DUBLIN — There is something missing from this otherwise typical bustling cityscape. There are taxis and buses. There are hip bars and pollution. Every other person is talking into a cellphone. But there are no plastic shopping bags, the ubiquitous symbol of urban life.

In 2002, Ireland passed a tax on plastic bags; customers who want them must now pay 33 cents per bag at the register. There was an advertising awareness campaign. And then something happened that was bigger than the sum of these parts.

Within weeks, plastic bag use dropped 94 percent. Within a year, nearly everyone had bought reusable cloth bags, keeping them in offices and in the backs of cars. Plastic bags were not outlawed, but carrying them became socially unacceptable — on a par with wearing a fur coat or not cleaning up after one’s dog.

“When my roommate brings one in the flat it annoys the hell out of me,” said Edel Egan, a photographer, carrying groceries last week in a red backpack.

Drowning in a sea of plastic bags, countries from China to Australia, cities from San Francisco to New York have in the past year adopted a flurry of laws and regulations to address the problem, so far with mixed success. The New York City Council, for example, in the face of stiff resistance from business interests, passed a measure requiring only that stores that hand out plastic bags take them back for recycling.

But in the parking lot of a Superquinn Market, Ireland’s largest grocery chain, it is clear that the country is well into the post-plastic-bag era. “I used to get half a dozen with every shop. Now I’d never ever buy one,” said Cathal McKeown, 40, a civil servant carrying two large black cloth bags bearing the bright green Superquinn motto. “If I forgot these, I’d just take the cart of groceries and put them loose in the boot of the car, rather than buy a bag.”

Gerry McCartney, 50, a data processor, has also switched to cloth. “The tax is not so much, but it completely changed a very bad habit,” he said. “Now you never see plastic.”

In January almost 42 billion plastic bags were used worldwide, according to reusablebags.com; the figure increases by more than half a million bags every minute. A vast majority are not reused, ending up as waste — in landfills or as litter. Because plastic bags are light and compressible, they constitute only 2 percent of landfill, but since most are not biodegradable, they will remain there.

In a few countries, including Germany, grocers have long charged a nominal fee for plastic bags, and cloth carrier bags are common. But they are the exception.

In the past few months, several countries have announced plans to eliminate the bags. Bangladesh and some African nations have sought to ban them because they clog fragile sewerage systems, creating a health hazard. Starting this summer, China will prohibit sellers from handing out free plastic shopping bags, but the price they should charge is not specified, and there is little capacity for enforcement. Australia says it wants to end free plastic bags by the end of the year, but has not decided how.

Efforts to tax plastic bags have failed in many places because of heated opposition from manufacturers as well as from merchants, who have said a tax would be bad for business. In Britain, Los Angeles and San Francisco, proposed taxes failed to gain political approval, though San Francisco passed a ban last year. Some countries, like Italy, have settled for voluntary participation.

But there were no plastic bag makers in Ireland (most bags here came from China), and a forceful environment minister gave reluctant shopkeepers little wiggle room, making it illegal for them to pay for the bags on behalf of customers. The government collects the tax, which finances environmental enforcement and cleanup programs.

Furthermore, the environment minister told shopkeepers that if they changed from plastic to paper, he would tax those bags, too.

While paper bags, which degrade, are in some ways better for the environment, studies suggest that more greenhouse gases are released in their manufacture and transportation than in the production of plastic bags.

Today, Ireland’s retailers are great promoters of taxing the bags. “I spent many months arguing against this tax with the minister; I thought customers wouldn’t accept it,” said Senator Feargal Quinn, founder of the Superquinn chain. “But I have become a big, big enthusiast.”

Mr. Quinn is also president of EuroCommerce, a group representing six million European retailers. In that capacity, he has encouraged a plastic bag tax in other countries. But members are not buying it. “They say: ‘Oh, no, no. It wouldn’t work. It wouldn’t be acceptable in our country,’ ” Mr. Quinn said.

