As a result of San Francisco finally enacting a ban against plastic shopping bags and California requiring large supermarkets to sell reusable shopping bags, green entrepreneurs are creating reusable shopping bags. Traders Joes, Wholefoods, and Costco are my frequent shopping destinations and I have reusable shopping bags for each. When I forget my reusable bags I feel guilty about it; it takes the joy of being a planet friendly shopper to an ignorant consumer using more trees or causing pollution in the ocean! This brings up another planet unfriendly practice in need of eco-friendly alternatives: plastic and styrofoam packaging. Awhile ago, I saw this show on the Home Garden TV Network, where an artist recycled styrofoam plates by cutting them into various shapes to be used as cut out stencils. Naturally, I thought this to be a brilliant idea. But I am not a painter and so my plates collected and just took up space. So eventually they found their way to the garbage bin and into the California garbage dump. Now that I think about it, I'll start donating these styrofoam plates to a local school!

Become an ethical shopper by beginning with green, eco-friendly shopping bags. Buy them at one of the following online stores: Chicobag.com, MyOwnBag.com, Olive Smart Bags, or Reusable Bags.

Shop green, buy fair and be globally minded all the time.