Aside from the fact that we got married in their basement, Sevananda Natural Foods Market in Little Five Points is one of my favorite places to shop for food. They are truly conscious of environmental issues.




They are one  of the very few groceries that don't either wrap their Bell Peppers up in plastic (insisting that you buy three when you only need one) or worse yet, set them on top of a Styrofoam tray and then cover them up in plastic. What is that norm about, anyway? 

Sevananda offers a wide variety of organic, sustainability farmed, vegetarian and vegan products. They buy local products. They recycle cardboard, plastic, glass, office paper and the magazines they don't sell. They have installed solar panels on their roof to cut down on energy costs and repainted with a more environmentally friendly paint.

They are good citizens, offering space for classes and meetings (and the occasional wedding). They are educators who offer classes in yoga, healthy cooking, and massage to the public. They are a co-op, whose member/owners have a voice in how the business is run. I could go on and on (and on) and probably will in other posts, but for now let me just summarize by saying that this is a store extraordinaire for green purchases.

Trader Joe's, another green leaner in the grocery segment, has done an excellent job with reminding shoppers to bring their own bags. If you forget yours, they have reusable ones for sale at or near the check-out stands. They encourage shoppers to bring in their own bags by entering those that do in a weekly drawing for free groceries, a real bonus these days. 

And kudos to IKEA, purveyor of Swedish foodstuff and house wares, who sells big reusable bags that will hold a whole cart-full of groceries or anything else you're packing. And - this is the really good part - when customers still choose not to go the reusable route, IKEA charges a nickel for every plastic bag they use to load up their purchases when their shopping frenzy is over.
 
Muches gracious to these three green grocers and come on, the rest of you - it's time to bag the plastic.