Monday, June 22, 2009

Can You Have Enough?

A product review in the May/June 2009 issue of E: The Environmental Magazine begins with these words. "Can you have enough reusable tote bags? No, we cannot."

Really? REALLY???

There is something about all these "green" products, and the media that review them, that seems a little off. Sure, we need some stuff. A reusable bag, or two for those really big shopping trips. Better a reusable shopping bag than a plastic or even paper one. If you're going to buy one anyway, this may indeed be a company you want to patronize. But, you can most certainly have enough.

I'm a little dismayed at these words coming from an environmental magazine - indeed, arguably THE environmental magazine. There is so much more to a product than when, or whether, it ends up in a landfill. The resources used to produce the fiber, weave it, sew the bag, transport it to distributors (never mind transporting materials between levels of production), the ink and energy used to print the bags....

Come on.

Click here to read a different perspective on the phenomenon (paradox? oxymoron?) of "green consumption" by Zoe Weil.

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