Honoring the New Year, is a series of posts highlighting sites and links, that I find amusing or inspiring when viewed through the lens of my identity and world-view as a Witch and Pagan.
One Person Makes a Difference!
Hello Dear Pagans, and PFF’s!*
So this site is actualy the one that inspired this little series of posts. I was watching CNN earlier today and saw an article on the Green Bag Lady and her efforts to spread Green shopping/gift bags around to anyone who wants one and I just found it delightful and inspiring!
Teresa is a professor of Digital Photography and an artist. She started making re-usable fabric shopping bags for her family, and found she (like a lot of fabric crafters) had a huge pile of extra fabric she wasn’t doing anything with… so she made some extra bags and gave them away.
She decided to keep doing this. She makes fabric shopping/gift bags and gives them away, for free. Her philosophy is…
They are a gift. I want you to feel obligated to use them, that is why I have you promise to use them instead of paper or plastic. If you were to buy them from me, they become a commodity and there is no obligation any longer because you own it. A gift is owned by both people. I know that usually one bag is not enough but if I GIVE you one, you might start thinking about your usage and buy other bags to supplement your collection (and maybe even start thinking about recycling, composting, consumption and consumerism).”
Not only does she give away the bags, she shares her patterns for shopping bags, gift wrap bags, and produce bags with others and has inspired others to start similar projects! Just one person deciding to carry her commitment to Greener living forward in a new direction.
In the face of War and Economic Crisis it can be easy to forget that each of us has Power. The power to choose our reactions, the power to chose our actions, the power to DO something rather than nothing. Each of us, each and every single one of us, can make a difference in the world; if we invoke our power and choose to do something.
Folks like Teresa remind us of that.
Thanks Teresa!!
Peace,
Pax
*PFF= Pagan Friendly Folk.
Chrysalis 
That is an awesome idea. It’s a great way to be the change you want to see in the world. There is a story I love about a man in France who spent years and years planting trees. He made it a part of his daily life, et voila! Over the years, this huge tract of forest grew up around him. Where there was not, there was, thanks to the efforts of one man.