Whole Foods announced Tuesday that it will no longer offer plastic bags after April 22. Love That! After that date, which is Earth Day, the choice will be recycled paper bags or reusable bags, which of course will not be free. We've been trying to use only cloth and/or polymer mesh bags for several years in our house, but I have to say, we have been far from perfect. It's too easy to forget to get the bags bag into the car, or to put them in one car and then happen to be using the other when we stop into a market, or whatever. So even in our eco-semi-conscious household, we have reams of paper and plastic bags, since once we take them, we at least want to get second and third uses out of them. As they mount up, they are like a scorecard of our grocery inefficiency. At least regarding the plastic bags, we have a different secondary use, to pick up Emma's poop, both in the yard and at the park. (You know how archaeologists sift through a lost civilization's trash to get clues about how they lived? Future archaeologists will wonder why we were saving all that poop!) (Uh, that's someone else's line, but a good one!) I've pointed it out before, but like doing so whenever possible: My sister-in-law, Bev, has in many cases been my ecological guide via personal example and quiet suggestion. She gave me my first mesh bag, years ago, and the world (China is cracking down on the use of plastic bags, San Francisco has regulations on them) is catching up to her. Link via Treehugger.