green

Over the past year or so, I've realized the importance of being eco-friendly. I know, you might roll your eyes and think that I too have jumped on the band wagon of this buzz word and might even think that I have crossed over to the dark side of left wing/liberal thinking for using such a phrase. It might be a social way of thinking for some, but for me, it's been a change in my view of the environment and how I can protect it. No, you won't find me waving some flag to stop global warming or to save the latest creature going extinct. What you will find me doing, is learning how to leave a smaller carbon footprint on the planet. You know, those simple things that the tree huggers have been talking about for years that we should be doing that us conservative minded people are just now getting through our thick heads like: turning off lights when not in a room, opening up windows instead of turning on the AC, recycling, reusing, taking reusable bags to the store (and using them!) instead of the pesky plastic and paper that they offer in every store, shorter showers, not watering the grass as often, yadda, yadda. But it's gone deeper for me recently with the birth of Isaiah than just these simple things that any true blooded American can do. Did you know that using one diaper like Huggies or Pampers takes about 200 years to decompose in a landfill? Yep, you heard me right. 200 years. So if Isaiah were to wear one of said diapers, it would decompose by the time his great-great grandchildren were born. The magnitude of that is overwhelming to me. I want to show Isaiah how to live a more sustainable life than I have for the past 20 something odd years. No, he doesn't need to go live in some hut in the middle of the forest and only eat berries and whatever else the earth produces, but he needs to understand the magnitude of what we have been doing to the planet for the past 100 years or so and how we can make a difference. I don't want him to be surrounded by landfills, I want him to be surrounded by nature. Right now, this is an extraordinary task because people don't want to change. My hope is that one day it will be ordinary for everyone and that no one can imagine using anything but their reusable bags and eco-friendly diapers.

So, here is my "green" tip for you moms out there. Instead of picking up the popular diaper brand, pick up a biodegradable diaper brand. They are a tad more expensive, but when you think about a few extra dollars, or 100s of years in a landfill, the answer should be without a doubt to spend a few extra bucks to keep our landfills down. We've been using Seventh Generation diapers and I'm very pleased with them. They are simple, chlorine free, and will biodegrade in a landfill in 2-3 years instead of 200.