The Sustainable Baby, Introduction
Filed Under: Baby, Susatainable Living on January 20, 2010
Most of you are probably aware by now that our project, Homo Magnificus, is nearing the end of it’s first phase (birth). During this initial phase of the project, there has been a lot of research going on in our house. It’s pretty amazing how much stuff there is to know, how many gadgets there are to buy, and how many things there are surrounding the whole “new baby, comin’ atcha!” nowadays.
Like most industries, the child birth and rearing industry has a lot of accoutrement that really aren’t necessary. Since we don’t actually have a baby yet, we’re having to take other people’s word for that, of course. Plus using some common sense. Regardless, there are things that every baby requires and that just can’t be avoided. Well, not without a visit from Child Protective Services or the local posse, anyway.
Since that’s the case, and there are things that you’ll have to have no matter what, I decided to approach it from my usual frugal (cheap) and sustainable (cheap) mindset. No matter how you slice it, babies are an expensive proposition. Ours isn’t even born yet (any day now) and we already have a house full of baby gear. And I thought dogs were a hassle…
In this short series of article, I’m going to cover the required items and how we managed to get them without spending a truckload of money. We’ll also look at how this can be done in an environmentally-friendly, more sustainable way and, most importantly, how your choices with baby can not only impact the environment, but also your baby’s health.
We’ll start the series with the most expensive, time-consuming, and probably least environmentally friendly aspect of baby rearing: diapers. Then we’ll look at formulas, the tools of the trade, vaccines, and more. Realize, of course, that everything I’m giving you is based purely on research and talking to experienced parents. So far, my experience as a parent involves patting a round belly and getting kicked from the other side, so I can’t promise I’m 100% practical all the time. Most of this seems to be common sense, though, so play along.
If at any time, of course, your experience trumps something I’ve said, feel free to chime in via the comments and tell me so. Or ad to the discussion with other information you might have that I don’t. Whatever you do, don’t sit there like a lump living vicariously through the illusion of the Web. Jump in!
