GOING GREENER AT THE GROCERY STORY

By Ella Tyler

I was more than a little surprised to see a large display promoting the ‘greenness’ of Fiji bottled water at the grocery store. The display explained that Fiji will be carbon negative by 2010, it’s bottled in a better kind of plastic, and the company is helping save the Fijian rain forest. The display included reusable grocery bags and compact fluorescent light bulbs, but it will take a lot of other conservation efforts to mitigate the environmental costs of bottled water.

If Fiji is greener than any other bottled water, and it might be, that is still damming with faint praise. There are better ways to make your trip to the grocery store green.

Consider shopping at a store that is close to home or is on your way home from some other trip. I started doing that a few months ago, mainly to save time, and have found most of what I want at whatever store I am in.

Park in the first open space. Driving at parking lot speeds gives worse gas mileage than driving 80 mph. And idling – 0 mpg.

Buy local. Some stores highlight their Texas products, but at some you have to look at labels. And local isn’t just in the produce department. It’s easy to forget that Texas is an agricultural state, but check out the Texas Food Directory. Blue Bell ice cream, Arrowhead Mills flours, several rice brands, Falfurrias Butter, and on and on. A local or Texas-owned store is more likely to have regional products.

Avoid any product that is sent by air. If it’s perishable and not in season, then it probably was sent by air.

Don’t put your produce in separate little bags.

More and more genuinely eco-friendly products are showing up in mass-market stores. It is shocking to realize that many common cleaning products are classified as hazardous household waste and should not be put in the trash, but even Clorox has launched GreenWorks, a new line of products that are safer.

There is a new line of insecticides from EcoSMART that is made with plant oils and is safe enough that it doesn’t require any warning labels. I thought I would never get my mother to give up her can of Raid, but she’s very happy with the EcoSMART flying insect killer.

Whenever possible, buy the largest package you can use before it spoils, even for one person. A family size bag of frozen vegetables allows you to scoop out a single serving, instead of a box that has two servings and just creates leftovers.

Examine products that come in plastic before you buy them to see if the plastic can be recycled. A container that is a number 1 plastic and is easy to recycle looks a lot like a container that is a 6 and is hard to recycle. Look on the bottom of the product. Plastic cups also come in number 1 or number 6 plastic as well. There are always gizmos that claim to be better for the environment – I bought a set of bowl covers that look like little shower caps so I don’t have to use foil or saran wrap or find the right lid – but what really helps the environment is to consume less, shop mindfully, and plan your trip.

And, of course, we have great farmers’ markets, co-ops, community gardens, and gardening classes here. Check out Central City Co-Op and Urban Harvest.