It's the only planet we have folks!

Martin Sloane of The Birmingham News got a tremendous response to his article on switching to reusable bags. So great, that he’s decided to kick off a contest. To enter you have to decorate a reusable bag (no paper or plastic, folks) and send clear picture of it to Martin at the Birmingham News or email it to him at site4savings@hotmail.com

The winner gets $ 100, the second prize is $ 50 and third prize is $ 25. Kids are encouraged to enter, and the winning photos get featured at Martin’s website www.martinsloane.com.

Great going Martin! Keep this up and you’re going to do a lot of good to our planet!

Reusable fabric bags are a practical and simple solution to a problem of mounting proportions. They are attractive and affordable as you can see at http://www.badlani.com/bags



This is Chloe, a talented graphic designer who ordered bags from us with one of her beautiful designs. Makes us proud to be associated with folks like her.

Most North Americans urinate plastics. Sperm counts are at a historic per capita low. Cancer is an epidemic.

Shouldn’t plastic bags be made to carry this mandatory warning?



There are no safe plastics; all plastics migrate toxins into whatever they contact at all times.

Tax the bags, say Californians Against Waste. And I completely agree. It works. Ireland taxed 'em just 12 cents and usage fell 90% in one year. How's that for effective?

There is a proposal to tax grocery shoppers of San Francisco 17 cents per bag.

Why 17 cents? Because that’s the cost citizens of San Francisco are already paying in general taxes for some of the costs of plastic-bag trash, such as cleaning up the litter and unclogging the waste system.

Northern Californians Against Plastic presented figures to show that if each of the 347,000+ households in San Francisco were to purchase a couple of cotton or canvas bags, over the approximate 10-year life of those bags the total amount saved -- compared to everyone using eight bags each week at 17 cents each -- by consumers would collectively be over $300 million.

And, the bag fee would mean revenue to fund programs for the poor such as free reusable natural-fiber bags. The Chronicle and the Commission on Environment (the San Francisco body putting the bag fee proposal to the Supervisors for an ordinance) have this new information.

You know what? Reusable cloth bags are the only sustainable answer. And they aren't as expensive as you thought. We, at Norquest can make lovely cloth bags available to shoppers at just 99 cents a bag (that’s just the tax they’d pay on 4 bags!). Just look at the reusable cloth bags we have on offer at www.badlani.com/bags/ - see how nice they look and then see how little they cost.

Patagonia and Body Shop are just two of the New Age brands that have built their appeal on EcoLogic; meaning a deep and sincere respect for the environment.
You don’t need mega bucks to earn that kind of respect. As long as you are sincere and act on your beliefs. Saying so across a million ugly hoardings will achieve less than one customer walking out of your store carrying a reusable cloth bag with your logo on it. Every consumer who looks ate it will know that you act on what you believe.

This is what Patagonia says: Our company mission statement: "Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm and use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis", gives us purpose and urgency.

You can make the same statement when you hand out cloth bags. And for less than you think.

See what we have to offer at http://www.badlani.com/bags/ and then write to me if you’d like to plan a strategy based on good sense. I respect folks who want to achieve miracles on tight budgets, and I enjoy working with them.