Going Green Shouldn't Cost Lots of Green

I consider myself pretty social conscious and I'm getting into the whole anti-plastic bag movement. It's funny how things go in cycles. When I was a small child in China, plastic bags were a commodity. When you go shopping for anything, the store itself doesn't give you a bag to hold what you bought so you have to bring your own. My grandfather used to wash and reuse plastic bags and puts them in his pocket when he went shopping. Fast forward 20 odd years forward after many years of retailers using the shopping bag (plastic, paper, whatever) as a mini billboard, the trend is now reversing to reusing bags. A couple of years ago the Anya Hindarch "I'm not a plastic bag" bag was all the rage. In the US, it sold at Whole Foods for $15 but were being re-sold for much higher prices on eBay and such. Just a couple of days ago, I walked by a Juicy Couture California Go Green Canvas bag at Nordstrom and joked that it must cost $120. Well you know what, it does. The Miss Marc Goes Green shopper bag costs a cool $128. OK, really? I personally prefer the Lululemon plastic shopping bags that are absolutely free. I'm all for capitalizing on consumer demands by producing what the market is trending but if you're going to make a $120 canvas bag targeted at the environmentally fashion conscious, at least donate your 1000% mark up to a charity of the same cause. That makes a bolder statement than simply making "going green" couture.

Update: the Juicy Go Green Bag is $75 on shopbop.com