The Anti-plastic, Super Fantastic Ecohero
On the eighth of September, Egan Sanders — a self-proclaimed “Yankee Jew Intellectual” living in conservative West Texas — was dropped into the world’s largest reusable shopping bag, via crane. 24 hours later, “Bagonuat” — Sander’s canvas-space-suit-clad alter ego — emerged, having successfully shown the world (or at least the San Angelo Sam’s Club parking lot) that there’s a better answer to the paper or plastic question.
During the 24-hour lockdown in BigBag1, Bagonaut oversaw the distribution of over 1200 reusable shopping bags to San Angelo residents, who in turn donated 4,026 pounds of food for a local food-bank. CC caught up with Bagonaut on the tail of his victorious mission for a closer look at how the superhero plans to revitalize eco-activism.
Bagonaut, what gave you the courage to risk your life and embark on the BigBag1 mission?
Once I heard about the dangers of plastic bags, I just couldn’t relax. I mean, polymers are forever. Did you know there’s a plastic vortex in the middle of the Pacific Ocean larger than my own state? And Texas isn’t small! We’re running out of time. I had to take action, because what are our alternatives?
Originally, I was going to chain myself to fifty shopping carts and stand there in the parking lot screaming at the top of my lungs, but I didn’t want to scare people or get arrested. Texans are extremely friendly and down to earth, but they’re stubborn. You can’t tell them what to do, so I thought I’d take a different approach — an all-American one. A little bit of shtick, a little bit of showbiz, a lot of enthusiasm and a can-do attitude.
What did you learn in your 24 hours enclosed behind the canvas of BigBag1?
As I emerged from BigBag1, I proclaimed, “One small step for Bagonaut, one giant leap for reusable shopping bags.” It was a small triumph that taught me patience with this process. If I have to do this three times a month for the next year to get my message out, well that’s what I’m prepared to do. I’m gonna give out a million bags.
Is the world ready to hear Bagonaut’s message?
I hope so, because if not we’re gonna wake up one day without resources and we’re gonna be surrounded by garbage that we could have used. It takes 12 million barrels of oil a year just to produce the plastic bags in America. People better start paying attention. Basically what I’m trying to communicate is simple, like Sydney says in the Bagonaut theme song: “The Earth Needs Friends.”
Now that you have successfully completed your Sam’s Club big bag challenge, what’s next for Bagonaut?
The offers are flooding in. We’re looking at 48 or 72 hours, and eventually the Million Bag March with the “I have a reusable bag” speech. We’re also looking to expand the team by adding Bagonnettes and Land Phil to future Big Bag missions. Have no fear, Bagonaut shall return.
For more Bagonaut (or to invite BigBag1 to a parking lot near you) visit Bagonaut.com.
— Andrea Manitsas
Who You Tryin’ to Get Crazy With, Ese? Don’t You Know GoLoco?
Green-minded folks like the idea of carpooling — in theory. But when it comes to opening the door to a total stranger, those old warnings about hitchhikers make even the most eco-inclined person think twice.
Enter GoLoco. The service, created by Zipcar founder Robin Chase, folds the efficiency of a digital ride board into the social networking features of Facebook. Drivers and passengers anywhere in the country who have a Facebook account can use it to post and find rides, check out potential ride-mates, and even deal with gas and toll money transactions upfront.
Most GoLoco users join the service to do their part against global warming. According to Chase’s calculations, it takes a tree one month to absorb the emissions created by driving a single mile. Drive 24 miles? That tree will be huffing and puffing on your exhaust for the next two years. The more people sharing rides, the fewer cars there are on the roads — and the fewer emissions in the air.
Carpooling also makes financial sense. The U.S. Department of Transportation calculates that the average American spends 19 percent of their income on transportation. Each mile alone costs an average of 50 cents, once you add up gas and maintenance costs. GoLoco surfaces those costs and lets fellow riders use online payment systems to get potentially awkward money discussions out of the way before the ride begins.
But Chase hopes GoLoco changes the way we think about driving altogether, from wasted time to opportunities for low-key social interaction. Users can create different groups in Facebook — of friends, of fellow surfers, of likeminded do-it-yourselfers — and use the service to shoot out emails about trips on which they’d enjoy some company. Using those features, Chase recently took a last-minute trip to a garden store with a friend she hadn’t seen in weeks. “We got to gossip and catch up,” Chase says. “It was an easy thing for us to do together, without turning it into a big heavy-planning, date-type event.”
