May 21st, 2013:

Last Saturday, instead of putting on our fancy clothes for a wedding, Felicia and I headed to the banks of the Los Angeles River for The Great LA River Clean-up, an annual event now into its 24th year.

Felicia had helped organize a team from the yoga studio with our friend Sommer, and even baked 3 loaves of bread to share for breakfast (if you’re lucky you might be able to try her coconut chocolate bread some day), while I fortunately managed to stay out of the pungent-smelling water because I was the official site photographer. Hey, someone has to do the hard work, right?

The amount of trash was completely insane (now I see why volunteers pulled 23 TONS of trash last year), and the bulk of it were plastic bags and other one-use items such as plastic cups, and plastic water bottles. Thankfully Felicia is really good about making sure we bring reusable bags when we go grocery shopping — and she’s extra good at hollering at her husband to run across the parking lot to go get them when we’re in line and she realizes the reusable bags are still in the car.

Tips from Felicia:
– Paper not plastic: Ask for paper bags instead of plastic if you do forget, as paper bags can be more readily recycled, just like newspapers/magazines.
– Easy Access: Get a reusable bag that folds up really small (we love Envirosax for its double-stitched hems and ease of ‘rolling’) so it fits in your purse / car console and you’re not caught bag-less.
– Transfer: If you have reusable bags in the trunk, load your purchases into the shopping cart, wheel it to your car, then transfer the items into the reusable bags instead of using a whole bunch of plastic bags because your car is 50 feet away.
– Just say no: I purchased a wireless router at BestBuy yesterday. Do I need a bag for a well-packaged boxed item?
– Fewer is better: Some store clerks place toiletries and food items in all separate bags. Unless you’re buying rat poison, your bath gel isn’t going to contaminate your cereal. Consolidate, so you use fewer bags.