Plastic Bags vs. Reusable Bags

I was recently researching the impact of plastic bags, when I learned some interesting facts about reusable bags. Everyone automatically knows that reusable bags are better for the environment, but are they better for your health?

Favourite Products

Here at P’lovers, we get new products in so frequently it’s hard to keep track of where the new ones are, and where the old ones went.

Nature and Ownership

I was going to write about natural herbicides and pesticides, but after having done extensive research, and drafting a rough copy, I decided not to post.  Why?  Because there are lots of great links out there, and I do not feel comfortable putting up pesticide recipes that are still toxic, even if they are natural, and do not have a long lasting environmental impact.  Any search engine will give you lots of information if you search “natural pesticides”.

What am I going to comment on?  Nature, and ownership.  The apartment that I rent is in a house that looks out over the woods.  There are flowers everywhere!  Right now, there are lots of daisies, and many, many, other flowers that I cannot identify, but wish I could.  When I get home in the evening, after it has been warm, the air is pregnant with the sweet smells of the various wild flowers.  I am lucky to live there.  However, whenever I am outside during the day, taking the dog for a walk, I have to fight the urge to pick flowers.  Why?  Because I feel that if I leave the flowers outside, in nature, they exist for everyone to enjoy (people and animals).  However, if I bring them inside, they immediately start to die, and the only ones to enjoy them are myself, and my partner.

This got me to thinking about the concept of ownership, and possession, and natural resources.  It seems to be a cultural impulse in North America to want to possess things.  If we like something, we automatically want to bring it home with us.  These thoughts led me to thinking about those natural resources that are essential for life:  food, water, and air.  Who owns these things?  Should we “own” these things?  There are so many implications… but as usual, I don’t feel that I know enough to form and opinion.  So I think I will do some research and then do a blog about the ownership of food, water and air.  (Not necessarily in that order).

I’ll see what I can come up with!

Glass vs. Plastic – Thoughts?

A week or so ago, another employee and I were discussing one of our bath product lines, and trying to figure out if the glass packaging was more environmentally friendly than plastic packaging. With this discussion in mind, I have been trying to learn enough on the topic to form an opinion on the matter. The problem is that the more I learn, the more confused I become. I think I am coming down tentatively on the side of glass packaging – especially for food products, and cosmetics/bath products, but I welcome comments!
Glass is problematic when it comes to the total energy usage required to produce, ship, and recycle it. Glass is made of sand that is heated to temperatures high enough to melt it, and then cooled quickly. This process is energy intensive because it requires such high temperatures, and fossil fuels are often used to produce this energy. Glass requires much more energy to produce than plastics. Glass is also heavier than plastic, and therefore requires more fossil fuels to be burned for transportation than plastic. Also, there is more danger of product wastage when using glass, because glass packaging is more prone to breaking than plastic packaging. Glass also requires more energy input than plastic to break it down when recycling.
However…..!!! Plastics are made from un-refined petroleum which is un-renewable. Also, many types of plastic can leach harmful chemicals into your food, bath products, and cosmetics. Additionally, if the packaging gets tossed away as litter, or put in a land-fill (and is not sent for recycling, tsk, tsk, and you know who you are…) glass will not leach chemicals into the environment as it sits. Plastic takes 600 years to break down when left in the environment, and in the mean-time, it releases polluting compounds which leach into the soil and water. Also, if glass finds its way to our oceans, it breaks down into little pieces of sea glass (rounded, smoothed, pebble-like pieces of glass, that many people collect at the beach and use in jewellery, and decorating). However, when plastic finds it way into our oceans, it simply floats around, and there are island sized deposits of garbage which have collected, and are floating around in our oceans – gross! Sometimes, sea animals eat this plastic, mistaking it for food, and it makes them sick, or can cause death.

So far then, I come down on the side of glass packaging because:

- I am selfish, and don’t want toxic chemicals leaching into the products I use and consume – even small, “harmless” levels of exposure!
- I like sea glass – even though it’s a product of pollution, it’s pretty! We have even sold products made from sea glass at P’Lovers!
- I don’t like the idea of people’s old plastic containers and packaging releasing any level of toxins into ground water and soil!
- I am hoping that humans as a species will move away from fossil fuels as a means of energy production, and as this happens, the levels of air pollution associated with glass production will go down! (I know, this is based on hope only, but we have to be optimistic, or else nothing will change!)

That’s All!
Mackenzie

Bring on the New Year!

Christmas is behind us and it was a good one, I had the great pleasure of spending quality time with the people I love the most. Three complete uninterrupted days with my children and my husband, what more could someone ask for?

The time preceding the big day was spent in preparation, alot of that time here in the store interacting with our awesome customers. There are so many of you that we see regularly and this time of the year also brings with it many new customers some of whom will now frequent the store and become friends.

Our walls are covered in bright green papers announcing our sale: 15% off everything in the store. We want to show you, our customers, that we appreciate your loyalty.

I often tell people this is the best job I have ever had, not only do I interact with interesting people day in and day out but I am also blessed to be educating, while being educated on issues that truly matter. I am passionate about the P’lovers mission statement and really feel I can make a difference each and every day.

Every person who walks through the doors makes this possible for me and for that and much more I thank you and look forward to a New Year filled with many blessings.