Amen, and well said.

Brave New World is a favorite of mine, David, but maybe we should use A.G. 554 – After Gutenberg!

Perhaps this question is nothing more than a troll. It exemplifies much of what stands between us and genuine stewardship of God’s creation. Although the pope’s statement seems more directed at organizations rather than individuals, his ideas apply to each of us as well. Stewardship is something we do, not something we buy or show off as we shop. Using a durable bag rather than single-use bags has many consequences beyond questions of “damage” during production:

The tote can be made of recyclable and/or renewable materials.
Single-use plastic shopping bags are a disposal nightmare, recycling is difficult because each bag contributes very little recycled mass, and there are so many different types of plastic that they can’t just be re-spun into new bags.
Useful bags are typically distributed by grocery stores and recycling centers, not retail clothing stores. (How often does anyone need to buy clothing, anyway?)
You may think it’s a “craze” but at least some folks are developing awareness of what they’re doing. Your behavior affects other people’s behavior when they see you.
The commitment to avoid single-use bags changes the user’s shopping, consumption and driving habits.
My tote has clips so it hangs from my bicycle handlebars or rack; it enables and encourages me to drive less.
If you can learn to bring your own shopping bags, maybe you can help the bag-boy pack them (Think of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet). Maybe solidarity can emerge in every aspect of how you live this life.

I think my use of the word “overconsumption” also implies a sort of individualistic view of ecological crisis when it is, as you point out, systemic. But when I say overconsumption I have in mind not personal greed but the capitalist world system in which a small class of people control the world’s resources including its people. The problem is global capitalism which crucifies both human beings and creation as a whole.

Do you believe the Amish have the right idea?

Will 2010 be the Year of Our Ford 102 (dating from the year of the introduction of the Model T, as in Brave New World)?

I believe that our overconsumption is rooted in modern mechanization and the idolatry of technology rather than simply being a modern expression of greed. It is the spirit of the techno-mechanical system that drives us to consume so eagerly and so mindlessly.