morsbags.com
I signed a pledgebank pledge to tell at least ten people about morsbags.com, which is a horrible flash-based site with a great mission: to reduce the use of plastic bags. Oh, wait, they have a pleasant html version too: http://www.morsbags.com/html/! Ahhh, much better. Anyway. They ask people to make, use, and give away reusable cloth bags and offer a simple sewing pattern.
Make your own cotton morsbags and distribute them – each one has the potential to eliminate 100s of plastic bags over its lifetime.
sad fact: over 1 million plastic bags are consumed per minute globally.
gut-wrenching fact: marine wildlife mistake plastic bags for food and die.frustrating fact: supermarkets and politicians will take years to sort it out.
happy fact: making morsbags will help, with immediate effect.
From their pattern page:
If you have a spare half hour or so, make yourself a morsbag! Better still, organise some friends to come round and make some together as a “pod”.
Use an old bedsheet or curtain and follow the downloadable instructions by clicking below.Then marvel that even if you have made just one, you have saved the world from another 80 monsters per year clogging up the ecosystem.
I keep 6 canvas bags in the trunk of my car and use then for EVERY shopping trip. And if Henry and I buy a book or a few items from the hardware store, we always refuse a bag and carry our stuff to the car in our hands. I can’t remember the last time I used a plastic shopping bag.
When you’ve read this and visited the morsbag site, please leave me a comment! And consider sewing or knitting (and using) your own reuseable shopping bags. There are a number of great free patterns for knitted string bags on the internet. Here’s a nice one, and I’m working up a variation that’s knit in the round — no sewing up necessary.
Remember — after you’ve unloaded your groceries, return your bags to the trunk of the car ready for the next shopping trip. This takes a bit of remembering at first but becomes second nature soon enough.
Thanks a lot for helping :)
Edit: Ok, that’s four people who’ve commented so far. Also told my mom, Chloe, and Henry, so that makes seven already. Oh, and Michelle makes eight! And a new comment from Jennifer makes nine! And one more comment from The Fruid makes ten, plus I told Dan, so that’s eleven. Yay, goal met and exceeded!
Category: Blog 9 comments »
July 7th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Kiva sounds fantastic. Glad you’re passing the Morsbag idea on – but must say, i like the knitting.
Oggie
July 7th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
I admire how you’re always finding a way to make a difference!
July 9th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Count me as one person you have told. I also usually refuse a bag when I’m buying just a couple of items, but I still need to learn to bring my own bags to the grocery store (though we almost always get paper bags at the grocery store that we reuse and recycle at home). Thanks for pointing me to this website =)
July 9th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
You can count me as a person too. While we didn’t make them, we have a couple of nice canvas bags (one from the Nature Conservancy, one from our local public library) that we bring along every time we walk to Whole Foods, and which I try to remember to stick in the car in the morning if I’m doing shopping in the afternoon. And we bring back our plastic bags for recycling at the local Safeway. :)
July 11th, 2007 at 9:43 am
Count me as 5 – I’ve got grand plans to gather some friends and adopt this as my summer project. Heck! I could make a bunch out of fabric I have stashed and have never used and them GIVE THEM AWAY at places like the Farmer’s Market. hmmmmmm…..
July 15th, 2007 at 9:42 am
Count me as 6 then…I just started working on the morsbags project with Swap-bot. If anyone else is interested, we’d love to have you join us! http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/5478 I’ve also seen that http://www.craftster.org is having a craft challenge to make these reusable bags also. Those knitted bags would be awesome!
July 15th, 2007 at 9:59 am
Hey Fruid, counting the people I’ve told in person, you’re #10 (or maybe more!)
The Swap-bot page is great — I’ll post that link and get you some more exposure.
July 21st, 2007 at 6:49 am
count me as one! I’ve been asking for help and it’s comming along.
August 6th, 2007 at 6:17 am
after seeing item on TV made six bags and gave them out in Maidstone shopping centre. Interesting reaction from people, from ignoring me, a polite ‘not thank you’ and a ‘are they really free? I will have one for my sister’ I gave out a printed label downloaded from computer with each one to explain what they were. I have got my local council interested, one lady in particular who is keen on getting together a sewing group. I have made 20 more, which will be given out after I have had my holiday in Sept.