I'm a green kinda gal, I have been for many years. Now, while it does include the fact that jealousy is somewhat inherent in my personality, what I'm really talking about here is environmentally green. I've diligently separated my glass from my plastics for years (well, until recently when I saw that the truck simply dumps all the bins into one giant receptacle which will later be sorted during processing) and I do whatever I can to be kind to the environment which my child (and yours) will inherit. I remember when I first started talking about wanting to use cloth diapers, before Nahanni was even born and people looked at me slightly askance, like they do with people when they are trying to discern what mental illness they might be suffering from. One friend put the general opinion quite succinctly: "Take the bus", the underlying message being 'It's too much trouble!".
I think this is a culture which is quick to fall back on the convenient rather than put out the effort to at least try the more friendly alternative. I've popped open the lid of my mother's garbage can to discover the glint of diet Coke cans and necks of beer bottles poking up and mocking me - but her recycling is 15 floors down and I know my lectures will fall on deaf ears. I will even admit that I wondered if I was crazy to be thinking of cloth diapers after using the diaper service when Nahanni was born. I recall my reaction that first day as something along the lines of 'this is completely disgusting' in the manner that only newborn diapers (and I suppose those of the elderly...but that's a blog I'm not going near) can be. The square, starchy white pads of cotton would leave her soaked from stem to stern and I admit they did not thrill me, I began to wonder if I should start taking the bus...
Next I tried the very popular 'g-diaper' system which is finally available in Canada (www.gdiapers.com) at Whole Paycheck...er, I mean, Whole Foods. Even Julia Roberts has touted the wonders of these enviro bums, and I can say that I felt a certain strange kinship knowing that she too was somewhere splitting open the wood pulp liners and swishing that ochre mess in the toilet. See, the stars are just like us! I hope it will not be the only thing I ever have in common with Julia. But I digress. I did love the little g's, with their bright colours and patterns and I loved the mix of the convenience of a disposable with the enviro sensibility of reusables, but at $20 per 32-pack of liners (plus the initial outlay for the covers) they proved to be costly - literally twice as much as disposables. I started to wonder what to do and then I received an email from one of my mommy groups introducing a mompreneur's company called 'New & Green Baby' (www.newandgreen.com) which had a trial service for almost every kind of cloth diaper going, from pre-folds to the fabulous all-in-ones that are pretty much as simple as a disposable -- just velcro and go. I tried them out for a week or so and was sold! I bought a variety of pocket diapers, mainly bum genius, which are one-size and can adjust to fit a baby from birth to toilet-training (very cost effective) and my personal favourites, the Monkey Doodlez all-in-ones that come in the most scrumptious colours like raspberry and tangerine and are really low profile under clothes, something many cloth diapers admittedly are not. I think people are always surprised when they see me changing her and see that we are using, even going out with cloth diapers and how beautiful and soft and colourful they can be. I've even taken it one step further and use sherpa wipes (fabulous soft and ultra absorbent wipes) instead of throwaways. We've always used water bottles at home and now I just do the same when out -- and I can attest, it is only fractionally more work than disposables, with none of the guilt. I am always surprised at how easy it really all is - just two extra loads of laundry per week and we save lots of money and tons of waste. When I think about how many diapers go into landfills I literally shudder and I feel a little modicum of guilt slip away every time I don't add to that mountain of chemicals and plastic. Now, I will also have to cop to the fact that I have used disposables, mostly the one nighttime diaper and recently I began to think about how even with only one disposable a day we are still putting 365 diapers a year into landfills, so I started last night with cloth for bedtime and I can tell you, we all woke up happy after a lovely night of sleep and I am once again pleased at how wonderful this system is. My daughter never gets diaper rash - and only ever has when we've used commercial wipes (even though we used Seventh Generation) and disposable diapers. Karen at New and Green has some wonderful info that she emails you throughout your trial and the numbers and the facts about chemicals and pollution associated with the diapering of Western babies is gobsmacking.
I know that cloth diapering is not for everybody, but this is a world facing intense pressure with the growth of populations and the voracity of our appetites for disposable goods. I sat Nahanni in front of the display at the Vancouver Aquarium the other day that showed the number of plastic bags an average household uses in a year and the depression washed over me like a wave. I wonder what that display would look like with disposable diapers?
I know being environmentally conscious is hard. Hell, sometimes just being conscious at all is hard, but I really wanted to attest to the fact that it really is not nearly as hard as one might imagine. It has honestly been a blip on the radar of effort for me and I am proud to be part of the solution, if only a little bit. Besides, I cannot resist her waddling through the apartment (high density living, another environmental plus! yeah, that's why we haven't moved...) in her bright pink diaper, chewing with her 6 little teeth on something or another. I know that the weight of her little carbon footprint is a little lighter and maybe if we all contribute a little bit we can leave a cleaner world for all these little bums.
Now, if I could just remember to bring those damned green grocery bags, I'd be a star...
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