Re-Useable Shopping Bags

[GLC1968]

I think it's silly to buy bags that are made in and shipped from China and call it "green." That's like buying a brand new hybrid car with a battery with a finite lifecycle and no recycleability, when you have a perfectly functonal car in the driveway, and calling that "green." The only "green" is the money given to retailers.

Indeed. It's about as 'green' as buying a brand new bike and saying that you are saving the environement by riding to work every once in awhile. That's not the point.

Buying cloth bags is always a better choice than using the plastic ones. Honestly, mine have been used literally hundreds of times since I bought them a little over a year ago. They also still look brand new, so I see no reason why they won't get to thousands of uses. Are they made in China? Yes. Are they made by a company that follows fair trade practices? Yes. Did I reasearch all this prior to buying them? No, I didn't and perhaps I should have. I picked these bags specifically because of the size. Could I carry a big honkin' purse to allow me to put huge tote bags in it so that I was never without a bag? Well sure, but that seems stupid to me, too. And honestly, it's great that you are reusing free totes from conferences and stuff...but where do you think those were made? USA? Not likely.

My point is that every effort we make is worthwhile. Are we perfect? No. Are we improving, yes...and that's the point. There is no reason to get sactimonious about where reusable shopping bags are coming from when most of us live in a homes powered by grid electricity, use public sewer systems, eat food that wasn't grown in our own backyard by sustainable methods and drive cars powered by foriegn oil. We can't change the world in a day, but we can make better choices about how we live our lives. Preaching to others who are at least making the effort is not helping anyone.