Comments on: Limited Edition Environmentalism?

By: Tara

Tara — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 18:37:12 +0000

There is definitely a bigger issue at hand here. The trend to appear “eco-friendly” has developed a new kind of product hungry consumer. These are the people who are throwing out their old wardrobes for eco-friendly attire. Not stopping to think that it may be more earth-friendly to hang onto that polyester sweater from 1989 and pass it on for generations to come. It’s here, it will be here for the next gagillion years so you might as well wear it and make the commitment to not buy more and more stuff. Trends come and go, but the stuff already in your closet has the potential to be here for the rest of your lifetime and then some.

Ugly sweater wearers unite!

By: Sass

Sass — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 02:05:35 +0000

Its ironic for me to read an article praising the Anya Hindmarch I’m not a Plastic Bag, bag. I was in London at the time the bag was launched and sold at Sainsbury’s supermarkets. People lined up to buy the bag from 3am the morning prior, with 20,000 bags sold in the first hour alone. The bag made the front page of the Evening Standard the following day, subtitled “Green carrier is made in China with cheap labour”. Sainsbury’s was accused of hypocrisy, with a supposed ‘green’ bag being produced in China, that was neither fair trade or organic, with a carbon footprint, offsetting any environmental saving. Ironically unlike the wording in the article, I think what it proves is that when corporations utilize green consciousnes as a marketing ploy, consumers need to look a lot deeper than just the sales pitch.

By: David

David — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 20:54:45 +0000

Another lesser known fact about the eco-bags are that they were made in China (shipped to the US and UK) from non-organic, non-sustainable material. I wrote a similar blog to this one at makemesustainable.wordpress.com . I’m glad people are picking up on the irony of this situation.

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 20:25:09 +0000

Thanks for the comments. I also think it’s ironic that the bag is so easy to knock-off, so now there’s a gazillion of them on eBay that are fakes. It’s strange to consider that people may be using phony bags that are made in Asian sweatshops, but the message is actually still the same and the bags are probably still more environmentally friendly than plastic. All the hubbub is actually awareness-raising… and you know what they say about bad publicity… Also, Lawless’s comment reminded me of these parodies of the I’m Not A Plastic Bag I came across yesterday:

http://www.ecorazzi.com/?p=3419
http://www.ecorazzi.com/?p=2413

Pretty cool.

By: Nin Andrews

Nin Andrews — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:51:27 +0000

I think this could be the start of a new trend. We could have bottles that say, I’m not a plastic bottle. Or baby bottles that say: I feed Bisphenol A-free babies.
Or there could be nylons that say: oil-free legs. Or maybe polymer-free legs. Hmm. Maybe I’ll have to think about that one a little more . . .

By: lawless

lawless — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:14:52 +0000

Or better yet, she could put a downloadable stencil on her site and encourage people to recycle tote-bags that are easily found anywhere throughout the world and spray/draw/paint the message onto their very own DIY totes. If it’s about getting the message and and not making a buck…

With the seeming popularity of the bag, she could actually create a presence of alternatives to the plastic shopping bag.

Hell, you could probably get someone to make you a 10x cooler bag on Etsy.com from half the price.

By: Tyler Cheung

Tyler Cheung — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 03:08:08 +0000

whole foods has gone into the game as well it seems…for better or worse…