About three years ago at a grocery store I will not name, the cashier reached for an extra plastic bag to wrap the chicken. "Oh, no thanks!" I said. "I have to," they answered. "No," I insisted, "let's put all the meat in one bag, and I'll wash it when I get home." "I have to wrap it." "No, I promise I will wash the bag." "It's a public health rule," they insisted. I gave up arguing.

Last week, at the same grocery store, when I said there was no need to put extra plastic on the chicken, the packer pulled their hand back and said, "I need to remember to ask." I said that I always wash the meat bag. "Good plan," said the cashier who went on to talk about re-usable bags for veggies. "I open the paper bags for mushrooms. Why would I mind opening a cloth bag?" We agreed that it takes work to lessen our plastic use, but it is possible.

Such a shift in attitude!

After church on Sunday, we talked about the down side of cotton and mesh produce bags, how they don't keep the moisture in, and if you aren't careful about what cotton you use, the bag weighs more. One person played devil's advocate and said that plastic isn't the problem, it is our poor recycling practices. It was a good conversation.

The thing is, there isn't one solution to our trash, pollution, and global warming problems. Different patterns work for different people. Different solutions will work better in different places. Having the conversation will open up the options, and guide us to make new choices, build better patterns.

I think this is particularly important around agriculture and the question of a plant-based diet. As I watch people struggle to get crop in, I am aware that grazing livestock are more flexible than long season legumes. Free range chickens are more adaptable than soy beans.

More and more land is being cropped in our area, but farmers have to be wary of soil degradation. People plant red clover with winter wheat and plow it down. That adds green matter to the soil and nitrogen. Traditional crop rotations included alfalfa. Not only does that feed the soil when it is plowed under, but while it is growing, the deep root helps keep the ground open. But alfalfa is animal feed.

If the place where you farm has a thin layer of top soil, always taking crop off to sell is not the best for the health of the land. If you have a short growing season, beans are risky. Places with a longer growing season and a thicker layer of top soil have more crop options, though they need to be aware of rotations that replenish nutrients. The conversation about options can help each community figure out what is the best long-term strategy for their location. It will be different in different places.

My church and the community around us are planning to show the film "Resilience: Transforming our Communities." The film was made in our area, and It's about the science of climate change, but mostly it's about how we talk about global warming in order to build more resilient communities, in order to modify our behaviour to lessen the amount of carbon we put into the atmosphere and adapt to our new reality. (You can watch the film free here on youtube or plan to host a showing through their website)

Someone suggested that we give everyone who comes to the film a home-made produce bag. We can buy used material from a thrift shop and have a bee to make them. What a great idea: reusing cloth, working together, providing people with an alternative to plastic.

I saw a news piece about plastic made from cactus. I tend to buy plastic and polyester made from bamboo rather than oil. Things can be made from hemp too. We need to check how much energy from fossil fuels is needed to produce these, but at least when the clothes rip and the plates break, they are bio-degradable. And the micro-fibers that come off them when washed are organic.

I was thrilled with the grocery store conversation and the change in attitude I saw. I did not mind the person who wanted to challenge the conversation about the evils of plastic. We need to keep talking and listening to new ideas in order to shift the direction of our society and protect this globe.

Cathy Hird lives on the shore of Georgian Bay.