This morning there was an uncomfortable-looking man stumbling down the street in the classic seven-dwarvian manner with one of those new green bags from Whole Foods. Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to food shop we go? It’s possible that he was using the bag for non-food-related contents, just a conveniently sized tote. Or maybe he is a person that plans ahead, realizing that he was going to get some food shopping done after work so he may as well bring the bag along, lest he get suckered into snagging another one for 99 cents.

99 cents ain’t bad, though. I’ll admit that I bought one the other day. I’ll also say that those flimsy things hold a lot more weight than you’d expect. But it made me wonder about a lot of things at the store. For instance, it’s a nice thing to eliminate the plastic shopping bags at the checkout, but how much good are you really doing when your “green” bag is packed with numerous other plastic bags full of vegetables and granola and beans?

I’ve been saying for awhile that I think Starbucks should stop serving to-go cups. It looks like WF beat them to the media punch, but not in such a big way either. The coffee giants certainly could use the good publicity and maybe the chance to revolutionize the design of the mugs they sell. Not that it would get me into their stores - not in Seattle, anyway.

Kudos to Whole Foods for making a small step. Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s a green way they go - or maybe.

Serious business thoughts for a Monday morning. That poor guy just looked so disconsolate.