I guess I thought that using a reusable bottle was as common as recycling at this point, but as I watched dozens of people roll out of Target with discounted cases of bottled water this past weekend, I discovered that perhaps the message has clearly not reached everyone.

Did you know that approximately 1.5 million barrels of oil are used annually to produce plastic water bottles in the U.S. alone—enough to fuel about 100,000 cars for a year. What an incredible waste of resources and a foolish threat to national security—all for a single-use bottle!

Like all plastic, these bottles will be with us forever since plastic does not biodegrade. Rather, it breaks down into smaller and smaller toxic bits that contaminate our soil and waterways and ultimately end up in the ever-growing Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Anything we can do to phase out their usage quickly would be good thing.

Along with plastic bags, plastic bottles are one of the most prevalent sources of pollution found on our beaches. Each year, over 500 billion disposable bottles and cups end up littering our soil, rivers, lakes and oceans, killing countless fish and animals.

There is also overwhelming evidence of adverse health effects tied to Bisphenol A, or BPA, a widely-used chemical in the manufacturing of food and beverage containers, including baby bottles, water bottles and aluminum cans. A reusable bottle is the only way to hydrate on the go while protecting yourself and the environment from this dangerous chemical. While nearly all major brands are free of the toxin now, make sure any bottle you buy is marked “BPA-free.”

There are many types of reusable bottles to choose from, and many different designs and colors to suit anyone’s taste. The most eco-friendly ones are made from stainless steel or aluminum. Some are thermal, allowing you to keep hot beverages hot and cold ones cold.

Choose one you like, and carry it with you so you always have it on hand at home, work, the gym, or on the town!

I just got back from visiting my hometown of Washington, D.C., which recently passed a bag tax wherein retailers citywide charge $.05 for each plastic or paper shopping bag you require. More and more cities are passing similar legislation against disposable shopping bags, particularly because it is increasingly common for U.S. seashores and riverbanks to look like the one above—especially after a storm.

Laws against throw-away shopping bags make good sense if you consider that every year in the U.S., we consume over 380 billion plastic bags, of which over 4 billion end up littering our land, rivers, lakes and oceans, killing hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales, seals, seabirds and other marine mammals that mistake these discarded bags for food. Plastic bags also require 12 million barrels of oil to produce each year, take hundreds of years to decompose in a landfill—or worse—add to the ever-growing Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Anything we can do to phase out their usage quickly would be good thing.

One of thousands albatrosses who die every year with bellies full of our plastic trash. © Chris Jordan

In many ways, paper bags are even worse than plastic bags. Paper sacks generate 70 percent more air pollution and 50 times more water pollution than plastic bags. And paper bags don’t decompose any faster than plastic bags, once they end up in a landfill.

The answer to the question, “Paper or plastic?” is: “Neither, thank you, I brought my own!” Let’s face it, all those grocery bags you’ve saved under the sink will only last so long. A shopping bag you enjoy using and reusing is your most sustainable option.

While any tote bag will do, my favorite reusable bag is the Envirosax bag. Lightweight polyester, portable and waterproof, these unique bags hold the equivalent of 2 supermarket plastic bags, yet they fold down small enough to stow into a glove compartment, pocket or handbag. They fold down so small, in fact, that I always have few on hand for when I’m at the drugstore, the mall, or even making a spontaneous stop at the convenience store. (Do you remember to bring your bags to these places, too?)

Sexy and sustainable!

I also like Envirosax because they are the only reusable bag I’ve found where the bag handles fit over my shoulder, which is important when carrying the groceries and the toddler into the house. My favorite part though, is that they come in dozens of distinctive, stylish patterns—or solid colors to suit a man’s tastes. (Though my male friends say they like Chico bags better.)

Reusable bags can make shopping a little more fun and lot more eco-friendly. What more could you want?

