Chester the Crab has told you how vehicle emissions and home energy contribute to our carbon footprints, but so do the contents of our shopping bags.
From plastic shrink-wrap to yogurt cartons, the food we eat is encased in petroleum-based products, each of which takes energy to produce and can last for hundreds of years in a landfill. Convenience products, such as single-use cameras and plastic pens and markers, also take oil to produce and last forever after they're tossed.
We also expand that Godzilla-sized footprint when we buy juice, soda and water in individual bottles, then forget to toss the containers in the recycle bin. A recent Los Angeles Times story estimated about 38 billion plastic water bottles, which required more than 1.5 million barrels of oil to produce, are tossed in the trash by Americans every year.
Not recycled. Thrown out.
But most of those bottles can be recycled, morphing into products ranging from clothing to construction materials.
Packaging, bottles and bags affect your pocketbook as well as your carbon footprint. Earth 911, an environmental organization, estimates the average family of four can save about $3,000 each year by buying reusable items like food containers and bags, and buying products in bulk.
Here are some tips for greener shopping:
Take the Daily Press Green Challenge! The Daily Press Green Challenge is an 8-week series that asks readers to do what they can at home to reduce their daily contribution to greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent. Visit dailypress.com/gogreen to calculate your "carbon footprint," watch environmental videos and join an online forum where you can chat with other challenge-takers. Next week: Recycling a little more saves a whole lot.