Wasteful baby

OK, so I'm still waiting. In the meantime, I've been giving a lot of thought to how another human -- no matter how small -- can have a really big and really negative impact on our environment. :-( According to the Sierra Club, one American consumes as much energy as:

- 2.1 Germans
- 12.1 Columbians
- 28.9 Indians
- 127 Haitians
- 395 Ethiopians

I believe it. The temperature crept toward 80 degrees today and I rushed to blast the A/C! I'm sure that even our new little American will outdo most of his/her global counterparts in the consumption department, despite our best efforts. Our lifestyle just makes us so numb to how much energy and how many resources we use.

All of the baby books say that a newborn can use 10-12 diapers in ONE day! That's as many as 372 in one month. 372!!!!!!!!!!! Can you imagine how much plastic and cotton that is?!?!?! What'ts more, most of these disposable diapers have these special gels that do wonders locking away wetness from baby, but they also do wonders preserving baby's #1s and #2s for decades and decades! I don't know ... the idea of my child's waste still being locked up in little diaper nuggets in some landfill when my great-great-granchildren are alive is a little unsettling. :-( Even the environmentally friendly brand Seventh Generation makes diapers that seal away and preserve. (Their environmental angle is their chlorine-free status.)

Of course, there is always cloth diapering, but you still have to consider the amount of water waste and the amount of laundry detergent that will end up in rivers and streams. What's a mommy to do? I know it's silly, but the diapering issue is really weighing on me. I guess I'll chalk it up to that liberal California upbringing I had! LOL

Well, there are always these cool flushable diapers -- even though they are nearly a meeeelion dollars! Gah! I'm definitely going to try them when I get to Cali, though, even if I can only afford a week's worth!

Well, there's full moon tomorrow, so send us some labor vibes! Ha ha! Until then, I'll be calculating the environmental impact of wipes, diapers, detergent, baby clothes, bibs, cotton balls .... blah, blah, blah, blah. :-)