Shop for Reusable Bags >>

Installing solar panels to generate your home electricity has many benefits:  

• Protects you from escalating energy costs – Electricity gets more expensive every year. Over the last 35 years, the average annual rate increase has been 6.5% (high energy users have seen substantially greater increases).
• Supports clean energy – The average solar PV residential system (based on 5kW), would save nearly 175 tons of carbon dioxide over its 30-year lifespan, equivalent to removing 32 cars from the road. It takes approximately 4,487 new trees to absorb that much CO₂ produced by fossil fuels.
• Adds value to your home – The value of a solar system is added to the appraised value of your property and does not increase your property taxes. Solar is one of the few home improvements that can be justified in terms of return on invested dollar.
• Provides unlimited power - Solar is a true renewable and sustainable source of energy. Reduce the dependency on fossil fuels and produce your own electricity while reducing your carbon footprint. One of the side benefits is that with photovoltaic panels, homeowners have the ability to generate excess electricity during the day and sell it to the utility company through “net metering”, i.e., you run the meter backwards.
• Reduce the need for additional power plants – Your utility company’s peak demand is during the day. Meeting peak demand is how utility companies justify more power plants. On the hottest days, the oldest, dirtiest power plants are cranked up. Through net metering, you’ll sell the output of the photovoltaic panels to the utility. With enough of us net metering, we will reduce the need for additional power plants that are only used to meet peak demand. That will protect the environment for everyone and help keep rates from rising too fast.
• Rebates and tax credits are available – Various financial incentives are available from the State and Federal governments to encourage investment in solar energy.

Solar photovoltaic panels for your home can be expensive, requiring up-front investments of thousands of dollars. Even after federal and local tax rebates, it can take years for that investment to pay itself back to the homeowner in locally generated electricity. Fortunately, more and more states are authorizing solar leasing companies, making solar energy as affordable as your monthly electric bill!

Lease Solar Panels for Your Home
With a solar lease, you lease photovoltaic panels for your home, hassle-free. Someone else will install them (and not charge you for it). Someone else will make sure the components all match. Someone else will maintain them. Someone else will take them down and put them back when you need a new roof. Someone else will even move them to your new house when you move. Since your electricity is virtually free, the monthly payments for solar leases are often lower than your current electricity bill.

Each state has its own rules regarding solar leasing programs, and there are several states now with incentive programs available, so check with your local Department of Energy to see what they offer. There are also many different solar companies out there providing services with many different lease terms and fee schedules. Be sure to read the fine print on any lease and do your homework on any company you choose to do your installation. Here are a few national companies to get you started: (Though don’t forget to look up local companies in your state!)

• Citizenré
• Solar City
• Sun Run
• SPG Solar

Installing solar panels on your home can make a real difference in reducing your bills and the ecological damage our dependence on fossil fuels creates—which is not only important for the planet, but is absolutely vital for the health of our families and communities too. With solar leases, clean energy and greater self-sufficiency is within reach of more people than ever.

There are consequences to our national habit of sending food to landfills. American food waste has significant environmental, economic, and cultural ramifications.

On average, Americans waste 40 percent of our food supply, which is more than 1400 calories of food per person per day, reports a new study by a team of National Institute of Health researchers. That food waste costs us $136 billion nationally, or about $600 per household each year. In other words, the food we waste is more than enough to feed the nearly 10% of Americans experiencing hunger right now. 
According to WastedFood.com, wasting food squanders the time, energy, and resources—both money and oil—used to produce that food. Increasingly, great amounts of fossil fuel are used to fertilize, apply pesticides to, harvest, and process food. Still more gas is spent transporting food from farm to processor, wholesaler to restaurant, store to households, and finally to the landfill. Food waste now accounts for more than one quarter of the total freshwater consumption and about 300 million barrels of oil per year!

And if that weren’t enough, food rotting in landfills contributes to global warming. Landfills are America’s primary source of methane emissions, and the second-largest component of landfills are organic materials. When food decomposes in a landfill, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas 21 times more damaging than carbon dioxide. Furthermore, wet food waste is the main threat to groundwater or stream pollution in the event of a liner leak or large storm.

Given the prevalence of food waste, what can we do to keep it out of landfills? The Environmental Protection Agency provides a useful resource with its Food Waste Recovery Hierarchy. At the top of the list is “source reduction,” or, in laymen’s terms, buying less. That means planning dinners, making specific shopping lists, and sticking to them. At restaurants, this means ordering sensibly and taking home leftovers.