With enough users, GoLoco could even become an on-demand ride service. Imagine getting out of a ballgame, calling up GoLoco on your cell phone, and instantly finding another Sox fan who’s not only headed your way but will also be delighted to rehash the umpire’s lousy calls on the drive home. “We will transform people’s expectations about travel,” Chase says. “It will seem incredibly sad and lonely to be going someplace in your car by yourself.”
— E.B. Boyd
Vegansexual [vee-guhn-sek-shoo-uhl] noun
n. 1. A person who shuns physical intimacy with partners who eat animal products; n. 2. A social movement, first recognized in New Zealand, whereby vegans commit to engaging in sexual relations only with other vegans (and not just because they taste better).
Usage in a sentence: “He may have had me at hello, but after the feta, foie gras and filet mignon, he had lost my vegansexual-ass by dessert, literally.”
Don’t Panic, It’s Organic. Sort Of.
With more consumers ponying up the extra dough for organic products, and big companies vying for a piece of what was formerly a mom-and-pop pie, the debate wages on over what percent non-organic ingredients can rightly go into organic foods.
Many organic food producers and supporters are dismayed by a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) proposal that would allow 38 non-organic ingredients in foods that sport the organic seal — including hops, the second most important ingredient in beer.
According to USDA regulations, a processed food product can pass as “organic” as long as it contains just 5 percent or less of USDA-approved non-organic ingredients. The company must also prove that an organic version is not available in the quality or quantity needed.
Until May 2007, there were only five ingredients on the list: cornstarch, water-extracted gum, kelp, unbleached lecithin and pectin. But in June, the USDA proposed adding 19 food colorings, two starches, casings for sausages, hops, fish oil and a handful of spices and other additives.
Ronnie Cummins, executive director of the Organic Consumers Association, sees limiting the list of approved non-organic ingredients as a positive because it will prevent companies from using the more than 600 non-organic ingredients requested by food manufacturers. “Forty-three is a much better number,” he says. But he believes three of the proposed items — hops, fish oil and sausage casings — should not be allowed in any product called organic.
Anheuser-Busch — who launched two so-called “organic” beers, last September — lobbied heavily to get hops on the list. While the beer giant’s original recipe for their Wild Hop Lager and Stone Mill Pale Ale included 100 percent organic barley malt, it also included hops grown with chemical fertilizers and sprayed with pesticides.
The company’s claim that it couldn’t find enough organic hops didn’t hold water for many organic consumers who posited that the world’s largest beer producer (with its hefty resources, including its own hops fields) should be able to source whatever organic ingredients it needs. After receiving a deluge of negative press and numerous petitions from consumer groups, Anheuser-Busch changed its tune, announcing that it will now stick to 100 percent organic hops. Cummins hopes their change of heart will hold, should the USDA proposal pass.
“The main problem is that we don’t have any objective criteria for defining what ‘availability of organic ingredients’ means,” he says.
Despite years of promising standardized guidelines, the USDA has yet to provide documents to help clarify this rule. Amelia Slayton, president of Seven Bridges Cooperative, an organic brewery and home-brew supplier in Santa Cruz, encourages consumers to check the ingredients list on any beer labeled organic. “If it doesn’t specifically say ‘organic hops,’ question it,” she advises.
But rather than get depressed by big corporations wanting to enter the organic market, Cummins encourages consumers to be proud that they’ve been able to hold industry giants to a draw. “By bringing the court of public opinion into play, there’s no way these companies or the USDA can spin the continued lowering of organic standards as a good thing,” says Cummins.
— Amelia Glynn
Don’t Get Mad, Get Active
BP is at it Again
Well, it seems our neighbors at the BP oil refinery in Whiting, Indiana are up to no good — again. Just after BP announced they would not increase the amount of ammonia and sludge dumped into Lake Michigan, due to public outcry, the Chicago Tribune reported that Indiana regulators have given them a break on soot limits.
According to the Tribune, the decision by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management would allow BP to keep releasing the same amount of microscopic air pollution as it does today, despite changes in federal rules that would have required the refinery to cut emissions in half.
The campaign to stop BP from dumping more pollution into Lake Michigan was a success, so now let’s stop them from spewing more air pollution. Visit environmentillinois.org and get active.
