Bagged

Reluctantly to W H Smith's as I needed to buy a pen along with my daily newspaper. The pen, of course, was already encased in a card and plastic bubble. Automatically the assistant at the till began to put these two small items into a large plastic Smith's bag. Which is exactly the reason why I normally walk past W H Smith's (wide open) doors in favour of an old-fashioned newsagent further down the road.

Then to Jessops, where at least the assistant asked the man in front of me if he wanted a bag for his small pouch of prints. And he said he did, even though he was already carrying one from another shop.

It's the same, perhaps worse, in the supermarkets as shoppers peel off bag after bag at the checkout, stuff in a few items and then pile them in trolleys. Just stand at any supermarket exit for 10 minutes to get an idea just how many plastic bags, containing already over-packaged goods, are trundled out of the door.

There can't be many who are now unaware of the problems we are creating by over-production, consumption and wholescale waste. Maybe we think it's someone else's problem. But it's not. It rests with each one of us to take responsibility for reducing our energy use. And a small, but culumatively significant, step would be the simple measure of carrying reusable bags to the shops. And being brave enough to carry a naked paper out of a newsagents without the aid of petroleum-based, and potentially toxic, plastic that takes thousands of years to degrade.