Micaela, what you said about having a FULL life hit home for me. The sad part is when you leave for higher ground having not taken advantage of all the opportunities. So glad your Dad's life was full.

I grabbed a wordle as well, thanks to you. It gives new meaning to illustrating a point. Thanks for all you do to illustrate the pointless things being done to harm the world as well, and how we can change for the better.

Urban Vegan (love that name btw) Yes, carrots and bags would break down if you composted them first. That's the problem, corn starch bags and bottles need special composting conditions to break down, carrots don't. I did a test by putting a corn-based bottle in my compost bin, a year later it was still there.

UrbanVegan - you make a valid point, is it possible to go without plastic in today's society? All I know is that I grew up without plastic wrapped around everything and we all lived. Beth is trying to do it and she's also managing to bring it down to a few pounds a year for her family of two adults and kitties. I cut the most plastic out of my life simply by shopping at the Farmer's market, eating less meat and when I do eat meat, buying it from a store that wraps it in paper. I sold corn/bio-degradable bags in the 80s, I stopped when I saw that they didn't break down in the land fills, either. Without exposure to light, air or water even carrots don't break down. I'm not sure what the answer is, but cutting back is where it starts. Will it be easy? No. But I want to err on the side of trying.

Thanks for the link, Beth. I'll give it a shot.

It wasn't easy to do Beth, notice how all the other shots have a pause button in the middle. You did a great job proving that it can be done, my husband just asked me, "How can we make our own yogurt"? (as he was washing out the big plastic tub it came in) You have an other convert!

We walked over to the voting station and handing them our ballots that we filled out early, cut didn't mail on time - again...

Thanks for Report link Coral, I'll read up on it this weekend.

Diane, I could do that, I made my own clothes for years, but then there is that little problem of having enough organic textiles to work with.

I agree, Julie, it's going to take a nation, not just a village of women.

Having hand delivered coffee is one of my favorite things, Lisa.

I was surprised at how fast I became addicted to the ease and predictability of train travel. Being a road warrior, I don't give up my power wheels easily and yet now I'm happier on the train than doing the bumper to bumper thing.

Thanks Virginia - the front lines mean nothing unless there are armies behind them, thank YOU for taking part.

Good question, consensus formed standards are required to have a multi-stake holder comment period, but consumers have never been viewed upon as a group before. Its high time they were.

What type of surface is the best? Ive had problems with granite as well.

This is yet another example of why I DON'T buy at Best Buy unless I am forced to and it's my LAST resort. I will go online where the customer service afterwards is just as inept, but at least I haven't fed a beast that clearly doesn't care about me doing business with them again. My own Best Buy computer lemon experience was as poor. Bad out the the gate. Bad in the exchange (within 24 hours) Bad advice. I have about 15 touchpoints of BAD to the bone. This why my next computer will be a Mac at a Mac store and a Mac direct future. I don't know if it will make me feel good, but I do know that Best Buy makes me feel bad.

Micaela - I end up carrying tons of bags and boxes and stuff to the store as well, all of which ended up taking up a lot of cart space. I also found it difficult to dig around for the right sized bag/container when I needed it. Consequently, I started clipping the bags to the cart and then after others asked me where I got the clip, I started a site for them. (bagbiners.com) It makes bag management much easier. The other side effect of this is by displaying the hanging bags while I'm shopping, I'm educating other shoppers to use cloth bags. Afterall, shopping carts didn't take off until the inventor pushed them around the store. People need to see cloth bags in use beyond the co-op walls.