A Finer Line

A big THANK YOU to Beth from Fake Plastic Fish for the plug and link! I had been fretting about how to get word out about this blog, and here she came to my rescue. (I didn't even have to ask!)

Beth just posted a great article about thinking before you purchase a new reusable bag. Here's a great quote from her post: "It's not so easy to see past the advertising to the reality that the best way to step lightly on the earth is to stick to the 3 R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, in that order. Nowhere in that list is Buy More Crap." Awesome.

Then she goes on to mention this little blog as a resource for options to buying a new bag. I can't thank her enough.

Minor Change
I have decided to make a minor change in how the blog is structured. I was going to have it be open, where anyone who was making a bag could post. But, even though we might all be concerned about polar bears, sea turtles and that big blue ball called Earth, everyone has their own opinion as to what is an acceptable balance between using resources and abusing them.

This theme seems to be popping up everywhere in green-focused blogs that I read. Sew Green linked to a recent post by potter Laura Zindel (hosted by One Black Bird) about whether ceramics are environmentally-friendly. I tend to think they are, if your alternative is plastic. (And note the quote from potter John Hull.) Laura's own opinion is that they are not, and describes her recent efforts to convince a green-minded gallery owner NOT to sell her pieces! (Laura's work is beautiful, by the way. If you're looking to replace some of your plastic with ceramics, go check it out.)

Personal conservation efforts run the gamut from angry chicken's efforts to replace her children's plastic ware with earth-friendlier (and healthier) alternatives, to Beth at Fake Plastic Fish weighing her plastic usage every week, to No Impact Man's exhaustive lifestyle overhaul.

Some of us refuse to use electricity. Some of us knit (sew, crochet) grocery bags. We all gotta start somewhere. The important thing is to do something. Even if you can't do it perfectly.

So back to the blog structure. In order to avoid public debates on whether someone is evil if they can't afford organically-grown cotton to knit their bags and use acrylic from Freecycle instead, I won't be opening the blog up to the general public. (Oh btw, please don't buy new acrylic yarn to knit/crochet bags. More on this later.)

But if you would like to contribute an article, pattern, photo, or other content, please contact me at makeabag at yahoo dot com. I'll review and see if it's right for the blog (mostly looking at tone and family-friendliness here). Of course, anyone submitting content will receive full credit. Even if you just want to share a photo of a bag you made, go ahead and send it.

And one more change: I'll be posting more essays, ideas, project features, and resources. I'm hoping to make this blog a clearinghouse for everything you need to Make A Bag.