dawntacker's blog

Leadership Circle and co-founder Dawn Tacker's article, "Marketing Yourself as a Greener Portrait Photographer," was published in PPA's Professional Photographer magazine. Check it out and tell us what you think in the comments section!

A lovely thing to read on the front of the San Diego Union-Tribune today! Here's a link to the full article. To paraphrase: we'll be the first state to ban grocery stores from offering plastic bags starting in January 2012. We'll have to bring our own, or pay five cents a bag for paper bags. Woot!

Why should you care? Check out these numbers:

• 19 billion plastic bags are used each year by Californians (how embarassing)
• 552 plastic bags are used by EACH Californian every year (wowza)
• A measly 5-6% of plastic materials are recycled in California each year (what??)
• It takes 500-1,000 years for a plastic bag to degrade (not to mention those horrible images of the Pacific Gyre, a.k.a. the Great Garbage Patch)

What creative things have you done to cut down on the number of disposable bags you use? What other ideas can you share about reducing your plastic consumption?

One idea from my family... we store our canvas grocery bags in the car. There is no other way we have been able to remember to bring them to the store with us - because we are parents and have lost most of our brain capacity. Even when I hang them ON THE DOORKNOB OF THE FRONT DOOR to take them with me, I forget them. So now after unloading the groceries, the rule is they go right back into the car. It also helps having them there for those spontaneous shopping expeditions.

So the good news is that I walked away from a fairly bad accident with just one scraped knuckle and whiplash. The bad news is that our beloved Prius is bring written off by our insurance company. The really bad news is that our HOV stickers are also toast. We love our Prius. It works well for our family of four plus Labrador. I use it for client meetings, even hauling my long projection screen around for ordering sessions. True, it is not ideal for carpooling as we can get just two child car seats in the back seats. But we manage. At any rate - by necessity the search is on for a replacement car.

During my research I ran across this hybrid car scorecard compiled by the Union of Concerned Scientists. They gave the Prius a score of 9.8 out of ten. Their scorecard has good, solid information about all available hybrids in the U.S. When we first purchased our Prius in 2006, it was an unusual choice, with limited availability. But then, as now, we like the idea of making a major purchase that supports alternative energy technology.

We are taking the time to consider the whole carpooling thing, especially as our oldest is entering first grade this Fall. My husband and I have a running joke about (not) getting a minivan. An SUV just does not fit our environmental values. I did some research on hybrid SUVs, which all seem rather pointless - we'd be better off just getting a gas-driven with good fuel efficiency.

I was hoping to find that electric cars were an option; but I think we'll sit out this first generation of all-electric vehicles. With a 100-mile maximum radius, the five-passenger Nissan Leaf is *almost* viable, I think, if California continues to install high-speed charging stations.

We are drifting towards purchasing another Prius. Did I mention we *really* love this car? If we can find a good deal on a used one, that would be more eco-friendly, methinks. But with the price of a new 2010 Prius being very close to prices for recent used models...well, stay tuned, we'll eventually have to return our temporary rental car. Which, not so coincidentally, happens to be a Prius.