As the threat of global warming intensifies so does the need to be increasingly ruthless in the denial of luxuries we can easily live without. Packaging on goods for example could so easily be dispensed with as could disposable plastic bags to carry home our shopping and one of the most environmentally destructive of all luxuries - air-conditioning – could be switched off (unless the temperature hits 90 degrees!)

Sounds like a dream? But not so. The North Laine Traders Association is already well advanced on their “sustainable bag” project to provide a generic North Laine branded, sustainable alternative to plastic bags for businesses in their area (see Minutes of the NLTA Street Reps meeting in May in the knowledgebase).

Modbury in Devon has already set the benchmark. It has become the first town in the British Isles to stop issuing plastic shopping bags when goods are purchased.

Every trader in the town has come on board in a united venture to stamp out unnecessary plastic waste. And since the first day of May not a single plastic shopping bag has been available in the entire town. Shoppers have been encouraged to bring their own shopping bags, or alternatively buy a reusable and environmentally friendly carrier bag offered in many of the shops.

The project was very much a community driven project championed by Rebecca Hosking, who grew up in Modbury. Rebecca and her boyfriend Tim are both BBC wildlife film makers and the impetus for banning plastic bags came from their time in Hawaii making 'Message in the Waves' - a film about the environmental toll being paid on this chain of tiny islands. But the films message resonates everywhere.

Do any other Brighton & Hove traders have what it takes to change the way people live and help to save the planet. Please send your views on the subject to scampbell@brightonbusiness.co.uk.