Greening Up the Poop Brigade

This Saturday is the day - Earth Hour will begin at 8 p.m. Although it is officially planned to last for just one hour, the hope is that the consciousness-raising it will achieve will last untold hours into the future.
A recent online survey of 1,023 adult Canadians conducted in March by Angus Reid Strategies seemed to show an eagerness on the part of Canucks to get involved. Saying that they plan to participate, 70% of the respondents declared a desire to raise awareness of the issue. Planned activities for the hour range from star gazing to getting up close and intimate with a significant other. I wonder how many little ones might arrive to swell the population nine months after Earth Hour?
Although there are many who need to pay more attention to the issue, one group in particular that I'm hoping will get bitten by the Earth Hour bug is dog owners. When I was out at a local grocery store this week, packing my purchases into the cloth bags I had brought with me, the cashier surprised me by saying that someone pulling out their own bags was an unusual sight there. I said that it was disappointing and a little surprising to hear that so few people declined the plastic bags. "Actually," said she, "many people even ask for extra bags." When I questioned that, she went on to add that some even walk across the front of the store, and help themselves to any bags that might be lying out at the end of the cash-out, without having bought anything at the store. I stared at her in puzzlement and she cleared up the whole thing with a simple: "Dog owners".
Since the bags are made available to those who spend at the store, and that is certainly the general understanding of their availability, it seems to me that swiping them off a cashier's desk on a run-by shit-bag grabbing constitutes petty theft. How pathetic, people. Have you no pride? No concern for the Earth you will be handing on to your children and granchildren? Is bagging your dog's shit "for free" really the most important thing on your mind? Once again - how pathetic - especially since the use of grocery bag plastic really does not come for free. That plastic will result in a greater environmental price tag to you and yours then you seem to be capable of understanding.
Ever since a walk through a local ravine park last year showed the evidence of how painfully inconsiderate dog owners can be - a grocery-bag of shit left tied to the fencing around the baseball diamond - I have kept an eye out for alternative solutions to the problem. If you're in the market for them yourselves, check out the "Flushable Bag", an environmentally-friendly product that dissolves in water, allowing you to cart the refuse back home and flush it down your toilet. Described on the site as "The responsible way to deal with your pet's waste!", a 50 count package will set you back a regular $16.15, although they're on sale at the moment for $14.25. Come on, how can you resist these 100% bio-degradable poop-scoops?
Of course, since the idea of toting a bag of shit back to your ensuite is not for everyone, rest assured; there is another way to step up to the environmental plate. "BioBags" are 100% bio-degradable and 100% compostable and can be tossed into the nearest waste receptacle with a clear conscience, leaving you and Fido poop-free for the rest of the walk. These bags are available at the same site as the Flushables are, but these will only set you back $8.15, regular price, for a package of 50.
If you're a dog owner who cares, click your way over to Wisconsin Pet Products, and do your part to green up the poop brigade.