Image courtesy of SuChin Pak
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I've known my friend Kirsten for over 10 years. She was my producer on a wacky morning show where we would do a weekly segment on party crashing (genius, I know). Before the days of Jackass and Punk'd, there was Party Crashers—like the time we tried to crash a Coppola wine party by trying to convince the list people I was Joan Chen. Since then, she's moved to Spain, gotten married, had a daughter, and started this amazing eco-conscious website called FairCompanies, a social networking site for people and organizations in search of information regarding fair trade, corporate social responsibility, responsible consumption, ethical investment, and alternative energy. She is my green guru.
Ever since becoming a green mom, Kirsten has struggled with the huge problem of disposable diapers. And Kirsten is the kind of person who does her research, from mommy groups to consumer groups. She showed me first hand on my recent visit to Barcelona how tricky the science of baby poo can really be.
Here's the word from Kirsten on being a fair, green mom, and on greening baby poo--it's not what you think!
Knowing that just by having a kid I was pretty much doubling my carbon footprint, when I found out I was pregnant I started researching alternatives to plastic diapers. The numbers aren't pretty: Most babies go through about 5,000 to 10,000 diapers before being potty trained, which requires chopping down on average 4.5 trees--and that's just for the inside of the diaper. Disposables have become the largest non-recyclable part of household garbage, taking up 2 percent of our landfills.
After doing a ton of research and trying to consider my husband's fears that I was going to start leaving "used" cotton/hemp/fleece poop catchers around the house, we settled for a hybrid option: a flushable diaper.
Auntie SuChin came for a visit and got a taste for her first green diaper, as you'll see in the video below.
P.S. Watch how hard she tries not to touch the diaper while still trying to learn how to change one!
This is me, SuChin, again... Kirsten and her mini family are staying with me in New York this summer, so I will be perfecting the poop-catching technique and reporting back. There's a ton out there about this topic… Oh, and feel free to chime in by commenting below if you have any of your own solutions to diaper disasters in your household…
More on eco-friendly diaper options:
Solve the Diaper Dilemma: The Cloth Option
Solve the Diaper Dilemma: Safer Disposables
Solve the Diaper Dilemma: Elimination Communication and the Diaper-Free Movement
Solve the Diaper Dilemma: gDiapers, the Hybrid Diaper
Solve Diaper Rash, Choose Calendula
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