Letters to the Editor
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Sigh.
There's something about turning a canvas grocery tote into an overpriced fashion accessory that defies reason. This is where I got my set (one isn't enough if you're serious about shopping with them). Mine don't say "I'm not a plastic bag" on them, but give me 5 minutes with a permanent marker and they could.
http://www.ecobags.com/
Canvas bags rock for grocery shopping. They hold more, don't break, and have handles. Plus you don't end up with a houseful of petroleum waste or a stack of paper bags you have to recycle. What's not to like?
--TR
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My Trader Joe's reusable grocery bags
cost between $0.99 and $1.99. They do look kind of funky... so maybe, I'll just grab a marker like the first poster suggested.
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City living dog owners like the plastic.
My city requires me to carry bag with me when I walk my dog. I find the bags from the store to be perfect for this. They don’t leak and I use about 5-7 a week for this purpose. Coincidently I use about 5-7 bags a week to carry my groceries home.
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The Big Question
Will the celebs and fashionistas who are dumb enough to buy these bags actually use them when they drive their gas-guzzling cars to the shopping center before going back to their 5,000 square foot McMansions?
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5000?
Oh ye of little imagination. I was in a 17,000 sq home last week. It had 4 kitchens one of them outside. And 2 three car garages.
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so what?
Salon's own beloved Keith Knight offers a canvas shopping bag with his artwork and the slogan "I Don't Do Plastic."
Somehow that works better for me.
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C'mon Feminists
We need your voice to stifle America's ridiculous consumer culture. Out of every 5 dollars spent in America, 4 are spent by women. Do you need all of these handbags?? I went on a date the other day with a girl who was carrying around a $600 handbag. Effing ridiculous. Do you need all of these jeans? You're spending America to death. Bottled water, weekly pedicures. Ridiculous. Stand up feminists. Lord knows us guys can't do anything about it - we need to fork over all the money so girls will sleep with us. It's up to you!
The irony in the 'Anya Hindmarch eco-tote' story is tragic.
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If someone gave me this bag I’d be too embarrassed to carry it
There is a thing as too much publicity and this bag has it. The trend is already over. Whatever canvas bag from your favorite grocery store that you already own is way, way preferable to this silly bag that’s getting so much attention.
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Hunh?
"The trend is already over."
Meaning that you'd prefer to use a disposable paper or plastic bag? Or that this particular bag's trend (which I never heard of until today) is over?
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RE: Mikes Pace
Really? Women spend 80% of all money in the US? Damn. I don't believe you at all. That's just not true. Anyways, I know what you are getting at. I know a lot of women who waste money on useless shit. But you ask the feminists to put a stop to it. How can we make other women stop shopping? It's not the feminists who get weekly pedicures & drop $200 on jeans. Men complain that feminists are ugly & hairy, and when it's convenient, we get blamed for the behavior of non-feminist women, even when it contradicts the stereotypes you have about us. Are we hairy & poorly dressed or do we get bikini waxes every week & spend all of our money on the latest fashions? I know this will seem crazy, but there are different types of women out there. We are not responsible for the behavior of all women.
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response to baldheaded
http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/resources/marketing/market_research/women_power_how_to_market_to_51_of_americans.mspx
"Women purchase or influence the purchase of 80% of all consumer goods"
Or is microsoft some bs company and you don't respect their findings?
Maybe the next generation can calm the rising tides of consumerism. Everyone: the next time your daughter cries about getting new jeans or a cellphone or a handbag, just say no. Can we at least agree that women are culpable for our the majority of unneccesary consumption in America? Then can we agree that women must be the ones to pull the e-brake?
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Re: Hunh?
I mean that this particular canvas bag is already tired and overdone. If you haven’t heard of it cheers for you and the grocery store canvas bag you’ve had for years – you’re way cooler then the people standing on line for one of these over priced ones.
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Turn it around.
"Women purchase or influence the purchase of 80% of all consumer goods"
I'm willing to accept that, since if I buy a present for my partner, I have purchased it. When my former husband and I bought a car for his use, I influenced the purchase. (So did he, of course.) And since I manage the money in the household by common consent because I am better at it, I influence every single purchase we make. I also do most of the grocery shopping. Face it: about the only purchases a man could make that don't have a woman involved somewhere are the purchases made by gay men or solitary confirmed bachelors.
I am a feminist who doesn't buy stuff until she really needs it. What I am supposed to do about your date's spending habits is beyond me. Perhaps you should just do what I hope you did: don't date women who care enough about $600 handbags to buy them. If you guys would just stop dating and marrying consumerist women, this problem would go away, wouldn't it? ;)
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sigh, indeed....
My local grocery chain has a plastic big recycling bin for customers near the entrance. Once a week I take any excess bags I have around (i.e. the ones I don't use as garbage liners) and put them in the recycling bin...
I also take plastic bags with me when I shop so that the cashier doesn't have to pack my stuff in new ones. A bunched up ball of ~10 bags takes up very little space, say, in a knapsack...
...and I do all of this without feeling the need to pay 15+ dollars to pretentiously, self-righteously broadcast that I am *ahem* green!!
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The environmentalist / eco-friendly movement would achieve a lot more progress (especially in Middle America) if it stopped acting like conserving our resources was just an elitist fashion statement.