Our lazy frog has created a petition asking Target to stop buying plastic bags for their stores and offer only reusable bags for their customers. We chose to speak with Target first among the many retailers out there because they claim in their TV commercials, and on their site, to be 100% committed to the environment.

We sent a letter – below – to Target first, asking them to cut out the plastic bags and received a sad little response which we chose to answer with this petition. You can sign the petition here

If a lazy frog can write an entire petition from a lily pad, you can certainly muster up the strength to sign!

Dear Target,

I am an admirer of Targets stated commitment to the environment.

It has come to my attention however, that Target purchases 1.8 Billion plastic bags every year to serve it’s customers. Plastic bags foul our water supplies and oceans, harm our plant life and fish, are ingested by and kill our animals, and use millions of gallons of oil to produce. Not to mention the fact that every plastic bag Target buys and distributes will remain on the planet, clogging up landfills, for the next 1,000 years.

In keeping with your environmental stance I would like to request that you stop this practice. Consumers are much more ecologically aware these days and will certainly applaud such a move on Targets part. If Target would like to continue to supply bags to customers to carry their purchased items, may I suggest charging a reasonable price for canvas tote bags of varying sizes with the lovely Target ‘bullseye’ logo on them? They would be very eye catching and I am sure they will become a fashion statement in no time. If Target needs any assistance with such a change please feel free to contact me as I would be happy to assist in healing our planet in any way possible.

Sincerely,

Ecoeasy

Dear Ecoeasy,

At Target we have a responsibility – as team members, as a company, and as global citizens – to minimize our environmental footprint. I’m pleased to tell you that our efforts include using plastic shopping bags made with environmentally friendly soy and water-based ink. Our plastic shopping bags have codes printed on them to help make recycling easier for you. The codes may vary based on the size of bag, ink used and other factors. You can also bring back previously used bags for new purchases at our stores. If you’d like to reuse your Target shopping bags, just let the cashier know during your checkout. Because local regulations and services can vary greatly, you might need to do a little checking to find out how and where to recycle the bags in your community. Right now, we’re exploring even more states where we can offer a bag recycling service. For the most current details about all Target does for our environment, please visit: www.target.com/environment.

Sincerely,
David
Target Guest Relations
(800) 440-0680

We don’t have much to say about Donald Trump. He is not involved in the Green cause as far as we know (if anyone else has information on that we’d be glad to hear about it!), but we do like it when he tells it like it is. Especially when it comes to the Evil Empire also know as the Oil magnates. This is a reprint of part of an interview with Donald Trump by Greta Van Susteren where Donald lays it on the line and puts the blame clearly at the feet of the perpetrators. Thanks to Fox News for this.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN: So what — if you were president, what would you do about the fact that OPEC — the price of oil is shooting up, and the second thing is that the banks aren’t losing (SIC) money? If it were President Trump today, what would you do?
DONALD TRUMP: Well, the first thing I’d do is get my biggest, smartest person, my toughest, smartest person, and have them negotiating, and I would try and divide OPEC because what they do — any time anybody strikes oil, they invite them into OPEC. If you have a store and I have a store and we set prices, we go to jail. OPEC is totally setting the price of oil and destroying many countries because of it! I mean, destroying — this country, the biggest problem we have is OPEC. And it ultimately got us into a problem. We had $150-a-barrel oil and it got us into a very big problem. Now oil that should be $20 a barrel is at $70 a barrel, and this country can’t afford it. The other thing is, they gave billions and billions of dollars to the banks, and the banks aren’t loaning the money!
VAN SUSTEREN: So what do you do? How do you put your foot on the throat of these banks to loan the money that has now been given to them

(INAUDIBLE)
TRUMP: You have to force the banks to loan money that you gave and the taxpayers gave. They are just sitting there, not loaning the money. They’re building up their balance sheets, and it’s disgraceful. That’s number one.
And you have to do something about OPEC. OPEC has to be destroyed in the sense — in an economic sense. You have to do something about OPEC. They can’t — it really is an illegal situation that they’re doing from any standpoint in most countries. But they’re doing it and they laugh. The truth is, I know people involved with OPEC. They laugh at the stupidity of our country. They laugh at us. They laugh at the stupidity of our politicians in this country. They do whatever they want to do.
There’s oil all over the world in tankers. They can’t even bring them in because there’s so much oil. And OPEC has $70-a-barrel oil. They are laughing at the stupidity of our leaders!
VAN SUSTEREN: So I guess you’re saying we’re being taken.
TRUMP: We’ve been taken for years and nobody does anything about it. And you know why? Because they’ve hire every lobbyist in Washington. You don’t even hear this! Other than from me and a couple of people, you don’t even hear this. And then I watched one of the oil ministers the other day say — and laughing to himself — Oh, yes, it’s the speculators. Let me tell you, The speculators are peanuts compared to the power of OPEC. The speculators don’t have that kind of power. OPEC does because they tell everybody how much oil to sell and at what price. It’s ridiculous. And yet there’s so much oil right now, it’s all over the world, you can’t even — the tankers are loaded with it! They don’t know what to do with it! They’ll end up dumping it in the ocean, which the environmentalists I’m sure will love. There’s so much oil, and it’s $70 a barrel and that’s ridiculous.

Wondering if ‘The Donald’ has it right? Here is a fun fact about OPEC:

Q: How much of the world’s oil reserves are located in OPEC countries?

A: 80% of the world’s oil reserves are located in just 13 countries which make up OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries). Algeria, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Angola, Indonesia, Ecuador, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.