Environmentally Friendly Shopping: Reusable Shopping Bags

How much would you spend to help save the environment? What if you could save thousands of animals from dying horrible deaths, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and keep tons of garbage out of landfills every year for $10 would you do it? $20? How about $1,700? Well, you have your choice in environmentally-friendly reusable shopping bags, it seems. Reusable shopping bags help the environment by reducing the number that we bring home and are becoming all the rage - even fashion designers are getting in on the trend.

On a recent trip to Wal-Mart, I found black reusable shopping bags with the Wal-Mart name written in a lovely, environmentally-friendly green color on the side. They were $1 each. I bought about five of them, and keep them in my car in case of unexpected shopping trips. The reusable shopping bags are big and roomy - they hold about twice the amount that an ordinary plastic grocery bag does, strong - no more losing cans and glass jars halfway into the house, and comfortable to carry - the long strap is easy to carry, unlike those plastic monsters that cut into your hands when you're loaded down with cans, jars, and gallons of milk. They aren't very portable, though. They are made from a rough, black fabric that is created from recycled plastic, and they don't collapse as easily as some other bags I've found.

Now that I have the bags, I just have to remember to take the reusable shopping bags into the store with me when I go shopping. Twice I've forgotten completely. Another time, expecting only to pick up a few items, I took only one shopping bag into the store with me and ended up with a shopping cart full of groceries. So much for my intention to become more environmentally friendly! (Hey, at least I recycle my evil plastic shopping bags.)

As more people become environmentally conscious and the popularity of the reusable shopping bags increases, there are more and more improvements, new designs, and even new designers jumping on the bandwagon. So, where can you do your part in saving the environment and find great, reusable shopping bags in every price range? Here are some that I found: