Be Green!

Green Beer. No, not beer with green dye like they have on St. Patty's Day...green as in environmentally-friendly. My father pointed this one out to me. A UK brewery called Adnams made a beer called "East Green" which according to early figures has saved the lives of 5,483 people. Ok, I made that up...it's not directly saving lives but the brewing process of the beer is apparently very eco-friendly. How is it doing that?

• The brewery is an "eco-brewery" - it recycles the steam created while brewing into the next batch that is brewed
• It uses local hops and barley (cuts down transportation)
  
• The hops also are aphid-resistant (plant lice) which means less pesticide needs to be used on them

So the way I see it is...the more you drink of it, the more you are helping the environment. So drink up you bloody wankers!

Speaking of being "green," what's taken so long for supermarkets and retailers to do something about their plastic bags? I understand that out in California (go Arnold!) they have taken action against plastic bags (and possibly other cities/states), but why not all over the country? When I studied in Ireland, my first trip to the supermarket was the only trip that I got my purchases bagged in plastic. Why? Because they charge you per plastic bag - everyone brings reusable bags to the supermarket there - on my next trip, I bought one of their reusable bags (which probably paid for itself over a few visits) and used it from then on.

The fact is people (including me) may not take action when it's not the norm and the only benefit to them is knowing they are doing a good thing for the environment. But when it becomes cheaper to do that good thing? Everyone will do it and that becomes the norm. This just seems like such an easy solution that has taken way too long to happen.

Ok, I'm off my soap box now.