! :p
At 2/03/2008 5:19 PM, Anonymous said…

Areille, sorry from my side already :) Next time, I'ed be succint, 'cause i tend to write loong..
At 2/04/2008 9:36 AM, Mommy G said…

LOL! 38 comments?? Wow! I feel special! ;)

This definitely has been VERY informative! Thanks for all your comments.

As I said b4, makes me feel good that there are many out there wanting to make the change. We all can debate on what is the "best" approach ... but the fact is that every little counts. As Gandhiji said, "we must become the change we wish to see". And I think we have great start here ... let's go make the difference. :)

Areille - the Lioness of God

Sunday, January 27, 2008

A BIG Gold star for Whole Foods!

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