Shades of GREEN

Scroll down to read feedback from this blog and email me to join in the debate!

The GREAT diaper debate

For every reason to use (or not use) cloth diapers, there seems to be a different product or style to consider. Through my green reading, I have been astonished to learn that a disposable diaper takes between 200-500 YEARS to breakdown in our landfills! Can you imagine? Our children's grandchildren will still be dealing with this mess!

Not only have I had to find ways to save money in our ever changing economy, but with the motivation to get greener, I have been doing a considerable amount of research on cloth diapers. My mom did it, and generations of mothers did it before that, so it can't be too tough to figure out right? YIKES!

Poor Hannah got to help me "experiment" with Gerber cloth and gDiapers, and those unsuccessful attempts may have contributed to her quick toilet training. Over the past several weeks, my mind has been swimming with the overwhelming variables and just when I thought I might give up, a friend refered me to Green Mountain Diapers, an online supplier with incredibly direct and easy to read information. With the help of this site, I have found a style that I think may work for me and our family lifestyle. (Yay Bummis!!!) It's still been a bit rough getting off the ground, and don't be fooled into thinking it's less work, but considering the benefits, I'm finding it more and more worthwhile. Now if only I can get a laundry system figured out. And for those of you wondering: Baking Soda + lemon = MAGIC stain removal! Yay!

The sites information on laudry techniques, folding styles, covers and PICTURES OF IT ALL totally converted me. It really cleared up a lot of the questions and concerns I had going into it. If you are curious or have even been wondering about how and when to make the switch, I strongly encourage you to check out Green Mountain Diapers for more information. They sell "trial" kits to help you learn a few of the different styles to cloth diapering and the prices are certainly comparable to anything you might find out there. The shipping is lightening FAST! I got my recent package in 2 days!

http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/

And as if I needed yet another reason to show off how cute my kids are, check out Jack in all his cloth glory. Who could resist a cute cloth diapered bottom?

Shades of Green

Welcome to my discussion post. Some feedback regarding smidgegreener:

"Sure, everyone has a carbon footprint, some larger than others, and if everyone cut back a little we could make a difference. BUT the huge violators are commercial businesses. For example, I think it’s hilarious that people suggest we stop using disposable diapers and switch to something eco-friendly, yet Huggies and Pampers aren’t faulted for making these environment polluting merchandise. I think the government should be going after distributors of diapers, cleaning supplies, light bulbs, etc. and make THEM comply with environment standards. They are the big wigs who could afford to make a change, yet it’s the consumer who is placed the responsibility of “cleaning up the environment”. And since the producers will then try and pass the cost of becoming green on to the consumer, the government should place a cap on inflation of these products so that the consumer doesn’t have to absorb the entire cost. Let’s take a little out of their enormous profit they are making."

"And what’s even more hypocritical is the businessmen who own and run these conglomerates. Their carbon footprint is ENORMOUS. So next we should go after the wealthy like them and basically all of Hollywood in general (who insist on taking private jets to and from location 3 times a week, driving 100k+ vehicles and lighting a 10,000 s.f. home). It sickens me. They expect us peons to come out of pocket even more (in addition to skyrocketing gas and grocery prices) to protect the environment. I say no way! I can’t afford to, with either time or money."

"It’s election year…get ready for some changes!"

"One thing I also think though is that as consumers, the middle-class probably has the largest "voice" in consumerism. That being said, we can make a pretty big impact by choosing what we want to buy and eventually the companies would have to listen. I don't know if you noticed but even Clorox is making green cleaning products, and that has to be a result of following the trend and trying to pursuade buyers to pick them."

"You bring up some great points and yes, I think we are impacting our environment with the pollution which we have been advancing dramatically to clean up and with great success, but China, India, etc. are not nearly as ecologically minded as we are and their pollution impacts us. But global warming is a natural phenomenon and the concept is great for businesses creating new products and services. As you mention, the bottom line is how much will it cost us and are we willing to bear the brunt of that cost and to what degree..."

"I love the recipes for household cleaners..."

Join the debate and send me your feedback! fromONEmom@gmail.com