Bring your own bag uptown
Claire Ryan’s latest FUSION Saint John article appeared in today’s Telegraph-Journal:
Across the city, Saint Johners are finding new ways to make their lives a little more environmentally friendly by unplugging appliances and recycling, among other things. One of the easiest and most popular ways to reduce waste is to BYOB – bring your own bag. Uptown Saint John’s environmental committee is hoping to encourage “Being Green in the Uptown,” a trend that has already taken hold among people living and working in the uptown, and throughout the city.
“Uptown Saint John is, by nature, a greener place,” says Anne McShane, environmental committee chairwoman and owner of the Feel Good Store in the uptown. “The residents and their visitors support local products and businesses and you’ll often see shoppers carrying their own bags.”
With funding from the Saint John Community Arts Board, the environmental committee is currently holding a contest for artists of all ages and levels of experience to add their artistic flair to reusable bags. The winning entry will be printed on 1,000 organic canvas bags distributed at various uptown retailers this fall.
The contest is not trying to ignite a new trend. Rather, the hope is that it will encourage something that has already become a routine habit for many Saint Johners, for whom remembering their own shopping bag has become as natural as remembering house keys or wallet.
“We want to applaud the green nature and take it a step further,” McShane said. “We want to encourage visitors to the uptown to bring their own shopping bag and contribute to the success of the uptown in environmental sustainability.”
The contest theme, “Being green in the uptown,” is meant to inspire artists to incorporate their own spin on what it means to be green into their projects. “We didn’t want to make the theme too specific,” McShane said. “We want to promote green living in the uptown and encourage less use of plastic bags but “green living” might be different for any given person and this is a great opportunity for us to see how people envision an urban sustainable lifestyle.”
Simple solutions to going green often result from creative thinking; by asking Saint John artists to use this creative thinking in a more literal sense, local artists are being given the opportunity to examine the choices Saint Johners make, and translate them into works of art.
The winning entry will be unveiled at an upcoming FUSION Party with a Purpose this fall, along with the other submissions, which will then be auctioned off. Artists will receive 50 per cent of the proceeds and the other half will be donated to the Joshua Group.
Artwork will be scanned and converted, thus does not need to be submitted on a bag. First and second prizes will be awarded courtesy of uptown retailer ESL Art Supplies. The contest deadline is July 31. Submissions may be made at Uptown Saint John Inc., located in the Business Resource Centre, 40 King St.
Claire Ryan works with MT&L Public Relations Ltd. and is a member of the FUSION Saint John board. Her column appears on Tuesdays. She can be reached at cryan@mtlpr.ca.