As nations fail to act decisively, some environmentally conscious chains have moved in with their own policies. Whole Foods Market announced in January that its stores would no longer offer disposable plastic bags, using recycled paper or cloth instead, and many chains are starting to charge customers for plastic bags.

But such ad hoc efforts are unlikely to have the impact of a national tax. Mr. Quinn said that when his Superquinn stores tried a decade ago to charge 1 cent for plastic bags, customers rebelled. He found himself standing at the cash register buying bags for customers with change from his own pocket to prevent them from going elsewhere.

After five years of the plastic bag tax, Ireland has changed the image of cloth bags, a feat advocates hope to achieve in the United States. Vincent Cobb, the president of reusablebags.com, who founded the company four years ago to promote the issue, said: “Using cloth bags has been seen as an extreme act of a crazed environmentalist. We want it to be seen as something a smart, progressive person would carry.”

Some things worked to Ireland’s advantage. Almost all markets are part of chains that are highly computerized, with cash registers that already collect a national sales tax, so adding the bag tax involved a minimum of reprogramming, and there was little room for evasion.

The country also has a young, flexible population that has proved to be a good testing ground for innovation, from cellphone services to nonsmoking laws. Despite these favorable conditions, Ireland still ended up raising the bag tax 50 percent, after officials noted that consumption was rising slightly.

Ireland has moved on with the tax concept, proposing similar taxes on customers for A.T.M. receipts and chewing gum. (The sidewalks of Dublin are dotted with old wads.) The gum tax has been avoided for the time being because the chewing gum giant Wrigley agreed to create a public cleanup fund as an alternative. This year, the government plans to ban conventional light bulbs, making only low-energy, long-life fluorescent bulbs available.

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/world/europe/02bags.html?_r=3&hp=&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

The bag was a must-have item: sleek, stylish, in tune with the latest fashion, just the thing for spring. It also turned out to be sturdy and big enough to hold about $20 worth of groceries. At 99 cents, the bag was a bargain. OAS_AD(’Right3′);

No, this carryall isn’t the latest accessory from Fashion Week, but a reusable grocery bag. It’s only the first to come home with us, but I suspect it won’t be the last.

We were making our once-monthly trip to Whole Foods Market; the light-Kermit-green bag was on a spindle at the checkout. Buy a bag; save the Earth (and save 10 cents). Plus, get a carabiner on a key fob. Makes sense to me. Whole Foods seems like the progressive kind of place that could get its customers to switch to reusable bags.

These days, it’s got plenty of company.

Over at Wal-Mart, stuffed between the Britney tabloids and the Brangelina magazines, are totes that proclaim “Paper or Plastic? Neither!” Every mainstream grocery store I’ve visited has reusable bags for sale, with a discount per bag to the customer who uses them instead of killing trees or dinosaurs.

So how difficult is it to go green, anyway? Not too, apparently.

It starts with a mind-set. Before we include Whole Foods or ShopRite or Pathmark among our destinations, we have to remind ourselves to take the bags. If we’re taking a drive, we try to figure in the best route at the best time to save gas, money and our nerves.

While the coffee is brewing, we wash our mugs instead of hauling out paper cups. If we choose to grab a bottle of Poland Spring, we refill it at least once from the filter on the tap. And we do have our eyes peeled for refillable water bottles of the right shape and size. (My problem is remembering to bring my bottle home from the gym. Misplacing those things can get far more expensive than buying water at Costco.)

I’ve been sneaking compact fluorescent lights into fixtures at home wherever and whenever I can. With twisty-curly ones that fit in the same space as incandescent bulbs, and which produce the same light as 100-watt soft-whites, the conversion is painless, mostly. I haven’t seen any three-way bulbs; our bulbs take a little while to yield full brightness in our chilly unheated basement, and they don’t last a full seven years in vibrating ceiling fans. (Even though the fans got a bad rap on “Trading Spaces,” they help keep rooms comfortable with less heat or air conditioning. Old-school green.)

