Breastfeeding is good for the environment too!

There are many important decisions to make when preparing for your new baby.  Numero uno on the eco-mamma's list of concerns is preserving the stability of our planet which will be her lifetime home.  In years past environmental issues have taken a back seat to seemingly more pressing concerns, but with climate change creating rampant chaos around our globe, the integrity of our atmosphere has found itself a seat at the head of the table.

As with most modern comforts, there are hidden environmental costs to the most accepted form of feeding your baby.  Bottle feeding is so widely practiced that it's almost expected of each new mother, that she will give her baby formula from a bottle: synthetic mother's milk from a pretend breast nipple.  It seems a little strange when you stop to ponder it, but let's really dig deep, shall we?

I was just reading that the average bottle-fed baby will go through 8-10 cans of formula per month.  Even at $25 per can, that's a couple hundred bucks a month at least...wow.  Well, that's hard on the pocket book, but let's take a look from the earth's viewpoint:

• The base of most formula begins it's journey inside a non-organically fed dairy cow's painfully enlarged udder.  After consuming 30 gallons of water and 100 lbs of grains each day, some of her milk may be reserved to make formula for human babies.  First the milk is heat pasteurized to kill any offending bacteria the antibiotics might have missed, which also kills the enzymes that would have benefited her calf (or the human baby) in digesting her milk. The milk is then dehydrated and enriched with vitamins, minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids (if you buy the more expensive kind) and all the other healthy things that human mother's milk naturally contains.  The powdered formula is then packed in cans (most likely) lined with BPA, a known hormone disruptor that may leach into the product.  The packed cans are shipped by carbon emiting diesel trucks to the local grocery store.  The new parents will purchase the formula on their weekly shopping trips, bring it home, mix it with sterile water and put it into sterilized (maybe plastic) bottles which will be slightly warmed by some means of energy production before being fed to the hungry baby.  Whew!
   
  
• While there are some soy formulas and some "organic" cow's milk formulas, the majority of baby formula has a conventional cow's milk base.  All cows produce methane; a greenhouse gas which is 260 times more potent than carbon dioxide in warming our atmosphere.
   
  
• Another environmental concern is that of water shortage.  It takes 2,000 gallons of fresh water to produce just 1 gallon of cow's milk., when considering the amount of water she drinks as well as the amount needed to grow her food.  (Source: Natural News)
   
  

Now, barring any unforseen circumstances... baby can count of a constant supply of nutrition.  But, as we have in recent times, global warming has made it hard to pedict our Earth's behaviours.  What if there is a natural disaster in your area?  What if the water treatment plant shuts down and the stores sell out of bottled water?  What if there is a problem with the transportation that delivers the packed formula?  What if you or your family becomes stranded in a vehicle or even in your own home for an unspecified amount of time?

It's been two years since, but I'm still inspired by the story of Kati Kim, a mother who kept her baby and 4 year old daughters healthy and well for 9 days while trapped in a snowbound car in the wilderness.  When they were rescued, the trio was in excellent condition given their ordeal. (Source: abc News)

My obviously strong position on the matter of breastfeeding is this:  I feel that all women should be given unlimited educational and personal support to protect the nursing relationship between mother and baby.  I have found in my conversations about breastfeeding that most women want to nurse or try to nurse their baby at first but many don't continue due to lack of support.

I've  learned to type one-handed as my free arm frequently cradles my 15 month old nursling.  All children are creatures of habit.  Mine have an impulsive need for attention as soon as I sit down to write.  For the youngest, this means climbing into my lap for a little nurse and nap session.  He must get that snuggle-down feeling as soon as he hears the click-clack of the keyboard.  Sweet dreams, little guy.

By the way, I really regret that delivering information is such a somber mission somtimes.   Unfortunatly though, we are inheriting a system permiated with short-sightedness.  For environmentally conscious persons who are trying to live life in a more simple and sustainable way... the art of inspecton can be a dampering ordeal.  When it comes to children though, and their safety, their futures, their right to purity; I try to speak up whenever possible.  Thanks for listening!

