Challenge #1: Eco-Chic Bags

Obsession of the week, Eco Bags!

Not the sterile looking ones that you buy at the grocery store, but a new breed of bags that are hip, functional and hold a boat load of stuff. Christine and I both came home in the same week with similar sets of bags. This just proves that the power of sisterhood stretches even to the eco shopping rhelms. No, it wasn't planned, just great shopping minds think alike...

::Older Sister::
Bags purchased at the Women's Conference sponsored by Maria Shriver. At SHOP WITH A PURPOSE (SWAP), your purchases help change lives. The proceeds from SWAP are donated to the WE initiatives: WE Invest, WE Care, WE Honor, WE Lead, WE Support and WE Educate, lead by the First Lady of California, Maria Shriver. Check out the bags on the site if you want to make a purchase and also support a great cause. Two birds with one stone, help the environment and help a great cause!

:: Younger Sister::

Great set of bags from Urban Outfitters. Say no to plastic bags with this set of 5 super lightweight and portable reusable bags. Seriously sturdy and roomy, they can carry the equivalent of 2 grocery bags! And bonus- they fold down to nearly nothing so you can toss one in your bag to always have on hand for whenever you are tempted to use a plastic bag. Tres chic!

Our challenge this week is to use the eco-bags and only the eco-bags for all our shopping excursions. The shopping part came quite easy, we've had lots of practice! It will be quite a feat to get through the week remember to bring the bags with us and to ask the stores to use them.

Big Foot

Every effort starts with knowledge, so take the first step and calculate what your carbon footprint is. There are plenty of sites on the web that will help you do this:

www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/
www.carbonfootprint.com/
www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/carboncalculator/

Despite the dazzling shoe collection with various size 7 shoes (ok, maybe sometimes 7.5), I am definitely feeling like Big Foot today. A great big grizzly eco-monster. Well maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself, since we're still slightly under the US average, but still all the same, our footprint remains extremely high despite all our conscious efforts this year:

• Stopped buying bottled water
• Potty training one of our toddlers
• Recycling like maniacs
• Use of canvas totes rather than plastic bags
• Shopping at our weekly Farmers Market at Santana Row
• Eating Organic as much as possible

So we're on the hunt to get the eco-monster....my task this week is to search for three more green living things Christine and I can successfully accomplish. This will probably not entail anything too noble such as giving up meat or using recycled toilet paper (we're not quite there!) but it will sure to be some unconventional efforts to accomplish this weekly goal.

Got some ideas? Leave us a comment!

For more info about what carbon footprinting is, check out this wikipedia link.

Who we are and what we're not!

We're the quintessential consumers of probably what most eco-conscious people frown upon. But we're going to try this eco-friendly thing.

We'll be the first to admit that we love to shop, we love big cars, we eat fast food served in mini containers and at least one of us is infatuated with miniature items and nicely packaged goods. Realizing that we're not quite the poster children of eco-consciousness, give us both props for at least trying to model the attitude of itty bitty green me! After all, every little bit counts right?

We won't try to claim that we're environmentalist (as our friends chuckle reading this- cause we are probably the farthest thing from this), but at the end of the day if we can save a tree, support a cool cause or at least buy the best "green" tee we can, we would have reached our goal.

Check back soon and often to read about our adventures, surely guaranteed to give you a few laughs at our many eco-faux pas! And if you are willing to help out two clueless souls on the eco-mission, pass on all comments and suggestions, we promise to use and recycle them!

Kristy and Christine
...Saving the world one shopping trip at a time