I shave in the shower during that one indulgent minute while I let the hot water massage my bum shoulder. I wet the toothbrush, scrub my pearly whites with faucet off, then sip before rinsing. (Alas, in an unenlightened policy, my municipal water utility charges a minimum that does not encourage excessive conservation.) And you may already know the one about yellow and mellow.

Corporate America is discovering greenbacks in green goods. Giant Clorox is now hawking Green Works cleaning products, joining Simple Green and Bon Ami and a host of others in the marketplace. (Treehugger.com mused about what Clorox’s purchase of the Burt’s Bees company might mean.)

Doing these things and using eco-friendly products won’t win any one person a Nobel Prize, but we’ll all share a far greater reward.

By Bill Zapic

http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/COLUMNISTS24/802080402

Flimsy satchels deemed scourge to Earth, so stores offer alternatives

How do you get a registered nurse to talk trash?

Ask her about plastic bags.

As University Medical Center nurse Kim Hofstad loaded her pickup with groceries from Smith’s Food & Drug on Rancho Drive on Wednesday afternoon, she talked about why she refuses to cart her food home in plastic sacks. Part of it is convenience: Paper bags simply fit better in Hofstad’s kitchen garbage can.

But Hofstad also deplores the environmental fallout of ubiquitous plastic film.

“You rarely see a paper bag flying around as litter in the wind or on the street, but you see all kinds of plastic bags everywhere,” she said. “I don’t know what the deal is.”

Hofstad may soon see fewer plastic sacks adrift on local streets, as growing numbers of grocers encourage consumers to buy reusable bags to cut back on plastics, and to return plastic bags to stores for recycling.

Smith’s is the latest company to roll out a reusable-bag program. The grocer began selling reusable bags at all of its 133 stores, including 42 Nevada locations, about six weeks ago. The bags consist of polypropylene, a stiff plastic, and come in two varieties: a standard version for nonperishable goods that sells for 79 cents, and an insulated bag for hot and cold foods that retails for $1.99. The bags resemble brown paper bags, and they can hold three plastic bags’ worth of groceries.

“There’s a heightened awareness among consumers about how they can make simple adjustments in their daily shopping decisions and have significantly less impact on the environment,” said Marsha Gilford, vice president of public affairs for Smith’s. “We see it in our stores in terms of consumers’ interest in organic produce, and in Earth-friendly products such as less-toxic cleaning agents. We think customers are eager to take measures that will help the environment.”

Smith’s isn’t the first local grocer that’s aimed to shift customers to plastic alternatives.

Albertsons began selling 99-cent reusable bags in 2006. Trader Joe’s also sells reusable sacks for $1.99, and bags groceries in paper, too. And Whole Foods will go plastic-free in all its North American stores by Earth Day on April 22. It will be offering 99-cent reusable bags and recycled paper bags instead.

Entire states and municipalities are also acting, curbing the use of plastic bags or passing rules to keep them from becoming litter. The New York City Council enacted a law this month requiring stores to collect and recycle bags, following a similar law in California. The nation’s first bag ban took effect in November in San Francisco, where big grocers may use only plastic bags made of compostable material.

Officials at the cities of Las Vegas and Henderson said they don’t have plans to address plastic bags. Clark County officials have looked into other jurisdictions’ policies and continue to consider possible action on the topic, spokesman Dan Kulin said. But there are no concrete plans right now to craft new rules.

The city of North Las Vegas didn’t comment for this story.

The United States lags behind many other countries in limiting use of plastic bags. Ireland and Germany levy fees for every bag stores hand out, and several African nations have set thickness requirements that have effectively banned flimsy bags that float in the air. Earlier this month, China, the world’s fastest-growing economy, banned free plastic shopping bags and encouraged people to use cloth ones instead.

Plastic bags may be the latest addition to an ever-growing litany of environmental nemeses, but they weren’t always deemed an ecological threat.

They first appeared in the late 1970s to serve as saviors to vast stands of forest. It would take about 41 million trees a year to yield a volume of paper bags equivalent to the number of plastic bags people use, said Keith Christman, senior director of packaging for the American Chemistry Council and Progressive Bag Affiliates. Making plastic bags also uses “dramatically less” energy than manufacturing paper sacks, and plastics production generates half the greenhouse gases that paper-making creates, he said.