How I found fair trade…

They say Christmas is the time for reminiscing.  Each year, while decorating our Christmas tree, I'm reminded of a dinner party that I attended in January of 2005.  It was a potluck/going away party for a yoga teacher friend of mine who was moving from our small trendy part of Cincinnati to an even smaller part of rural New York state called Ithica.  We sat around on hard wood floors in a sparsely furnished apartment.  Yoginis never ask for chairs or ice cubes for their water as it imbalances your vata (the ice, not the chairs).  Which is good because the ice cubes would have been especially deranging for our collective vata, given the fact that we were sitting on drafty floors on a cold winter night.  (Any Ayurveda aspirants in the house?)  Being a group of young women in our childbearing prime, there was a narrow age range of offspring floating around, from embryo to toddler.  We considered ourselves like minded in ways that are important like, sharing basic ethical viewpoints and wanting to make the world a better place for our children. 

Composing the scene was a candle lit table of very healthy food options (because no matter what yogis eat at home, they almost always bring vegan food to parties), various tapestry wall hangings,  a small sofa with rattan footstools and a coffee table supporting only fanlike spread of magazines... wait those aren't magazines... they're catalogs:  Seeds Of Change, Nova Natural Toys, Living Arts, an array of eco-conscious options for the Peaceful-Warrior-Yogini-Goddess in all of us.  Looking back now, I see the seeds of thought-change that were planted in me that night. 

The conversation was largely child-centered, although we did all join hands and chant some sort of blessing for the hostess' relocation and new chapter in life at some point.  This was also the night that an innocent looking girl, eight months pregnant, caught my attention and within moments of our meeting was given a full discourse on cloth diapering options.  Little did I know then that her unborn baby girl would turn out to be the best friend since birth and apple of my then 2 month old son's tiny eye! 

While I'm sure I did most of the talking when I wasn't thumbing through the catalogs I was sure would enrich my newly domesticated life, one phrase I overheard that night became stamped on my brain "...and that's why it's never okay to buy anything made in China." 

What?  Why?  I didn't ask.  I should already know all this... and if I ask then for sure my lady friends would frown upon my unknowledgeable consuming habits.  Something to do with children... is everything made in China made by children?  I wasn't sure, but I trusted that my source had done her research and so I stated when I returned home to my mate "I'm never buying anything made in China ever again."  Besides, after looking at wholesome, upscale, enviro-logues all night I had other ideas about the things I wanted to buy.

 The very next day, my husband and I went to Baby'sRus to fulfill one of the many percieved needs of our tiny new dependant.  As it happened, a seasonal Christmas store was in its final days of business and had a sign posted in the window boasting "90% OFF EVERYTHING!" 

"I'll hold the baby, you've got 10 minutes" my gracious mate agreed after sensing my excitement.  I darted in the store and flitted about like a sugarplum fairy drunk on hot-chocolate.  Before long my arms were full and my time was up.  My husband appeared and payed the saleswoman "twenty dollars, please."  What a score!  I'd just purchased a plethora of fancy trimmings for our entire tree with only 20 bucks! There were die-cut mourning doves, beaded satin wrapped bulbs, pose-able circus animals in festive clothes, baby blue angels with harps, an ascension of sparkly stars, etc...

I was stepping peppy with after-Christmas cheer when my husband spoke up  "Are you sure none of those decorations you just bought were made in China?"

 I stopped suddenly, precariously poised atop the sticky remains of my burst bubble.  Should I take them back?  What did he think of me?  What did I think of myself?  Could I really enjoy my cheaply made treasures now that I'd compromised my values?  I wanted to cry.  (Probably new mom hormones at work.) 

When we got home, I stuffed them in the already packed sterilite bins and tried to forget my shame. 

Then next year, when my one year-old's face lit up with wonder at the overflowing box of colorful glittery objects which we carefully hung on the bottom third of the tree, I had all but forgotten the self-induced loathing which plagued a brief moment of my Christmas past.

In the past few years my seedlings of thought change have grown along with the public demand for fairly traded goods.  Online stores selling whole world handicrafts are growing in number.  While paying a fair price to a skilled artisan rules out the option of decorating your entire tree on twenty bucks, it's a much more transparent transaction.

