Personal Project - Shifting from Chickens to Babies

Last night, I finally came to a conclusion about something that I have been pondering for weeks- I need to change my personal project.  Seriously, deep inside this breaks my heart because I have done quite a bit of research and was really excited about the idea of pursuing backyard chickens.  However, I'm finally beginning to grasp the reality that my life is about to change..and change in a huge way.  

My husband and I are expecting a baby in mid March!  Until last night it hadn't really hit me, but the greatest way I can have a positive impact on our planet at this time in my life is to figure out how to green this baby.  I told my husband, Clint, about this idea and he said, “oh no, does this mean we are going to have to eat lots of green food coloring resulting in a green baby that looks like an umpa lumpa?” Seriously though, umpa lumpas are kind of creepy!

So, what caused the shift?

1.  My Focus.

                  I’ve been researching and reading about backyard chickens truthfully for over a year now.  I love the idea and plan to acquire chickens in the future.  One thing I have discovered is Fall is not the time to begin raising chickens, that should happen in the Spring.  After finding out the wonderful news, I’ve lost my chicken focus!  Now, while I’m reading anything I’m thinking about how I wish I could spend that time educating myself about this wild, unknown, and exciting life ahead.  So, instead of chickens, we will be welcoming a new baby into this world. It is up to us, as responsible parents to figure out how to raise this baby to become the best it can be.  We have a huge opportunity to impact the future in a positive way.   Most importantly, we don’t want the birth of our baby to have a negative impact on his/her life, health, and future, which leads to my next points.

2. Waste

                  Babies link directly with this weeks reading on waste. When I think of baby waste, I immediately think of diapers!  Did you know that 80% of the diaperings in the US are done with disposables accounting for 18,000,000,000 diapers a year?  This adds up to 82,000 tons of plastic and 1,300,000 tons of wood pulp (250,000 trees). There are also environmental impacts associated with cloth diapers.  And, diapers are just the tip of the waste pyramid associated with babies.  My goal of the semester will be to understand this waste pyramid and do everything possible to ensure our baby doesn’t have much of a waste pyramid at all!

3.  Our Consumerist Kids

                  Last night we attended our cousin, Luke’s 4^th birthday party.  The first thing Luke said when he saw us was, “did you bring me a present?”  In my head I thought, nope we didn’t bring you a present because in reality you will play with that new plastic toy for approximately 30 minutes and then set it aside to probably never playing with it again.  And, the realistic thought is that the toy will probably break within the first 30 minutes and end up in the local landfill.  The best scenario for the fun new toy is that it may end up re-gifted, sold in a garage sale, or donated to Good Will.  We can’t blame Luke for his response, he is an American child and many American children were raised this way.  But, this is not how we want to raise our child. 

                  This idea of the consumerist child begins at the very beginning- with the baby shower. We fill a baby’s nursery with cloths, toys, gadgets, and a whole lot of stuff before the baby even arrives.  Does a newborn really need 50 stuffed animals to decorate his/her room?  Probably not.  But, what is it that a newborn really does need?  Of the stuff the baby needs, what are the best options?  And, what type of sustainability footprint does the “best” carry? 

4. Life with a baby

                  We have a lot to learn over the next 5 months!  Each day it seems like my list grows and grows.  As of today, some of the topics I know for sure I want to dive into this semester are below and I’m sure this list change and grow.

• Greening our baby showers
• Cloth diapers
• Breast feeding
• Baby food cook book
• Toy substitutes

Thoughts, ideas, suggestions, and contacts are all greatly appreciated!!!