“There really are some dramatic environmental benefits to using plastic bags,” Christman said.

So what’s with today’s sudden ground swell against plastic grocery bags?

For one thing, as Hofstad noted, people spot them as trash everywhere: sailing on the wind, entangling trees, lining gutters. And despoiling both countryside and cityscape isn’t the best way for a product to build a positive public image.

“They’re just not good for the environment,” said Las Vegan Cathy Gilpin as she loaded groceries into her car Wednesday afternoon at Smith’s on Rancho.

What’s more, Christman added, consumers believe that plastic bags are oil-based, and with today’s concerns about the United States’ dependence on foreign oil, people are likely to approach any oil-intensive product with caution.

Christman said neither reason is cause for bagging plastic bags.

First, many packaging materials, not just plastic bags, become litter — a problem improved recycling would help. The Progressive Bag Alliance is working with environmental advocate Keep America Beautiful to boost recycling programs. Also, Smith’s and Albertsons are among grocers who ask customers to return plastic bags they won’t reuse. Bag makers already recycle 650 million pounds of plastic bags annually, Christman said.

And plastic bags in the United States are made from a natural-gas derivative rather than oil, so the petroleum issue is, well, a nonissue, Christman said.

Besides, 92 percent of consumers already reuse their plastic grocery bags for picking up pet waste, bringing lunch to work and keeping the car free of trash, Christman noted. It’s important to give consumers a “lifestyle choice” on bags they receive at the store, he said.

If that choice is left to customers, expect to see them carrying more reusable bags.

Gilford said it’s too early to post sales numbers on the reusables, but a sales rack inside Smith’s on Rancho was nearly empty Wednesday afternoon, with just seven bags left.

Gilpin has already bought several reusable sacks from Smith’s and Albertsons. Her shopping cart on her Wednesday trek to Smith’s still contained several plastic bags full of groceries, because she bought more food than her reusable containers could carry. She said she hopes to eventually have enough reusable bags to use them exclusively.

“They’re handy, and they’re sturdier than a plastic bag,” Gilpin said.

Linda, a Smith’s shopper who declined to give her last name, said she asks for plastic bags, and reuses them to pick up after her dog. Linda said she hadn’t noticed the reusable bags for sale inside the store, but said she’d look for them on her next trip to Smith’s.

“It’d be nice to always have my own bags, and keep them in the car after I’m done shopping,” she said. And ditching plastics would mean “we don’t fill up our landfill so fast,” she added. “It would be good for the environment.”

Even Hofstad, who swears by her paper bags, could be convinced to go the reusable route.

“If they stop carrying paper bags, I would buy half a dozen reusable bags, but I would never go to plastic,” she said. “I think that’s what it will come to — it’ll come to the point where we’ll all have to bring our own bags.”

By JENNIFER ROBISON

http://www.lvrj.com/business/15490331.html

Flowers, chocolates and diamonds will top many people’s shopping lists as Valentine’s Day approaches. Unfortunately, the items most associated with romance are also marred by environmental and social justice concerns.

As the green movement gains momentum, and support from Hollywood heavy hitters such as Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio, consumers are becoming increasingly aware that the items they purchase might be obtained in ways harmful to the Earth and its inhabitants, according to experts in the diamond and flower industries. Frontline workers in Latin American countries, key suppliers of chocolate and flowers, and Africa, where the majority of diamonds originate, are most affected, dealing with hazardous working conditions and unlivable wages.

With diamonds, demand for conflict-free stones spiked after the 2006 movie “Blood Diamond,” which addressed the link between diamonds and political unrest and violence in Sierra Leone.

“People were shocked that for such a beautiful gemstone the history behind it could be so tragic,” said Beth Gerstein, co-founder of Brilliant Earth, a San Francisco-based company specializing in conflict-free diamonds. “More and more people are starting to ask questions about where products are coming from and demand a more socially and environmentally friendly product.”

