California may become the first state to ban plastic bags. Earlier this summer, the state assembly passed a bill banning single-use plastic bags. Now it is up to the senate and the governor to make it law. Treehugger reports:
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who in May eliminated offshore drilling in California, supports the bag ban, meaning that if the Senate passes the bill, it would almost definitely be signed into law. That would put California, which currently uses 19 billion plastic bags per year, well ahead of the rest of the country in the effort to go green.
Recycled Cotton Farmer's Market Tote by Olive & Myrtle
Spring time means the return of The Farmer's Market. Of course, you wouldn't want to shop the market with those horrible plastic bags from the supermarket, and hopefully you don't have any in your home anyways from using reusable bags. Olive & Myrtle makes the perfect bag for your farmer's market or any shopping excursion.
Product Description
Look fresh at the farmer's market with this large recycled cotton tote bag. Made from 100% post-industrial cotton scrap and printed with water-based inks. Exclusive design by San Francisco based Lab Partners
Features and Benefits
Made from 100% recycled cotton
Fair Wage and Fair Labor Certified
Printed with water-based inks
Durable construction, holds more than a full grocery bag.
I really love our Recycled Cotton Tote Bag and think recycled cotton is certainly an eco step above simply organically grown cotton.
Disclosure: I was sent free samples of these products to review. No prior assurances were given as to whether the review be positive or negative.
Shopping Online Uses 40% Less Fuel than Going to the Mall
I sometimes wonder if shopping online is really more eco-friendly than running out to the store. Sure, you can often find more green products online than you can in your local stores, but what about the emissions of shipping? According to Reusablebags.com, e-commerce is earth-friendly:
"Shipping 10 pounds of packages by overnight air -- the most energy-intensive delivery mode -- uses 40 percent less fuel than driving roundtrip to the mall. Ground shipping by truck uses just one-tenth of the energy of driving yourself." - Center for Energy and Climate Solutions
All products, even the ones you find in your local store, come from a warehouse. When you shop online you cut out one trip the items you purchase have to make - rather than shipping from the manufacturer to the warehouse to the store they're shipped straight from the warehouse to you. Not only do you reduce the amount of energy and resources used in transporting the items, but you also cut out the need to light, heat, cool and run a brick and mortar store.
Think of it this way- shopping online is like carpooling, your package shares a ride with hundreds of other packages rather than hundreds of people driving to several different stores.
I think one exception to this information is if you are already going to a store for multiple items, then it only makes sense to buy what you need there instead of ordering online. For example, there are a lot of wonderful natural beauty products online, but I would rarely order them if I can find a comparable product at the coop where I am already buying my organic groceries.
Oh, it's Cyber Monday, the internet shopper's version of Black Friday. If you spent your Black Friday buying nothing, as many celebrate Buy Nothing Day, it may be time to get your responsible holiday shopping done. Shopping early ensures you get what want to give without settling for what is left, and it saves you money by not needing to pay pricey overnight shipping costs. Cyber Monday is often celebrated by online outlets with not only great deals, but free shipping. Here are five ideas to get the most out of your Cyber Monday:
2. Shop locally online: Even though you are shopping online, check your local stores' websites for great deals. You can still support local vendors and support your local economy on Cyber Monday. For example, the outdoor gear shops where I live have great online deals that allow me to shop from home but make returns in the store. Some local stores even sell via Amazon.
3. Shop with Social Responsibility: There are so many wonderful non-profit organizations you can support to give a gift to someone who has everything or is more concerned with the plight of humans around the world rather than getting a material possession. Heifer International allows you to purchase livestock to provide food sustainability to help end hunger and poverty around the world. Kiva allows you to make micro-loans to entrepreneurs around the world and actually becomes quite addicting as you are repaid and reloan money over and over again.
4. Give the gift of a CSA: This is always a great deal to invest in a local farm, and you can do it online via Local Harvest. Last year, I gave my father the gift of Community Supported Agriculture.
5. Don't sacrifice green values for a deal: It is tempting to abandon your principles of sustainability and earth-friendliness when you see a really good deal, but it is not needed. There are a lot of wonderful gift ideas, like the Green Toys Dump Truck, that are made out of recycled plastic.
Reusable Baggu X3 Shopping Bags Go With You Anywhere and Make Great Gift Wrap
One of the things I love about the Baggu X3 Reusable Shopping Bags, besides the tough ripstop nylon fabric, is the convenient pouch that contains three bags. This pouch makes it easy to throw your Baggu bags in any purse or bag and ensures you will never run out of bags when shopping. Sure, it is relatively easy to remember your shopping bags at the grocery store, but what about your other errands? Having a few bags in your purse, pocket, or backpack means you never use a plastic bag again. Each Baggu bag can hold up to 50 pounds of merchandise.
