I mean, none of the options really look good.
Paper: Yes, I know we've all heard the "paper bags are better for the environment" mantra. They're naturally biodegradable…but they still require a lot of energy to produce. And a lot of water. And they also emit greenhouse gases.
Practically speaking, they are also bulkier and harder to carry. This is a pain for any mom when it comes to unloading a week's worth of groceries after a trip to the store.
Plastic: Yes, I also know that you've heard about how evil these bags are and how harmful they are for the environment.
But did you know it actually takes less water to produce plastic bags than their paper counterparts? They also don't emit greenhouse gases (or at least, not as much as paper bags). Furthermore, they are a lot easier to handle when transporting them from the trunk of the car to the kitchen.
The kicker (you guessed it): it isn't biodegradable. And it sometimes floats in the ocean and breaks into tiny bits that sea animals swallow.
HOWEVER, it is unclear whether ingested plastic hurts them, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. I mean, I'm sure it's not the greatest thing for them to eat. I just thought it was interesting that environmental groups often vilify plastic bags is by claiming that it kills animals when that fact has yet to be determined.
At any rate, they still aren't exactly the sustainable ideal of a grocery bag.
Canvas: These are probably the most popular bags amongst those of us who are environmentally-savvy. They're often bright and colorful; sometimes they're made of plastic, but at least they're reusable. But what about all those dyes and chemicals in them? And unless the fabric is made of recycled/natural materials, I would be hesitant to label it with the term "sustainable." After all, you hardly ever see these bags being used. I don't at least. People get them because they like the idea–and then they leave them at home. Or worse, they leave them in the trunk of their car and are too lazy to retrieve them once they walk into the store. Then the cycle begins all over: get new sustainable bags, store them in the same place, forget about them again, feel bad. Repeat. In effect, we're mass-producing products very few people use; that's not energy efficient at all.
So why not just re-use what we already have?
That's pretty sustainable.
Okay, that may not be the best solution, but I'm no genius; I'll leave that to someone else.
I just think that since these bags have already been produced, we could do our best to reuse them. It doesn't even have to be specifically reused to bag groceries. You can carry all sorts of things conveniently in them.
Just be sure to keep them away from small children. But you already knew that 
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