Earth Mothers and Moms: Mutually Exclusive?

ckane — Mon, 12 May 2008 23:18:30 -0400

Many moms have famously claimed that having children has made them more conscious of their impact on the planet, like Julia Roberts, Cindy Crawford, Soliel Moon-Freye and now Jessica Alba. But the question has been raised as to just how eco it is to even have a child.

Last November, the Daily Mail published an article called, "Meet the women who won't have babies--because they're not eco friendly," featuring a 35-year old woman, Toni Vernelli, who had an abortion then got sterilized at aget 27 to reduce her carbon footprint, with no regrets. Another woman made the choice to not have children for the same reason, which ended several of her relationships, and she's now with a man who's had a vasectomy.

Then in March, Treehugger mused on "Why Eco-Activists Still Have Children." It links to a piece in The Guardian weighing the pros and cons of bringing extra little consumers and potential destryoyers into the world.

Here's another view on it, from the author of Gross National Happiness, which takes a whole different analysis, considering the measured happiness of couples with children vs childless couples, and weighing that against how rewarding it is to have raised someone well in a world that needs more good eggs in it.

Image: Toni Vernelli, from the Daily Mail

Green Babies?

jchatraw — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 01:00:00 -0400

If you've ever used the phrase "great with child" to describe your pregnant wife, you probaby were wearing a football helmet--or at least, you wish you had. I prefer peace, so I'll put it in more delicate terms: my wife is nurturing a newborn in her womb. And in less than three months from now, we'll be welcoming our second daughter into our home.

With a PhD in nutrition, my wife took more precaution than the average mother to ensure that our first born would avoid the unhealthy foods most babies and toddlers are fed from the moment they go off the bottle. In the book Raising Baby Green: The earth friendly guide to pregnancy, childbirth, and baby care by Alan Greene, M.D., we are shown how unhealthy foods are also environmentally irresponsible in their packaging and processing. This book shows the symbiotic relationship between health and the environment, presenting practical steps to bring up a child in a green world.

Here is a green nugget from the book:

"Throughout the history of our species, humans were breastfed as newborns and then they quickly graduated to mashed adult foods that were grown locally. Until the twentieth century, that is. This modern period ushered in an age of baby food in jars, infant formula in cans, and kids' meals in boxes.

"Many of these foods are not the best choice for your child or for our environment. Far from being green, what we feed most babies in the United States is like a conveyor belt leading them to a childhood (and adulthood) diet of unhealthy, artificial, chemical-laden, and overprocessed foods. Sadly, children's excessive intake of these foods is responsible in large part for the obesity rate among elementary school children, which has more than quadrupled in the last thirty years and is projected to keep increasing. The American Dietic Association in 2006 concluded that toddlers and infants over four to six months of age who are eating solid foods should eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, as well as foods naturally rich in iron."