Reducing waste also means buying locally produced food as much as possible. If farmers have strong local demand for their products, and can deliver foods often fresh-picked the day before, there is naturally less spoilage and waste. And with strong local farm markets and CSA programs, you are less likely to buy more than you need for the week.

After source reduction, feeding hungry people through food recovery or gleaning is the next best way to curb food waste. Food-recovery groups rescue edible but unsellable food from supermarkets (see photo above), restaurants, and institutional kitchens. Gleaning, meanwhile, is the practice of picking crops that a farmer plans to leave in the field. Whole fields are often left unharvested because the crop’s market price won’t justify the expense.

Feeding animals comes next in the hierarchy, so don’t feel too bad about slipping your scraps to Spot. On a larger level, hogs, cows, chickens and other livestock could make great use of commercial food waste. Many independent farmers are thrilled to reduce their feed costs while diverting food from landfills.

Fats and greases can be diverted to rendering plants that make soap. If you’re brave enough, you can try this at home. Increasingly, used cooking oil is being used as a fuel source for biodiesel vehicles, or “grease cars,” an engine conversion to which, if you’re brave enough, you can also try at home.

Another waste-to-energy scheme is anaerobic digestion. While it’s not yet on the EPA’s hierarchy, the process harnesses bacteria to convert food and yard waste into bio-gas that can power vehicles or create electricity. Americans have long used the process to create energy from animal manure, but businesses on both coasts will soon use the process to transform supermarket and municipal food waste into power.

At the very least, food should be composted. Many individuals, schools, universities, hospitals, and municipalities have been doing so for years. Composting costs roughly the same as regular waste diversion and, depending on landfills’ tipping fees, can be even cheaper.

What comes at a high price, however, is wasting a resource like food by sending it to landfills. When that happens, we squander the time, money, resources, and effort that went into producing that item while ignoring the environmental impact.

In the spirit of not wasting food, here are two easy and delicious recipes for Thanksgiving leftovers…

Black Friday Pie

• 1 cup mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes or yams
• 1/2 cup cubed or shredded cooked turkey
• 1/2 cup cooked cut green beans
• 1/2 cup turkey gravy
• 1 cup prepared stuffing
• 2 Tbsp. butter or coconut oil, melted

1. Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Thoroughly grease a 9-inch glass pie plate.
2. Spread mashed potatoes or yams onto the bottom and up the sides of the greased pie plate. Fill potato crust with the turkey, green beans, and gravy. Smooth stuffing on top of the turkey and gravy to create a top crust.
3. Brush top of pie with melted butter. Bake pie until stuffing is golden and crispy, about 40 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Turkey Soup with Root Vegetables

• 1 roast turkey carcass, cut into pieces
• 12 cups cold, pure water
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 Spanish onion, chopped
• 1/4 bunch Italian parsley
• 2 bay leaves
• 12 whole black peppercorns

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 large parsnip, peeled and diced
• 1/2 pound rutabagas, peeled and diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp. minced Italian parsley
• 2 cups pulled turkey meat (optional)
• salt and black pepper to taste

1. Bring the turkey carcass and water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Skim off and discard any scum that forms.
2. Add the chopped celery, chopped carrots, chopped Spanish onion, 1/4 bunch parsley, bay leaves, and peppercorns and return to a simmer.
3. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered for 3 hours. Strain the turkey broth through a mesh sieve and skim off any fat that floats to the surface.
4. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the red onion; cook until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes.
5. Add the diced celery, diced carrots, parsnip, and rutabaga; cook 5 minutes more. Stir in the garlic and chopped parsley, and cook for 1 minute more.
6. Pour in the turkey broth, add pulled turkey meat (if using), season to taste with salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer over high heat.
7. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the vegetables are nearly tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
8. Cover and remove the pot from the heat.
9. Serve and enjoy!

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday hosted by Cheeseslave!

You may not know that your appliances—cell phone chargers, desktop computers, computer monitors, printers, televisions, DVD players, microwaves, coffee makers, and more—drain energy anytime they’re plugged into a socket, regardless of whether they’re turned on or off. And many electronics, like your plasma TV, don’t actually go all the way off—they continue using “standby power.” The average American home has 40 electronics drawing power in off or standby mode, totaling almost 10% of residential electricity use. 

