One of our resolutions this year is to proudly announce to the grocery store clerk… ‘no thank you.  I don’t need bags.  I have brought my own.’  Little did we know that few cloth bags are created equal.  First there are those with skinny handles that cut into your hands or shoulder, then the crappy ones that develop holes, and finally, there is the ‘useless’ group – too small for any real groceries and good for only 2 wine bottles (what use is that?).  UrbanMommies tried the stunning organic GreenOne Bag and we were thrilled beyond belief.  Low Impact Dyes are used in all of their items – these dyes are more efficiently absorbed into natural fibres, resulting in less polluting run-off.  With handpainted art on the front (ours boasts a happy snowman), outer pockets for keys and phone, thick handles which are comfy on the shoulder, and tons of room, this gets our vote.

In case you need more convincing…

• Conventional cotton represents 10% of world agriculture and uses 25% of the world’s pesticides (OTA).
• It takes 1/3 of a pound of chemicals to make one conventional cotton t-shirt!
• An estimated 1 million to 5 million cases of pesticide poisoning occur every year, resulting in 20,000 reported deaths among agricultural workers and at least 1 million requiring hospitalization. (EJF)
• Aldicarb, a powerful nerve agent, is one of the most toxic pesticides applied to cotton, yet it is also the 2nd most used pesticide in global cotton production. A single teaspoonful of aldicarb on the skin would be sufficient to kill an adult.
• 7 of the top 15 chemicals used in conventionally grown cotton are classified as known or suspected carcinogens by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  (from GreenOne Ventures website)

www.greenoneventures.com

Photo: Firenze bag,