Mike DeWolfe : The Daily Edition

We've all accomplished a great feat. We've made shopping bags as popular as swastikas. Why? Because of our love-hate with oil, we use it all the time and spout vitriol at anyone else who uses it. You've given up bags. Keep the momentum going and give up these other petroleum products: Chewing gum Hair dye Asphalt Crayons (the main ingredient is paraffin wax, a petroleum product also used in most candles) Candles (see above) The wax layer of the packaging your frozen food comes in. (And, of course, the fertilizers that farmers used to grow much of that food.) Ink Panty hose Heart Valves Pillows Aspirin Ammonia Toothpaste Toothbrushes Guitar strings Shoe polish Tape Rubbing Alcohol Vitamin capsules (think you're healthy when you're dosing yourself with a little bit of petroleum every day?) Solvents Caulking Insecticides Deodorant Ask your eco-conscious grocery store when they're going to stop selling the above items.

Back on Earth Day, Thrifty Foods announced it was discontinuing its use of plastic bags. It felt like greenwashing and I was skeptical. Plastic bags are made from petroleum by-products. They don't use oil-- they use the discards from the oil refining process. For the last couple years, plastic bags have been on par with devil worship or kitten juggling. Most people use plastic bags multiple times. While they are demonizing bags, SUVs are causing masses of pollution. All of the work re-road to accommodate traffic crippling and bicycles consumes massive amounts of asphalt made with (you guessed it), petroleum products. But let's pick on the plastic bags. Thrifty's began selling durable plastic bags for less than $1 per. While the hated plastic bags occupy almost no volume and will eventually breakdown into general filth, these durable bags are built to last. Once they get into the landfill, they're going to be there, dotting the rubbish for years. A few weeks ago, Thrifty...