Jonathan Waggoner

It sounds a little cliche, but it's easy to look at random trash, say a discarded paper soda cup, and think that someone else will pick it up. Of course, in downtown Seattle we do have a battery of 'Downtown Ambassadors' that are paid to clean up, but that's the exception and only for a small area of town. Everywhere else we have to become that someone who picks it up. Not necessarily every time, but if some of us do it some of the time, then it all gets picked up. In that way we can be a part of a community that cares enough to not let trash sit there on the ground. Perhaps for it even to be a gateway beyond trash into caring more about the people, animals, plants, and the rest of the environment around us to do something when we can.

This challenge has been harder than I thought it might be. Avoiding produce bags isn't that hard, as I already try to avoid them. It's the bulk isle that is hardest to remember bags. It's one thing to juggle a handful of carrots or apples, but it's another to carry a pound of granola in your hands. It's easier when going to a coop from home where I can use jars, but basic supermarkets just aren't set up to handle jars, which need to be weighed beforehand. The system is made for disposable bags so working around it takes a lot of planning.

One of the things that bulk buying does for me is bring me back to cooking from basic ingredients. Filling small jars of rye and barley flour help me avoid the waste of buying bigger bags when I only need a little more my Saturday morning pancakes. The convenience of canned beans is hard to turn down, but dried beans produce a better stew. The same goes for many prepackages foods; the convenience of grab-and-go fits into our fast-everything style. Slowing down and taking back the time to make something real, even just once a week, makes a difference in stress, digestion, and connection with friends and family.

It makes me feel more connected to both the community of people as well as the place that we're part of. I feel pride at my own actions and glad for the support of my neighbors.

I think people have become used to food coming in packages and that packaging equates with cleanliness so they want to separate and bag their produce. With busy lives of work and errands, it's become easier to just take a plastic bag while shopping than to remember to carry bags to the store. With our constant communication we can be expected by family to stop at the store on the way as a convenience rather than put forethought into planning food trips, making it even harder to arrive at the store prepared.