The trend is rippling through the flower industry as well.

“People are getting more concerned about the broader implications of what they buy. I want to make sure my purchasing decisions don’t hurt someone else in another part of the world,” said Amy Stewart of Eureka, Calif., author of “Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful.”

There are ways to make Feb. 14 special for your loved one and still be environmentally and socially responsible. Here are some tips to consider.

Chocolates

Organic and fair-trade chocolate still has all the calories of regular chocolate, but at least it helps alleviate some of the guilt. Wild Oats-Whole Foods in Vancouver offers a variety of organic and fair-trade chocolate bars in several flavors. The store carries Alter Eco, a fair-trade label; Equal Exchange, organic and fair-trade chocolates; and Seeds of Change, an organic line. The bars range from $3.69 to $4.59.

Equal Exchange also offers a variety of organic, fair-trade certified chocolate through its Web site, equalexchange.com. Options include Organic Milk Chocolate with Ground Hazelnuts, Organic Mint Chocolate and Organic Very Dark Chocolate. A 3½-ounce bar costs $3.95, plus shipping, and a case of 12 bars is $40.50. The minimum order is $25.

Dagoba, an Ashland, Ore.-based company, also offers organic and fair-trade chocolate bars and syrup, hot chocolate mix and chocolate-covered ­coffee beans. Products can be ordered online at ­dagobachocolate.com.

Based out of Seattle, Theo Chocolate offers fair-trade, organic and vegan chocolate bars through its Web site, theochocolate.com.

The Uncommon Gift in Camas sells Moonstruck Chocolate Co.’s organic dark chocolate bar for $3.95. The regular bars are $3, but the extra 95 cents is worth it to some eco-conscious customers, said The Uncommon Gift co-owner Carrie Schulstad.

Flowers

Surprise that someone special with a bouquet not tainted by pesticides or imported from thousands of miles away. Many area florists buy from local growers whenever possible to support their community, know more about the products they’re selling and save on the fossil fuels and other non-renewable natural resources required to ship merchandise long distances.

Garside Florist Inc. in Vancouver gets its roses from Peterkort Roses in Portland, and buys tulips from Holland America Bulb Farms Inc. in Woodland.

Although most of Garside’s flowers come from Colombia and other Latin American countries, many of these farms are VeriFlora-certified for sustainable practices. Esmeralda Farms is one such operation, and supplies many of Garside’s carnations, poms and daisies.

For Valentine’s Day Wild Oats-Whole Foods will be offering organic roses from Biogarden.

To send blooms to a long-distance­ love, check out ­organicbouquet.com. The site sells certified organic and VeriFlora lilies, irises, roses and other flowers.

Diamonds

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but not if they come at others’ expense. Industry-wide, most jewelry manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers are aware of conflict diamonds and try through the Kimberley Process to maintain a pipeline of conflict-free jewelry, said Erik Runyan, owner of Runyan’s Jewelers in Vancouver.

Runyan’s has written guarantees from its vendors stating that their diamonds, to the best of their knowledge, are conflict-free. Most of Runyan’s diamonds are mined in South Africa and cut in Belgium, but Runyan’s also sells some Canadian diamonds.

Because it’s hard to track the origin of diamonds from mine to jewelry store, buying Canadian gems is the best way to assure an ethically sourced stone, Gerstein said.

All the diamonds Brilliant Earth sells come from Canada. Brilliant Earth also designs sapphire pieces using stones from small, family owned mines in Australia and Malawi. The yellow and white gold and platinum settings Brilliant Earth creates are recycled metals.

Other gift ideas

Give the gift of philanthropy. CharityChoice gift cards allow the recipient to choose a cause to support from among more than 100 charities. Charities range from the Sierra Club to the American Red Cross to Special Olympics International Inc. Electronic cards start at $5 and are tax-deductible for the purchaser of the card. For more information or to buy a card for your sweetheart, see ccgiftcards.org.

There also are many fair-trade gifts available locally and online created by artisans worldwide.

