Shopping Righteously!

    Shopping is an activity I hate! I know girls are supposed to love it, but it's not my cup of tea!  It's so tiring and I inevitably end up in the throes of buyer's remorse, even with something I wanted and like! I'm so happy to have the internet to go online and see what's available, what I want, find the best price and the place to get it! Not only does this save my nerves it also saves my energy and reduces my carbon foot print when I don't drive a car from shop to shop.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_footprint
    The only shopping I enjoy is walking over to my local farmer's markets. I'm outside (my favourite place to be), I can people watch, see the lovely produce that's grown locally and meet the farmers who grow it. Recently I bought a huge avocado weighing about a pound from a stall over at the Inner Sunset Farmers' Market. It was the sweetest, meatiest avocado ever! It had the thinnest skin and the tiniest stone! It fed me for two days and I was really sorry to swallow the last morsel. I love that it was grown locally. The only bad thing is that, as the seller told me, the harvest only lasts for a few weeks. Now I'll have to wait until next year and hope we have a better rain season than we had this year, as there were fewer avocados due to a lack of rain. Here's a great list of local farmer's markets in San Francisco. Go online to find a list in your area: 
http://togetherinfood.wordpress.com/s-f-farmers-markets-the-full-list/
    Here's another excellent resource for fresh and locally grown food that can be delivered to your door:
    http://www.farmfreshtoyou.com/index.php?cmd=homedelivery
    When you go shopping for vegetables it's a good idea to bring your own cloth bags. You can often buy these for a few dollars at some of the supermarkets, but it's even better to run up some from old sheets, pillow cases or discarded kitchen towels. Ask the check out person to weigh the bag before weighing your veggies so that you're not paying extra. Most of the assistants know how to zero the weighing scales with the bag before adding your vegetables to the scale. I know living in San Francisco gives me an advantage in a lot of these approaches, but it only takes one person to start a new trend so do what you can in your area. The more often you ask, the closer you get to a new way of doing things.
    Using your own bags reduces the amount of plastic bags that end up polluting the air, your local land fill and the ocean. It also puts a dent in the big business of plastic and reduces the pollution these create. You can rejoice in the reduced carbon foot print your efforts are creating. If you'd like to you can go here to calculate your personal carbon effect on the planet: 
http://www.nature.org/greenliving/carboncalculator/
    Don't be surprised at your number! I don't have a car, never fly and do a great many things to reduce my effect, yet my carbon foot print is still a lot higher than I'd like.
    While riding on the bus today I met a guy who likes shopping! So it's not necessarily a girly thing to do and my dislike doesn't make me weird, only different. By the way this guy was very straight and not gay as many of you might think of a San Franciscan guy! Have fun, shop righteously and save our planet!