Another great use of Baggu X3 Reusable Shopping Bags is wrapping presents! With the holidays approaching, using a reusable shopping bag instead of gift wrap is like giving two gifts! It also gives a subtle hint to loved ones that it is time to break the plastic bag habit. With all of the bright colors and designs Baggu offers, your presents will look great.
Disclosure: Baggu provided me with X3 shopping bags in order to complete this review. No assurances were given in advance as to whether the review would be positive or negative.
For traditional retail, the largest contributors to energy consumption
and carbon dioxide emissions were from customer transport;
approximately 65% of total emissions generated stemmed from consumers'
travel to and from stores. Packaging and last mile delivery accounted
for the majority of emissions from e-commerce.
I finally remember to use reusable shopping bags at all stores, not just the grocery store. When I forget, I feel a strong pain of eco-guilt and usually walk out with my arms full of goods and no bag at all. I hate plastic bags, but many of the reusable bags sold in retail chains are made of synthetic fabrics that do not biodegrade. Sure, you are using them over and over again, but there is a better choice for the environment.
Plastic bags harm our environment. They harm our animals. They harm our lands and seas. They can suffocate our children and pets.
Plastic bags are comsumed by the trillions and only 1% are recycled.
Plastic bags are very costly to recycle and sell for very little on the market.
Today's latest answer to single-use plastic bags? The plastic fabric look-a-likes! They look like canvas, some are even the same color as real canvas. But guess what? They aren't cotton canvas! They are made from nonwoven polypropylene! Will they biodegrade? No. Will they photodegrade? Perhaps, with enough sunlight they will break down into tiny bits of toxins that could leach into our land and water supply. Reusable? Yes, for a year or so until the seams give way.
Barebags are sturdy and come in many sizes. The unbleached cotton fabric also gives you an opportunity to decorate the bags on your own, should you choose. These bags are great and will hold up to many years of use.
My background is in graphic design but I have recently begun designing jewelry as well. All of my pieces have an asian flair to them and are made from recycled papers and other jewelry findings. As a graphic artist, I'm drawn to beautiful bits of printed material and enjoy mixing them with other media. All pieces are hand crafted by me in my studio, in San Francisco, California.
Squishy Sushi's unique pieces have an Asian influence are made from items such as magazines, dominos, and Scrabble pieces. I recently purchased a Recycled Scrabble pendant:
This scrabble pendant is made from a bit of recycled magazine. The pendant has been coated with a heat and water resistant 2-part resin for a high gloss shine and durability. The bail is silver plated. This pendant measures 3/4" by 1" including the bail.
At only $7.50, this pendant is certainly affordable, and I feel good about supporting an artisan on Etsy.
Black Friday is the day retailers traditionally kick off the holiday shopping season with big sales. The overconsumerism of western culture is not sustainable nor good for the environment, therefore, Black Friday is Buy Nothing Day!
Suddenly, we ran out of money and, to avoid collapse, we quickly pumped liquidity back into the system. But behind our financial crisis a much more ominous crisis looms: we are running out of nature... fish, forests, fresh water, minerals, soil. What are we going to do when supplies of these vital resources run low?
There's only one way to avoid the collapse of this human experiment of ours on Planet Earth: we have to consume less.
It will take a massive mindshift. You can start the ball rolling by buying nothing on November 28th. Then celebrate Christmas differently this year, and make a New Year's resolution to change your lifestyle in 2009.
Did you know that just one reusable bag eliminates the use of 1,000 plastic bags per year?ECOBAGS makes several natural and certified organic, recycled cotton and cotton/hemp blend reuseable bags. All ECOBAGS are made with fair wage/fair labor practices. My favorite bags are the Classic String Market Bags and the Lunch Bags, which I like to use as a produce bag. I am an avid farmers' market shopper, and it defeats the purpose of local shopping to accept a plastic bag made thousands of miles away from the farmer, besides the environmental impact. ECOBAGS has been in business for 19 years and is a member of Co-Op America, the Organic Trade Association, and the Women's Business Enterprise National Council.
This slideshow was created by Vishal Mody, a public school teacher from Chicago, warning us about the dangers of plastic bags. From the ocean to the savannah, plastic bags are wrecking havoc on our planet. Just last week, LA banned plastic bags(starting in 2010), following San Francisco's lead. We've featured a lot of great reusable bags on Really Natural; this is an important, simple step you can take to reducing your impact on the environment. Remember, reusable bags aren't just for the grocery store or farmers' market, but they should be used at every store.
CA May Become First State to Ban Plastic Bags
Oh, it's Cyber Monday, the internet shopper's version of Black Friday. If you spent your 
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