If your Green soul is havocked by the profligacy and waste that accompany the holiday season, but you can't reconcile yourself to energy-conserving tactics that require a sacrifice of Christmas magic (like turning off elaborate light displays in the daytime ¿ you know who you are), there are still painless ways to cut your consumption and keep Bermuda beautiful.

We all do more shopping this time of year, whether food for entertaining or gifts for friends and family. How many plastic and paper carriers or grocery bags have you already thrown away?

Get yourself some reusable 'BYOB' grocery bags, produced by local environmental lobbyist Greenrock, and you can meet the New Year with a healthier conscience. They're set to be a cult fashion item in 2008, the Bermudian version of the Anya Hindmarch 'I'm Not a Plastic Bag' shopper that took the UK by storm this year.

Greenrock's tote, created as part of its 'Bring Your Own Bag' initiative, has the same capacity as a standard paper grocery bag but far greater functionality and durability.

Made of non-woven polypropylene, the bag stands on its own for easy packing and has long double-stitched handles to fit over the shoulder. The bag is an attractive forest green with a bright 'BYOB' label that will identify you from afar as a conscientious shopper.

At $5 each, you can get some for your friends, too.

Still unconvinced, or think you're already absolved by choosing paper over plastic?

Paper bags actually use 40 per cent more energy to produce and generate 80 per cent more solid waste than plastic. In breakdown, paper bags produce 70 times more air pollutants and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic.

However, plastic has longevity as an ecological nightmare that paper lacks. Plastic never fully breaks down, rather degrading slowly through long exposure to light, excreting hazardous byproducts as it decomposes.

Plastic itself is a byproduct of petroleum refinement, once termed "excrement of oil" by the late Pulitzer-winning author Norman Mailer.

In a 1998 study, 89 per cent of waste polluting the North Pacific Ocean were plastic products, which have a direct detrimental effect on sea animals like turtles, dolphins and whales, often causing their deaths via asphyxiation.

Bring Your Own Bag eco-bags are available directly from Greenrock: infogreenrock.org