If you are looking for one small but significant thing you can do today to cut down on our country’s oil dependency: stop using plastic bags! Once you commit to never using them again, you’ll realize they are everywhere.

There are literally millions of plastic bags used every year in this county and only 2% are recycled!

Of the 100 million plastic bags that are thrown away every year, many end up in our oceans — endangering marine life that mistakes them for food or simply entrapping them.

Don’t let the Block Buster clerk mindlessly shove your flic into a plastic bag that just might outlive the two of you.  Bring your own re-usable bags. I keep a small nylon bag that conveniently folds up into a pouch in my purse at all times. I also keep a ton of larger re-usable bags in my mini-van for groceries and larger purchases.

It takes no effort whatsoever to walk into the store with a few bags. Of all the bad habits one can have, from cigarettes to bad housekeeping, using plastic bags is the easiest to break. Really.

Here’s how I’ve weaned my school-age girls off plastic bags:
•    Constant friendly reminders (also know as nagging) to stop polluting the Chesapeake Bay
•    Forwarding the following web site: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/08/10/plastic_bags/
•    Easy to grab, re-usable nylon bags on the back of the front door
•    Fun canvas bags from Target (their favorite store) with cool messages such as “Eco-Chic” and “I Don’t  Do Plastic”