The amount of standby power wasted varies among electronic equipment, but overall, the cost to consumers and businesses for all the electricity lost to these energy vampires in the U.S. is estimated to be $4 billion annually. According to the Natural Resource Defense Council, reducing standby power consumption in TVs by 25% would save over 10 billion kWh of energy per year. Annually, this would cut energy bills by nearly $1 billion, and prevent about 7 million tons of CO2 emissions.

Slay the Energy Vampires in Your Home

• Get in the habit of unplugging all sleeping or not-in-use appliances. (Lamps are exempt.)
• Use a switchable power strip for clusters of computer or electronic products. That way you can switch everything to zero with one action. (The Smart Strip and Bye-Bye Standby kits are made for this.) Many energy-saving power strips double as surge protectors, so they’ll protect electronics against lightning strikes and power surges.
• When shopping, search for low standby products. (Asking a salesperson will probably be a waste of time.) Look for the ENERGY STAR label; these products have lower standby.
• Buy a low-cost watt-meter, measure the devices in your home, and take targeted action. You will certainly be surprised at what you discover and this exercise might even pay back the cost of the meter in savings. (The Kill-a-Watt is a great tool for this.)

On a house by house level, a computer screensaver alone costs about $60 a year of electricity to maintain, and a plasma TV sucks up $160 worth of energy annually when in standby mode. That’s a lot of money to pay for an appliance you’re not even using, so unplug those vampires today!

We never bought a high chair for Babyzilla, nor did we ever really need one. Once Babyzilla was ready for solid foods around 9 months of age, we started baby-led weaning by holding her in our lap and letting her try foods from our plates. She loved to taste new things, and especially loved eating off the “big” plates. Around one year old, she finally got big and wiggly enough that we knew it was time for her to have her own chair at the table as part of the family. So, we invested in a TrippTrapp chair. 

If you’ve shopped around, you may have noticed that TrippTrapp chairs (and their competitors Svan and Euro) cost between $150 and $250 dollars—far more than a plastic Costco high chair. You can often find them on CraigsList or eBay for less; they are durable, and retain their value.

Because we had saved a lot of money by breastfeeding, using cloth diapers and not having a nursery, we felt alright about spending the extra money on a TrippTrapp. After a lot of online research, as well as asking dozens of parents for their opinions, we decided that the TrippTrapp chair has some distinct features that differ from a cheap, plastic high chair which make it worth the cost:

• TrippTrapp (and Svan, but not Euro) chairs are made from sustainably-harvested wood finished with non-toxic, VOC-free, water-based stains and varnishes. They are formaldehyde free, with no emissions from their glue. There are no fire retardant chemicals in their cushions, and no PVC, BPA, phthalates or non-renewable, petroleum-based materials.
• The TrippTrapp is very well made, so you can be sure it will last a lifetime with proper care. It can be “recycled” many times and sold or donated from parents to parents, and unlike plastic highchairs, it won’t live forever in a landfill after it quickly wears out or breaks.
• The TrippTrapp is designed to adjust in size for the entire life of your child. It goes from a baby seat to a toddler-booster to an adult-sized chair (and everything in between!) with the turn of an allen key. I found it a little challenging to put together and adjust simply because the pieces attach so snugly, you really have to line everything up well.
• TrippTrapp chairs are designed to be pulled right up to the table with no tray, and to match the decor of your dining set or your child’s room. This means that your baby can start learning to eat with the family right away, and there is no ugly, plastic behemoth to tuck into the corner of your dining room or kitchen. TrippTrapp chairs are perfect for Baby-Led Weaning.
• Most kids love the TrippTrapp because it looks like a grown-up chair, but it’s made just for them. Babyzilla is no exception, and often climbs into her chair at the dining room table to color with crayons while I research and write these posts.

So, if you are expecting a baby (or know someone who is), and you need a high-chair, consider investing in an eco-friendly, adjustable wooden child seat like the TrippTrapp that will be with your child long after her baby years.