Gift bags for the eco-artist

I recently read that "if all American households used recyled materials to wrap just three gifts, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields."  I just love stumbling upon facts that give even more meaning to the artful endeavors I've attempted throughout the years.  For instance, I've been reusing paper gift bags (as well as carryout bags, shopping bags, etc..) for many Christmas' already.  It started with a collage art infatuation.  Before having kids, I used to sit around with old picture books, scalloped scissors and collectable stamps I'd bought on ebay and make my own greeting cards.  This evolved into very ellaborate gift bag decorating, it was really fun!  Once I learned how to effectively use Modge Podge, it was a new and limitless world! 

However, these days it seems that there is a shortage of mommy-attention in this house.  (The dishes and laundry seem to be crying the loudest.)  So, my endless hours of cutting and pasting whilest singing along to repitions of Natalie Merchant's Tigerlilly CD, have given way to a quicker simpler method for last minute decorating.  During the year, I save all paper bags that find their way to me, many of which I've given away in past years and have been given back!  (I love that!)  I also save all the Christmas cards and any other pretty postcard photos we come across.  Then at Christmas I just get out my trusty glue stick and paste a lovely postcard photo over the logo on the paper bag.  Sometimes I'll tie a little scrap of ribbon on the handle, add a bead or two... seriously this stuff is so simple.  Finally, I coat the image in Modge Podge with a paintbrush.  When it dries it has that glossy, brush stroke finish to it that exuberates !art!!

Pet Peeve: The aisles in the craft store that sell "scrapbooking materials".  I know this stuff is cute and all, but I think it actually mutes some very beautiful inate qualities, like being able to gather some old junk and  turn it into something lovely.  Women have a strong gathering instinct, and a strong creation-drive (keep it in the kitchen, girls).  Making your own Christmas gift bags this year is a simple, eco-friendly way to satisfy your creative impulse.

Trim A Tree For Wildlife

Who is the one person you would never want to play in a poker game?  Martha Stewart...? Me too!  I just can't read her.  She's got a perpetual-poker face.  Or maybe it's that with her amount of croissant-capital she could clean me out of mydough in a single bluff.  However, despite her intimidating wealth and impenetrable exterior, when I open the pages "A Martha Stewart Christmas", I feel we are twin souls.  I've been called the "younger, funnier, vegan-version of Martha Stewart"... okay, only once... and by me.

For many people, the holiday meals are all about the bird.  We love birds!  Especially my young son, who, thanks to Martha's instructions on how to decorate a tree for wildlife, has made this craft a yearly tradition of providing local winter birds with their own holiday meal.

Tangent alert: My son's infatuation with birds began two Easters ago when he received a basket of plastic eggs filled with treats.  After emptying the treats out onto the floor, he nestled them back into his grass-filled basket and carried them around with him for the entire day.  This was also the grand opening week of our local IKEA store and our first visit as a family: Pregnant Mommy, Daddy, Son, and basket of "Baby Eggs".  A year and a half later, he still checks in on his baby eggs and pretends that they will someday hatch.(more on this heartwarming tale in the spring.) End tangent.

For now, it's almost winter and cold enough outside to slow the activity of our favorite feathered entertainers.  So, to show our appreciation for their delightful presence, we strung up popcorn and decorated the blue spruce outside our window.  And per Martha's advice, we also filled little orange-halve-baskets with birdseed and hung them from the tree with biodegradable (hemp) string.  Then we rolled pine cones in peanut butter and then again in more birdseed which we also hung with hemp on the tree branches.  My favorite and most colorful decorations though, were dried fruit slices (apples and oranges) that we strung up and used to garland our wildlife gift tree!  We dried our own fruit slices in the Excalibur, but if you don't have a food dehydrator, a low oven setting will work fine.

I'm sure your family will enjoy giving this gift to your local winter birds.  But, don't be disgruntled if a sticky-toed squirrel snatches your orange cup and high-tails it (oh, that's what that means!) across the yard, up the neighbors ramp fence and out of sight, because... wouldn't you?

More instructions on decorating trees for wildlife can be found here.