The beautiful city of San Francisco banned plastic water bottles last year, as did Seattle, and in April of this year, Canada banned the import, sale and manufacture of baby bottles made with polycarbonate.  Whether the reason is to save money, withhold tons of waste from entering landfill or to protect our future generations from a harmful chemical called bisphenol-a (BPA) that mimics humane hormones, the message is clear, North American cities and governments are taking action.  Just look at all of the reusable grocery totes available now.  Hopefully you’re choosing to use one like ours, at I Love Eco, that is made from certified organic materials and printed using water-based inks (and within a closed loop system)… I personally use my “Sans Plastique” tote for a book bag, since I’m always reading. But in case you LOVE fashion and crave a little more design than a basic tote I’ve found an alternative that I wanted to share: Devi Kroell “Multi” bag in black python & rose nylon, $890 - Devi Kroell “Multi” bag in turquoise alligator & grey nylon, $2690.  Aren’t they beautiful and clever at the same time?  While the designer, Devi Kroel may not have had the planet in mind when designing this bag, it’s a breathe of fresh air in a sea of tote bags and it can cleverly zip-up to fit into your handbag.Do you think it’s wrong to incorporates animal skin or nylon canvas (plastic)?  I do, but it’s not that simple.  At the risk of sounding like a sucker for designer bags, I would love to wear this beautifully crafted luxury tote.  This may sound like a departure from my usual critical reasoning but it would be the perfect grocery or shopping tote and it’s far more stylish that ANY cheap, disposable, MADE IN TAIWAN plastic bag that stores dish out. Also, without meaning to, this post has nicely introduced another important sustainability concept: Short-life vs. Long-life.

The Devi Kroell line uses high quality materials and are beautifully made in timeless styles.  Therefore, her collection is a perfect example of long-life goods, you buy them once and their quality and classic lines are sure to last for many years.  (The ever famous Hobo shape is shown here). On the contrary, a short-life item is disposable, usually very trendy, is purchased quickly without much thought and is discarded in just the same way, adding garbage to our landfills. Ideally short-life goods should be made to biodegrade completely or be made of materials that can be recycled completely, so that nothing retires in landfill.Saving our planet will come in many ways and nothing is black and white.  Until we are caught-up and educated on the many life cycles occuring simultaneously around us and until every manufacturing industry considers the end-life of a product, it is ideal for us to use (consume) less and strive for a medium ground.  Buying a classic handbag that you will cherish for years is a perfect example.  Tonight, I think I will dream in the color rose. Sigh…