Nothing would protect the environment and reduce our dependence on oil more than reducing our transportation footprint. Transportation accounts for more than 30 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. In big cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, and Washington, D.C., car pollution causes the grey smog that leads to hotter summers and those horrible red, orange and even purple air-quality days that cause asthma in children and other health problems in adults. 

According to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), public transportation in the United States saves approximately 1.4 billion gallons of gasoline and about 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. Yet only 14 million Americans use public transportation daily, while 88 percent of all trips in the United States are made by car—and many of those cars carry only one person.

Here’s how commuting wisely could make a difference for your family:

• Energy Independence. If just one in 10 Americans used public transportation daily, U.S. reliance on foreign oil would decrease 40 percent.
• Safety. Riding a bus is 79 times safer than riding in an automobile, and riding a train or subway is even safer.
• Health. Studies have shown that people who use public transportation regularly tend to be healthier than people who don’t, because of the exercise they get walking to and from bus stops, subway stations and their homes and offices.
• Cost savings. According to an APTA study, families that use public transportation can reduce their household expenses by $6,200 annually, more than the average U.S. household spends on food every year. If you can bike or walk, you’ll save even more.

While living close enough to walk or bike to work is the healthiest, cheapest and most eco-friendly option, public transportation and carpooling are very good choices too. But perhaps the best reason to leave the car at home is that you can sit back, read the paper and avoid the stress and headache of dealing with rush-hour traffic!

It is autumn, which in most parts of the country is an optimal time to plant trees. As we learned in 3rd grade biology, trees are essential to life. They create the very air we breathe and filter air pollution. What you may not know is that they build soil and help soak up stormwater before it can create a flood, and they offer energy-saving shade that reduces global warming and creates habitat for thousands of different species. Trees also sequester carbon, helping to remove carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the air, which cools the earth.

As mundane as it may seem compared to solar panels and hybrid cars, reforestation and tree planting is one of the most powerful ways to make a personal difference for climate change.

Despite their importance to life as we know it, every year, we cut down over 50,000 square miles of forest worldwide for paper, agriculture, building materials and fuel. That’s an area the size of the state of Alabama! Much of this wouldn’t be necessary if we reduced, reused and recycled more, cultivated hemp for fiber, and used sustainable materials in all our buildings. But until this changes, we need to put the trees back any way we can.

There are many local, national and international organizations that plant trees, and donating to these organizations can make a big difference. You can also have trees planted specifically to offset your personal carbon emissions from airplane or car travel. These organizations can help you out:

• American Forests Global ReLeaf
• The International Tree Foundation
• Rainforest Rescue – Restores rainforest species in Australia, Sri Lanka and Indonesia
• Clear Sky Climate Solutions – Provides carbon offsets through reforestation projects
• Terrapass – Provides carbon offsets for flying, driving, etc.
• CarbonFund – Provides a variety of carbon offset projects to choose from.
• Carbonify.com – Tree planting for offsetting carbon emissions

Also check with your local environmental or parks department for tree planting organizations in your community.

While supporting tree planting organizations is a great way to be eco-friendly, you can also make a difference in your community by planting trees on your own property. A properly-planted, mature shade tree on the south or west side of your house can save you 25% on your summer air conditioning bills and increase your property value by up to 20% with its beauty. That same tree will also help soak up stormwater in the neighborhood, and contribute habitat for local wildlife. You really can’t go wrong by planting trees!

Learn how to plant a tree >>

Did you know that America faces a water-supply crisis? Less than 2% of the Earth’s water supply is fresh water, and yet we’re using and polluting our water faster than we can replenish our clean supply. Today, the average American uses approximately 140-160 gallons of water per day, so it’s more crucial than ever that we reduce our water usage as much as possible so we have enough for tomorrow.

In this episode of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Robert Glennon, author of Unquenchable, tells us he believes Americans need a moral compass and the political will to prevent the water crisis from becoming a catastrophe. Profligate consumption of water for agriculture, power generation, industry, and homes has led to reduction of groundwater, threats to rivers, and mortal danger to many of the nation’s lakes. Much of the blame for this state of affairs lies with uncontrolled growth in the nation’s South and Southwest. Desert cities such as Las Vegas use fountains as decorations. Phoenix households draw down the finite resources of ever-shrinking Lake Mead.