The Emancipation Network sells handicrafts made by survivors of human trafficking and slavery. The organization’s store, Made By Survivors, provides jobs for women and helps them become entrepreneurs. Products are available online at madebysurvivors.com and include beaded bracelets from Nepal ($10), batik scarves from India ($30) and handwoven cotton napkins from Thailand ($20 for a set of four).

Wild Oats-Whole Foods carries World of Good products, a line of fair-trade jewelry and women’s accessories handcrafted in Colombia and other South American countries. Prices range from about $15 for a bracelet to $40 for a purse.

Vancouver-based Organic Products Trading Co. develops and imports organic and fair-trade coffees from around the world. Its Café Feminino line is fair-trade, organic and shade-grown. Roasters have agreed to donate a portion of the proceeds to either local women’s shelters or the Café Feminino Foundation. The beans are available locally at Trader Joe’s and Café Sip-n-Play.

If your paramour enjoys a romantic dinner brimming with fresh, locally grown ingredients, try a gift certificate to Roots Restaurant & Bar in Camas or 360° Pizzeria in east Vancouver near the Camas border. These restaurants, both owned by Brad Root, feature produce and meat from Northwest farms.

Or visit Seres, a new, upscale Chinese restaurant in east Vancouver. Seres emphasizes organic, local ingredients and boasts an energy-efficient kitchen and menus made from recycled paper.

For an elegant and educational experience heavy on local fare, get a group of four or five couples together and sign up for a demonstration dinner at Applewood Northwest Cuisine and Catering in the Cascade Park neighborhood. The dinners are offered Tuesday nights at 6 p.m. They last about two and a half hours and include four courses and wine. Meals are prepared step by step, and recipes are provided. The cost is $75 per person.

For an inexpensive but poignant gift, try a love letter. The Paper Lantern in Camas sells cards made from recycled materials, so you can save a tree and give your honey a note to treasure. And though perhaps not as romantic as an actual card, virtual cards are environmentally friendly. Sites such as greetings.yahoo.com and 123greetings.com allow people to personalize and e-mail electronic cards.

Did you know?

Fair-trade certification means that farms receive a reasonable price for their products, and that employees on those farms work in safe conditions. Forced child labor is not tolerated. With fair-trade goods, importers work directly with farmers whenever possible. Farmers and workers also receive a premium to invest in community development projects. Harmful agrochemicals and genetically modified organisms are eschewed in favor of environmentally sustainable farming methods. Fair-trade certification is available for coffee, tea, herbs, cocoa, chocolate, fresh fruit, sugar, rice and vanilla. Look for the Fair Trade Certified logo on products.

VeriFlora certification signifies that flowers and potted plants were produced in an environmentally and socially conscious manner. Look for the VeriFlora logo, or ask your florist if the wholesaler he or she uses works with VeriFlora-certified growers.

Kimberley Process certification regulates trade in rough diamonds. It aims to keep conflict or “blood” diamonds out of the retail market. Conflict stones, those that help fund civil wars, have been particularly devastating to central and western Africa. When shopping for diamonds, inquire about retailers’ policies on conflict diamonds. Ask to see a System of Warranties statement, a written guarantee that the diamonds come from legitimate sources and are, to the retailer’s and supplier’s best knowledge, conflict-free.

Products certified organic meet U.S. Department of Agriculture standards. Organic farmers emphasize the use of renewable resources, as well as water and soil conservation. Organic meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic farming emphasizes biologically based pest management, as opposed to pesticides. In addition to the farms, companies that handle or process organic food on its way to restaurants and grocery stores must be certified organic. Any product labeled organic must be certified by a nationally accredited agency.

Sources: transfairusa.org; veriflora.org; kimberleyprocess.com; diamondfacts.org; ams.usda.gov/nop; David Granatstein, Washington State University sustainable agriculture specialist.

Mary Ann Albright

http://www.columbian.com/lifeHome/lifeHomeNews/2008/02/02062008_A-love-thats-sustainable.cfm