Earth Day

Happy Earth Day! At the risk of ruining this blog with sincere feeling, I do have to say that it’s hard to underestimate the impact that having Hannah has had on the way I see the world. In school we were always encouraged to think about generations past our own (I went to cool schools) but having a child makes it real in a whole new way. So, to dispel my SUV guilt (it’s killing me) I am going to devote this post to some good green resources for kids, specifically around Calgary.

I really think that the best thing you can do for the environment is cloth diapers. I’m lazy, and don’t like to do laundry, and am not exactly what you would call a natural home maker (I just set off the smoke detector baking muffins from a mix) so I opted for a diaper service. I was VERY pleasantly surprised to find that a diaper service is not that much more expensive than buying disposables. I went with Happy Nappy, which has franchises in whole bunch of cities in Canada. They drop off as many diapers as I need and pick up the dirties once a week. I even change her diapers out of the home, and just have a special bag to bring home dirties. I am not kidding – they are no less convenient than disposables! There is the argument that the energy and chemicals that go into cleaning them makes them less than perfect, but this hardly as big a concern as using approximately 5000-7000 disposable diapers per child. If you are more organized than me, you can buy your own and launder them. My darling friend Jaime with the one year old twins does her own diapers, and finds it really convenient and easy. She calculated that with twins cloth diapers were cheaper than disposables, and the right brand can even have resale value. The ones she got were from Babes in Arms, a cute store off Elbow Drive and Glenmore Trail in Calgary, that seems to be expanding its repertoire of environmentally friendly products.

As for baby products, I am just starting to experiment with the environmentally friendly brands. My friend Kerri Ann is a rep for Only Green products, and so far I’m pretty impressed with their selection. They also sell environmentally friendly cosmetics, clothes and household cleaners. I have just bought baby soap, shampoo and cream – I will let you know how they work out. My concern is persistent organic chemicals and as much as possible I would like to minimize Hannah’s exposure! Along these lines are BPA free bottles. BPA (bisphenol A) is a chemical that was used to temper plastic products. BPA mimics estrogen in the body, and thus has been implicated in impairing brain development and sexual development, and contributing to heart disease, diabetes and cancer. In 2008, Health Canada proposed classifying BPA as toxic and subsequently many retailers pulled BPA-containing baby bottles, food containers and sippy cups. In my own searches I have not found any baby bottles commercially available that do NOT say that they are BPA-free, thus it is not hard to get safer bottles. It might be worth replacing any old ones that you might have.

Cleaning products are a big one, and I have very strong opinions on this. MOST OF THE CLEANING YOU NEED TO DO ONLY REQUIRES SOAP AND WATER. THAT’S IT. First of all, soap is naturally antibacterial, and soaps marketed as antibacterial are no more effective at killing bacteria than regular soap. Also, a certain amount of bacterial challenge is beneficial. You will NEVER be able to eliminate your exposure to bacteria, given that the human intestinal tract contains 10x more bacterial cells than cells in your body, and you would not want to. There is some evidence that an overly-sanitized existence has contributed to the rise of autoimmune diseases, including asthma, in first world countries. Vinegar, baking soda and borax are all excellent natural cleaners. I do buy household cleaners but I mostly use environmentally friendly ones. The best household cleaners that I have ever found are enzyme based, but I have a hard time finding them. If I were ever to rant about parenting, and parenting of the few areas I try to avoid ranting about, I would encourage people not to try to raise their kids in an antibacterial bubble. It’s impossible, and you are essentially replacing bacterial challenge with chemical challenge. At least humans have evolved some mechanisms for dealing with bacterial challenge. Which is not to say that you should let your baby gum raw chicken, I’m just arguing for some common sense and relaxing of the antibacterial hysteria. For laundry, I recommend Nellie’s laundry detergent and drier balls. The detergent is hypoallergenic and mostly soda, from what I can tell, and made in Canada. It’s available at Calgary’s Farmers Market.

SPEAKING of the Farmers Market, I sadly parted with more money than I’d like to admit buying produce there under the assumption that because it’s sold at the Farmers Market, it must be local and organic. Not everything there is. Most of the produce is local, but not all, but luckily it is ALL labelled well. Be aware too that Hutterite produce, though definitely local, is not always organic. I’ve decided to make my own baby food and so far I have found it ridiculously easy. Essentially I steam whatever fruit/vegetable I’m interested in, puree, and freeze in ice cube trays. Chicken can be poached and treated the same way. I have bought baby cereals which are fortified in iron, and found that Superstore sells a good selection of organic baby cereals that are reasonably priced.

Furniture and room furnishings are difficult. Used or repurposed furniture is always a great idea that really reduces one’s environmental footprint. I have not found a good used furniture store in Calgary, and would love to know if there is one. Kijiji is always a great option and some children’s consignment stores sell furniture. If you do buy new, know that most furniture contains a great deal of chemicals that are volatile and not necessarily good to be exposed to, including formaldehyde. Ikea’s furniture is apparently sourced from farmed trees and its pressed fibre board is formaldehyde free. The cribs can be converted to baby beds so will have a longer life in your home, and they are reasonably priced. In looking for a VOC-free paint for Hannah’s room I was surprised to learn at Home Depot that their VOC-free base is only suitable for very light colours. Instead I went to Benjamin Moore and bought their VOC-free paint, which can be a base for any colour you like (including colours chosen at Home Depot – ha ha ha). It was about twice the price of a gallon of paint (around $60) but one room only required one gallon.

Finally, toys. It’s amazing how after six months I have already reached my breaking point with kids’ toys. They are expensive, ridiculously over packaged, and I have yet to meet a kid who isn’t showered in them so it’s impossible to find something really special. I have thus decided to borrow hand me downs or buy previously loved toys as much as possible. For example, I spent days looking for a good mirror toy for Hannah, but I couldn’t find one for under $20. FOR A MIRROR. A NOT EVEN VERY GOOD MIRROR. Instead I went to my neighbourhood consignment store, Huckleberry Kids, and bought a stuffed turtle with a mirror belly for $4. And Hannah loves it. I am increasingly becoming more interested in buying consignment toys, and there is a good selection of consignment kids stores in Calgary. They also sell clothes, which is a great option for weedy little ones. Here are a few:

www.lullabylane.org

www.onceuponachild.com

www.sproutzkidz.com

www.starbrightforkids.ca

www.huckleberrykids.com/Index.htm

For new clothes, it’s a good idea to wash them first to remove any wrinkle-resistant additives. Here are some more online retailers that sell environmentally friendly kids toys and clothing:

www.sagecreekcanada.com

www.hankettes.com

www.ethicbaby.ca

www.figkids.com

www.wildrepublic.com

www.plantoys.com

www.ecotoytown.com

www.grassrootsstore.com

www.tenthousandvillages.ca

Only Green sells a GREAT book called Ecoholic: Your guide to the most environmentally friendly information, products and services in Canada. This is the source of a lot of the information I used on this post.

Finally, the most important thing: we’re all doing the best we can. I have had a few heart attacks just tonight putting this post together (OMG, I had TUNA while I was pregnant! MERCURY! And her new clothes! I DIDN’T WASH THEM FIRST!!! She’ll get CANCER!) and I have to remind myself all the time – I will not be perfect. We’re doing the best we can, and if our kids have a non-organic apple or two, they will survive JUST FINE. Living well is never a destination you reach; it’s always a work in progress.