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Lindo's is switching from paper to reusable bags. This is good news in many ways.

We have an abundant quantity of life in Bermuda, but are generally un-mindful of the energy that goes into producing, processing, packaging, transporting and storing the items we use and often waste.

The planet pays a price twice for our waste - the costs of delivery and the costs of disposal. And when we get a paper bag from the grocery store that becomes trash after a single use we diminish the global quality of life.

We didn't have to pay much attention before now. Oil was plentiful, so who cared if we wasted air-conditioning or ice or food or packaging. Huge forests in faraway places provided all the paper and lumber we could possibly need and were still robust enough to absorb the excesses of carbon dioxide we were producing. Vast oceans and rivers and lakes could provide enough fish for us to eat all we wanted and leave what we didn't want on the plate to be discarded.

And the climate was dependably stable.

But all that is changing. Globally, whether it's whales or swordfish or tuna or codfish, we are taking more fish than fisheries can sustain - so much so that an estimated 75% of fish stocks are over-fished or fished to their maximum. We are razing or paving forests faster than they can recover or replace themselves. We have turned the corner on the ability of our oil reserves to satisfy the expected growth in demand.

Locally we have outstripped the comfortable capacity of our road system and outpaced the adequacy of our natural freshwater supply.

We've had to shut down our trap-fishing industry because we were harvesting some species almost to the brink of extinction. We have overwhelmed our local labour force (we have to import foreigners to fill 75 per cent of newly created jobs - in almost every job category). We are straining the delivery of virtually every public service, from education to policing to the immigration and planning departments.

And the global climate is being adversely affected by our activities.

So we are having to pay more attention. And truly visionary leaders in our community are showing the way.

Andrew Vaucrosson, president of Greenrock, has taken on the task of changing the community's mindset about environmental stewardship. Not only is Greenrock providing superb education through its website - www.greenrock.org - it has engaged the community in a series of projects that alter people's environmental consciousness and behaviour.

Now Greenrock has teamed up with another visionary, Giorgio Zanol of Lindo's, to phase out the use of large disposable bags in Lindo's food stores.

This is significant. Customers at Lindo's two stores use a total of 1.9 million paper grocery bags annually. Greenrock has calculated that eliminating the use of the large paper bags will result in an annual savings of 2,880 trees (used to manufacture the bags), require 1.4 million fewer kW of electric power (worth about $494,000 - enough for about 280 average Bermuda homes for a month), and prevent over 150 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) being released into the atmosphere from the manufacture of the bags.

Several other grocery stores have for some time been steering their shoppers toward reusable bags, sometimes with small incentives.

Lindo's is going all the way. They will be giving away reusable bags to their serious customers, and plan to quit supplying any large paper (or plastic) bags by June 1st.

Lindo's and Greenrock deserve our congratulations and support. Their lead should inspire us all toward more sustainable lifestyles.

What do you think? Are you happy using reusable bags for your shopping to help the environment?

E-mail editor Tony McWilliam:

tmcwilliam@bermudasun .bm or leave your comments below.[[In-content Ad]]

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