In Unquenchable, Glennon documents in great detail the present and future water crises in Georgia, California, and even seemingly water-rich Michigan, noting that states generally end up competing with one another over water allocation and that international conflict follows in short order. Desalination offers little immediate hope because of economic and ecological barriers. Glennon submits a list of possible reforms to decrease water consumption. Some, such as waterless toilets, are technological innovations. Others, such as restructuring sewer systems, require governmental intervention.

Saving water is even more important if you live in a dry climate where there are water restrictions or drought conditions, like San Diego, Phoenix, or Denver. But even if you live where rainfall is plentiful, a few easy changes can save you at least $200 per year on your water and sewer bills, and help protect our water supplies from depleting too quickly: 

Dishwashers. If your dishwasher was built before 1994, buy a new energy- and water-efficient Energy Star-qualified model, and you’ll save more than $30 per year in utility costs. Many states and municipalities offer rebates or tax incentives for upgrading your dishwasher: Find out if you qualify.

Faucets. If your bathroom and kitchen faucet pours out more than 2 gallons per minute, attach low-flow faucet aerators. You’ll save up to $80 per year on utility bills. If you turn the sink off while you brush your teeth or scrub your hands, you’ll save even more!

Showers. If your showerhead blasts more than 3 gallons per minute, switch it out for a low-flow one. Most low-flow showerheads feel as nice as the high-flow ones. Since you’ll also save energy (due to less hot water use), you’ll shave about $80 per year off your utility bills. You can save even more if your shower takes less than 6 minutes!

Toilets. Compared to a pre-1993 3.5 gallon-per-flush toilet, an EPA WaterSense-labeled toilet will use 1.3 gallons or less, saving $90 per year. Many cities offer local rebates if you change out your toilet to a low-flow or dual-flush model. If you don’t need a new toilet, you can cheaply convert your existing toilet by putting a plastic bottle full of sand or a brick placed in an airtight bag into the tank to displace the water. You can also retrofit your tank with a dual-flush system that will use less water when all you need to flush is urine.

Ever wonder why we use potable water to flush the toilet? What a waste! To really maximize your water savings, consider installing a Watersaver system that recycles the water from your bathroom sink by using it to flush your toilet. This system in combination with a low-flow, dual-flush toilet could save you hundreds of dollars and thousands of gallons a year!

Washing Machines. If your washing machine is more than 10 years old, a front-loading, high-efficiency Energy Star-qualified washer can save you $145 per year between power and water bills. Many states and municipalities offer rebates or tax incentives for upgrading your washing machine: Find out if you qualify.

Irrigation. Landscape irrigation is one of the biggest uses of household water during the summer, so anything you can do to save water outside your home will also save you at least $75 a year. A series of rainbarrels—or better yet, a cistern—can capture rain water from your rooftop which you can then use to water your lawn and gardens for free, saving precious fresh water for cooking, drinking and bathing. (Calculate the size of the rainbarrel system or cistern you need to capture all the water from your rooftop here.)

You can also install a micro-irrigation system that targets just your plants and reduces the runoff and evaporation that wasteful sprinkler systems cause. These drip systems are very affordable, easy to install and highly efficient—they can even water your outdoor potted plants while you are away!

Since it takes energy to treat our water, if just one out of every 100 American homes retrofitted with water-efficient fixtures, we’d save enough energy to power 900 homes for a year. So in every way it pays to conserve water. After all, we can’t live without it.

Shop for Water-Wise Products >>

Babies do a lot of pooping. In fact, the average baby goes through an average of 6-8 diapers a day. Unless you practice elimination communication, your baby will use an average of 6,500 diapers before potty training at roughly 30 months old. If you use disposables, this costs about $100 a month, or $3,000 per child!

