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~ Cleaning Up the Planet, One Bag at a Time

ECOBAGS® blog

Monthly Archives: June 2012

I’m not weird anymore – goodbye single-use plastic bags

27 Wednesday Jun 2012

Posted by ecobagsbrand in ECOBAGS, ECOBAGS brand, Ecobags in the Media

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Bag It the movie, going green, plastic bag ban, plastic bags, socially responsible, sustainability

In 1989, I started bringing my own reusable cloth bags to the store. That’s when I decided to start my company and ECOBAGS Brand. Most people thought I was really weird, schlepping bags to the store and bringing everything home (including produce) without plastic.  “Some” people, however, thought it was a good idea. Those people would talk to me at the grocery store and on the street (in NYC).

This was all before the green, eco-wave hit –  “going green,” “sustainability”  and “socially responsible” businesses weren’t the rage yet. There were no “Green Drinks” to join or BCorporation or Green America Certifications. There was no internet! There was just me with an idea that single-use plastic bags were (are) wasteful.

I took my idea on the road, going store to store in NYC talking to retailers. I quickly figured out that my idea belonged in the Natural Products Industry (Health Food Store owners) because that’s where new ideas become culture – think organics, local and healthy eating since 1989.  Whole Foods Market wasn’t even around in 1989!

Now, it’s a different. I knew it would happen but didn’t know how fast. There are plastic bag bans taking hold across the country – San Francisco, Seattle, LA County…west coast and towns dotting the USA all the way east to Southhampton and Rye New York and Westport, CT.  There’s talk, from Surfrider NY Chapter, that a movement has begun to ban or tax plastic bags in NYC and that’s HUGE. They’re starting with libraries in Queens.

ECOBAGS Brand was part of the first Plastic Bag Ban in Ireland, as well as the one in the Modbury UK in 2007.  Ireland has reduced plastic bag waste by 90%. Worldwide bans are happening across the globe.

In the movie, “Bag It” I say “there is no away..where is away” which is where this journey started…by taking a simple, new, action and bringing my own bags.  Now, I’m not weird.

If can project a future it would look like this –  A collective “no” to wastefulness and a “yes” to reusable, durable or bio-compostable (not oxo-biodegradables) goods.
It costs too much to be wasteful.

For more information on how to get a plastic bag ban going.  To get the conversation going in your town, check out screenings of “Bag It,” the movie.

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Sharon Rowe’s Climate Ride

21 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by ecobagsbrand in Ecobags Team

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

carbon reduction, climate ride, community, cycling

Thanks to all who supported my Climate Ride! It was an amazing experience to ride 60-70+ miles per day, five days in a row, with an amazing group of people (all ages and abilities), focused on health (personal and planet) and enjoying the space between New York City and Washington DC.  It was my first long distance ride in about (cough) thirty years and it felt good to do it.

We live in an amazingly beautiful part of the country… once you get off I-95.

Seeing everything at 0-32 mph really put a lot of things into perspective. Most parts there was no cell service so we all got to unplug totally.

What did I see & hear? Lots of country with healthy farmland, birds singing, breaks squeaking. Stretches of land untouched by city or suburbia and then suburban neighborhoods, complexes, major highways (we rode past the entrances only), huge downhills and major uphills, river walks and river beds, rail-trails magnificently restored and so much more.

Evenings were full of speakers on environmental initiatives and studies, and an amazing performance by Ben Sollee (http://bensollee.com/)

I now know a lot of things like –

Training is really important. (worth getting up at 6am even!)

* Cycling is just like “riding a bicycle” only you’re clipped in and moving as fast as the wind.
* Padded cycling pants are as important as gel blocks by Cliff Bar
* Just like Eskimos have many words for “snow” I now have many words for “hill.” 🙂
* Food is energy when you’re burning +500 calories an hour (clocked on a friend’s thingamajigger on her bike).
* Community Matters and it’s inspiring when you spend 24 hours a day with really smart people working on important stuff!

* You can have a voice on the Hill. We went and advocated for Carbon reduction and transportation alternative funding on the Hill with Staff from Nita Lowey’s office as well as from Gillibrand and Schumer’s office.

It’s now been 5 days that I haven’t gotten on a bike (it’s being shipped from DC to home) and I miss it.
I’m remembering something I saw in Montana last year that I want to share…

“forget the box, think outside”

If you’re interested in learning more about the organizations your donations went to – check them out here

* www.greenamerica.org
* www.onepercentfortheplanet.org
* www.350.org

This post originally appeared on GreenGuruNetwork.

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ELLEN ORNATO moves on to THE NEXT PEACE…

07 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by ecobagsbrand in AHA, bullying, ECOBAGS, ECOBAGS brand, ellen ornato, OPRAH, peace, seth godin, stereotyping, thenextpeace, Tribe

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ELLEN ORNATO moves on to THE NEXT PEACE…

Ellen has been with Eco-Bags since, well, forever. She is our CEO, Sharon’s sister, so she has followed the company from inception to explosion. About four years ago, just about when ECOBAGS were featured on OPRAH, Ellen officially joined the Eco-Bags Team. She joined as VP of Strategic Marketing and Fun. The “fun” part always made people laugh when she handed them her card. Fun, however, is a great way to express how it was to work with Ellen. Ellen loves to connect and she used this energy to build and strengthen a community, or as Seth Godin would say, a “tribe” of people for ECOBAGS Brand; a group of people passionate about living in and creating a less wasteful, more abundant environment.


Ellen’s next venture is building her own company called The Next Peace (www.thenextpeace.com) where she will lead:

PEACE: People Energized To Actively Create Engagement

Ellen says – from her web- Moved by AHA moments, I lead respectful and engaging conversations about challenging and rich content. I teach concrete skills for improving communication and interrupting stereotyping and bullying behaviors.

Yea! for Ellen. She is moving forward and continuing to impact her environment!

We will miss her but she’s still related, so we’ll still be in touch on a daily basis.

THANK YOU, Ellen!

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