Go Green tips for March 22nd

Gotta tip you want to share with Sarah and the Go Green Ride at Five? Email her: sarah@921wvtk.com!

Here Sarah's groovy green tips for Monday, March 22nd:

• Just ran into the store for a couple of things? Do you really need a bag? At Hannaford, if my purchase isn’t excessive, they usually ask me first if I want one. My answer? Heck no! That’s what my large mommy purse is all about!
• It takes 12 million barrels of oil and 14 million trees, to make all the paper and plastic bags Americans go through each year. I have a dream and it is green!
• Here’s a thought, re-use your plastic bags. Sturdy plastic bags or double-bagged paper ones hold up for months, and they're free. For extra brownie points: Reuse plastic produce bags, or pick up a few cloth ones (you'll find them at Reusablebags.com).

To microwave or not to microwave, that is the question! There have been recent studies that link certain chemicals in plastics to birth defects and other health problems, but it’s still unclear how much of a hazard common plastics pose for young children. The exposure happens when plastic is heated. If you can, play it safe and avoid putting plastics in the microwave at all, you can use glass or ceramic containers (without any metallic paint). But if that’s not a possibility, perhaps you could choose your food containers more carefully, the plastics of greatest concern are marked with a number 3, 6 or 7 on the bottom. Like bringing food to work, but don’t have ceramic travel containers? Store a bowl and plate in your desk that you can transfer your lunch to for the microwave. A small inconvenience, but your health is worth that, isn’t it?