This afternoon for lunch I stopped into my favorite beans-and-rice place in downtown Tampa, priced just right for young alt weekly writer-types.

After I parked and was exiting my vehicle, I faced a moral dilemma. Upon spotting an empty Tupperware container on the passenger seat, I thought I could bring it in with me instead of getting the Styrofoam take out container. But the part of me that occasionally abides by the mores of society overruled that thought, and it was left in the car.

When asked by the pretty cashier with the Jamaican accent if I wanted a bag for the box, however, my inner environmentalist saw an opportune time to out herself. I declined the bag and she asked why, a little astonished.

I explained I thought the bag was unnecessary â€” it wasnâ€™t as if I was taking out anything spillable. I read just this morning that it takes 1,000 years for a plastic bag to break down in a landfill and that earlier this year the entire city of San Francisco banned plastic bags altogether.

I wished aloud that Tampa would do the same, seeing as with almost everything else, weâ€™re at least 10 years behind the rest of the country. Again, she had a look of astonishment and said she had no idea about all this stuff, adding that I should be the person to get the ball rolling.

Hmmâ€¦but how to educate and make others listen, care, etc.?

Some things Iâ€™ve already noticed in this vein: Pinellas County has dog-walking stations around town with biodegradable poo bags. Why not pay a few pennies more for non-plastic grocery bags that we use once that wonâ€™t hang out for the next millennium? And am I the only one who sees the pointlessness in buying plastic garbage bags? Itâ€™s literally throwing one's money away.

Ideas? Suggestions?

This article appears in Sep 5-11, 2007.