Yeah I suppose I could make or get some reusable cloth produce bags from natural fibers. But it's not just that beans and grains and nuts and cereal need to be contained. Greens and herbs would get completely torn up, never mind getting all my other purchases (and the bags themselves) soaking wet. Small soft fruits like tomatoes, pears, or plums would migrate to the nooks and crannies and get completely crushed between heavier items. And if I have multiple of the same item (four small zucchini, let's say), then putting them in a bag for weighing means I don't have to fish them individually out of the bottom of my cart somewhere, which takes a whole lot more time in line than saying good morning to the cashier.

As far as the self-checkout, of the four grocery stores I use, only one has self-checkout, and sure I do prefer it, but so does everyone else, so the lines are really long. Two of the stores are small and locally owned (and there's rarely any line for me to hold up), so it's a simple matter of courtesy and human interaction to chat with the owners and employees while they're ringing me out.

Y'know, as far as the overall environmental choices, obviously we shouldn't be shopping in grocery stores at all. This is more like the kind of thing that everyone was coming down on IvonaDestroi so hard about. We all have to make the choices we're able to make, and ignore the rest for our mental survival. Shopping in grocery stores before the farmer's market season begins and, when it's fourteen hilly miles, driving there in my hybrid car, are two of my choices. Owning a carbon fiber road bike made in Asia is another one of them. And if I buy yet another bike that's capable of carrying more groceries rather than an expensive and jerry-rigged conversion of my race bike into a commuter, well, that's another less than ideal choice. So sue me.