Consider these alarming facts about disposable diapers: 

• Over 250,000 trees are destroyed and over 3.4 billion gallons of oil are used every year to manufacture disposable diapers in the United States. That equates to enough gasoline to power OVER 5,222,000 cars for an entire YEAR!
• 11 billion pounds of untreated body excrement, which may carry over 100 intestinal viruses, are brought to landfills via disposable diapers each year.
• Oil is the raw material for the polyethylene in disposables. It takes 1 cup of crude oil to make the plastic for 1 disposable diaper. Taking that a bit further, it takes 286 lbs. of plastic (including diaper packaging) per year to supply 1 baby in disposable diapers.
• 18 Billion diapers are used and thrown into landfills each year—enough to stretch to the moon and back 9 times.
• Compared to cloth diapers, disposable diapers create 2.3 times as much water waste, use 3.5 times as much energy, use 8.3 times the non-regenerable raw materials, use 90 times the renewable raw materials, and use 4 to 30 times as much land for growing raw materials.
• It takes between 200-500 years for disposable diapers to decompose when exposed to direct sunlight and air. Since the diapers are dumped into landfills, covered and not exposed to sun or air, nobody knows how many thousands of years they will be around.
• The super-absorbent qualities of disposable diapers are not the boon they seem to be. Super-absorbent disposable diapers do three things:
  • Facilitate less diaper changing from parents, which leads to rashes because of babies’ exposure to the super-absorbent chemicals, bacterial growth, and the ammonia from accumulated urine in the diaper.
  • Reduce air circulation and pull natural moisture (not just urine) from the baby’s skin—this too will encourage irritation.
  • Raise the temperature of a baby boy’s scrotum far above body temperature, to the point that it stops his testicles from developing normally, according to a study published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
• Disposable diapers contain Sodium Polyacrylate – This is the chemical, added in powder form to the inner pad of a disposable, that makes it super-absorbent. When the powder becomes wet, it turns into a gel which:
  • Can absorb up to 100X its weight in water.
  • Can stick to baby’s genitals, causing allergic reactions.
  • Can cause severe skin irritations, oozing blood from perineum and scrotal tissues, fever, vomiting and staph infections in babies.
  • When injected into rats, it has caused hemorrhage, cardiovascular failure and death.
  • Was banned from tampons in 1985 because of its link to Toxic Shock Syndrome.
  • Has killed children after ingesting as little as 5 grams of it.
• Disposable diapers also contain Dioxin – This is the chemical by-product of the paper-bleaching process, using chlorine gas, in the manufacturing of diapers. Dioxin is carcinogenic—a cancer-causing chemical. In fact, the EPA lists it as the MOST TOXIC of all cancer-linked chemicals. In small quantities it causes birth defects, skin/liver disease, immune system suppression & genetic damage in lab animals. Dioxin is banned in most countries, but not the United States.
• Disposable diapers contain Tributyl Tin (TBT) – An environmental pollutant, considered highly toxic, that spreads through the skin and has a hormone-like effect in the smallest concentrations. TBT harms the immune system and impairs the hormonal system, and it is speculated that it could cause sterility in boys.

From all angles, cloth diapering is a far better alternative to disposables—even the so-called “green” ones made of unbleached paper and cotton. A good cloth diapering system consisting of 24-36 cloth diapers will usually cost you between $200-500 dollars up front, but you will not need to continue to buy them, and you can save them for use with future children. Cloth diapers in good condition also have great resale value on e-Bay and other mommy resource sites.

Today’s cloth diapers are as varied and effective as any disposable—and they often come in cute colors and prints! With modern velcro and PUL nylon covers, the old diaper pins and sweaty, plastic pants are a thing of the past. The new cloth diapers clean up easily in regular and high-efficiency washing machines, using less water than would be required to flush the toilet each time your baby went to the bathroom. You can learn more about cloth diaper systems at Nicki’s Diapers and see how mommy’s rate them at the Diaper Pin.

Diaper-Free Babies
If you want to deal with baby poop in the most environmentally friendly and cost-effective manner, don’t diaper at all! Almost all non-Western cultures practice some form of elimination communication (EC), where mommies learn their babies’ cues for going to the bathroom just as they would learn their cues for hunger or sleepiness, and hold them over a potty when they need to go. Many progressive parents in the U.S. are also practicing EC, avoiding the need for diapers altogether, and enjoying fully potty-savvy children by the age of one!

Learn more about Elimination Communication and Diaper-Free Babies here.

This post is part of the Green Moms Carnival hosted this month by Mindful Momma!