Do you suffer from Bagnesia?

By now everyone has accumulated a stash of reusable shopping bags. Yet so often when it's time to check out there you are again, kicking yourself for leaving your bags at home. What is a forgetful environmentalist to do? The enterprising folks at bagnesia.com have created some clever accessories to compliment their reusable bags. "" Grab your bag" door hangers, steering wheel wraps and key chains to help you remember your reusable bags. Or if you are looking for a more economical approach ( also one that does not encourage consumption!) take a cue from one very dedicated Toco Shop volunteer. After a little education on the consequences of plastic bag usage, Nicci Barty vowed to eliminate plastic bags from her life. Unfortunately she suffered from bagnesia. On her first trip to the grocery after making the choice to no longer accept plastic bags, there she was at the checkout with a cart full of groceries and no reusable bags. What to do? Let it slide this one time? Opt for the equally environmentally taxing paper option? She chose neither. That's right, no bags at all. The cashier was dumbfounded. Nicci was slightly inconvenienced since she had to load each item individually into her car and then again in to the house. The minor inconvenience was a small price to pay for the pride she felt for sticking to her convictions. So from that point on she decided that every time her reusable bags were left at home, she would elect to go home bagless. You would be amazed how quickly bagnesia can be cured. If you know that once you get to the store you will have no way to carry your purchases out but your bare hands, suddenly your reusable bags will become as important as your wallet, shopping list and car keys!

Are we doomed to repeat history?

This evening at least 11 people were killed when The Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. If ever there were a reason to evaluate our dependency on oil & car centered society, this is most definitely it. Unless of course you count the almost identical incident that occurred on June 13th, 1979. Hopefully those responsible for resolving the current catastrophe can learn a thing or two from the mishandling of the Ixtoc spill. Before all was said and done approximately 3.3 million barrels of oil were dumped into the gulf . It was more than 9 months before this disaster was contained. Despite reports that there is little evidence of this mammoth calamity more than 30 years later, it is very hard to believe that it has all just been deleted from the environment. Let's hope that the lessons of this debacle can at least serve to avoid the repetition of history.

Pucker up!

When life gives you lemons you could make lemonade. Or even better you could do some nontoxic cleaning around the house. Try these sweet uses for the sour fruit:

• Soak your toothbrush in lemon juice to kill germs.
• Homemade liquid plumber- pour baking soda into a clogged drain then lemon juice over it. The bubbly effervescence will safely do the trick.
• Straight lemon juice can be used as a general degreaser
• Equal parts lemon juice and water in a spray bottle make a great kitchen and bathroom cleaner.
• For vinegar based cleaning solutions add a small amount of lemon juice to help neutralize the vinegar smell.
• Clean and sanitize your toilet
• Replace bleach in your laundry by treating stains with lemon juice or add 1/2 cup to your rinse cycle to whiten and entire load.
• 2 parts olive oil or cooking oil mixed with 1 part lemon juice makes for an excellent furniture polish.
• For a safer, equally effective and less expensive hand sanitizer, you guessed it lemon juice!!

These are just a few uses for the juice of this super fruit. It's not new or improved. Just an inexpensive, super effective cleaning product courtesy of Mother Nature. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then that must be why so many cleaning products have a lemon scent!