Send all your eco-inquiries to Jennifer Grayson at eco.etiquette@gmail.com. Questions may be edited for length and clarity.
No one would accuse me of being a tree hugger. I drive an SUV, love shopping, and have never stepped foot inside a Whole Foods Market. But I just found out I'm pregnant, and I'm thinking now might be a good time to adopt healthier habits for the baby, like eating organic food. What else can I do to have a green pregnancy?
-Maggie
The whole notion of a "green pregnancy" may seem oxymoronic to the hard-core tree huggers among us: My most eco-minded friends would quip that the greenest way to have a pregnancy is to not have one at all (I've previously touched on the topic of population control and the environment).
But here's the truth of the matter: Although bringing new life into the world adds considerably to one's carbon footprint, it can also be a wonderful introduction to eco issues. For one, there's the compulsory existential question, How can I make the world a better place for my children? that may prompt us to set a better example (Maybe I should recycle this bottle instead of throwing it out the car window).
There's also the issue of health and the environment. As you've discovered, pregnancy may be the first time some women take a good look at what they're actually putting into their bodies. (That fast-food burger isn't a tasty treat; it's a conglomeration of hormone-filled meat and genetically modified corn fillers streaming directly into the placenta of an unborn child.)
Scary, I know. So let me offer my most heartfelt congratulations -- not only for your happily anticipated event, but for considering lifestyle changes that will be healthy for both baby and planet. Since I've made going green during pregnancy a personal pet project for the past nine months (my first child is due in seven days), I'm excited to share with you some of the helpful tips I've discovered.
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PS. Also love comment below. Go to thrift shops and buy and recycle maternity clothes.
is going a little too far. I am not going to wear leggings and tunics for nine months. I already feel like a bag of babies, I don't want to look like a bag of babies. A better suggestion would be to go to thrift stores. Thrift stores have a TON of maternity clothes. These clothes don't get thrown away after nine months, they go to resale shops.
Also, if you plan on having more than one kid they more than pay for themselves. Being pregnant is hard enough as it is and maternity clothes make you feel and look attractive at a time when feeling attractive is very difficult.
Wrong! That is not the "truth" of the matter and it's wrong of you to write that it is. When you begin with a certainty such as bringing a new life into the world and then hypothesize what will happen as a result of that birth, that is hope. Not truth. If it were the truth everyone who reproduces would automatically become environmentally conscious. Obviously, this is not the case.
Even when someone knows what you do about overpopulation you still manage to rationalize reproducing. We are 6,863,000,000 and growing.
For all babies entering the world because humans just had to express their love:
As it stands now each and every week we add roughly 1.46 MILLION people to the planet and that takes deaths into account.
According to the WWF Living Planet Report in 2008, our global footprint exceeded the world’s capacity to regenerate by about 30%. In 2003, we exceeded it by 25%.
There are now three ocean garbage patches.
We are not running out water on our planet. Instead, our increasing population is outgrowing the available supply.
Every time I see an infant I get white knuckles thinking about their future. Good luck, kids. We knew better. We just couldn't all act on it. Sorry. Tough break, huh?
Many of you may remember the movie "Erin Brockovich," which centered around the potent carcinogen known as "hexavalent chromium" (chromium 6) appearing in drinking water, and the devastation it caused in a small California town. Well, standby for a sequel to this movie, based on the use of stainless steel with food and drinks.
Food grade stainless steel is used throughout the food industry for the preparation and storage of virtually every type of prepared food. It is also touted as a safe water bottle material, and is the metal of choice for flatware. Surgical grade stainless is implanted in the body.
Stainless steel is the name given to iron based alloys containing at least 10% chromium. It is well known that all iron alloys exposed to water and oxygen will corrode. Could the carcinogen hexavalent chromium leach from stainless steel into our food?
The chromium industry was concerned enough to do a study on it. Their conclusion: yes, hexavalent chromium does leach into the food, coupled with the self-serving statement that it is not likely that much of it will be absorbed by the user! Not my cup of tea. See:
http://www.icdachromium.com/pdf/publications/crfile1sep96.htm .
For me, glass or uncolored ceramic containers are the way to go.
Roy Mankovitz, Director
http://www.MontecitoWellness.com
I do not understand your point regarding the date of the reference. I do not consider the date of a reference to be a particularly good correlate with the significance of the reference subject matter, particularly in the field of hard science.
As a consummate technologist, I am not aware of any changes in the formulation or fabrication of food grade stainless steel for the last 50 years. Further, the fact that the article was published by the chromium industry against its own interest is highly probative of its veracity. There have been several articles since, that claim the levels are too low to be of concern, and that the chromium 6 is rapidly converted in the body to safe chromium 3. Maybe - or not. I for one do not like the odds, considering it takes extremely small amounts of chromium 6 to cause some extremely nasty cancers. Remember what they said about BPA?
A description and references on what nature designed humans to eat, including safe food preparation techniques, and what to use for flatware, can be found in "The Wellness Project."
10 Unexpected Pregnancy Tips.
So this is a list of ten tips one would not expect, or a list of ten tips if your pregnancy is unexpected.
Please FIX the dangling modifier, thank you.
S
Lol! Lol! I think that's it.
Screw and repeat.
Cold Pressed Hemp Seed Oil: Excellent Omega 3 and Omega 6 essential fatty acids (EFA), GLA; precursors to DHA, EPA.
Hemp is a high protein seed containing all nine of the essential amino acids