A Preface...

To my next post. and the rest of my life. Its going to be long, hopefully informative though.

As I have started wanting a baby more and more I have also started thinking of the ways I will care for it and the things I would want to change about my life when a child comes into it.

I have discovered a true LOVE for all things natural!

We recently went to the library and I checked out several books on living green or raising your children green. I haven't done all my research but I was astonished at the studies done.

Spencer and I have decided to slowly convert to eating organic foods. In the book "Raising Baby Green. The Earth friendly guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Baby Care" by Alan Greene, M.D.
it states that if by 2010 we raise the organic consumption rates from 3% (as of 2007) to 10% we will:

1. Eliminate pesticides from 98 million servings of drinking water per day across the U.S.
population.

2. Ensure that 20 million servings of milk per day are produced without antibiotics and genetically modified growth hormones.

3. Ensure that 53 million servings of Fruits and Veggies each day are free of pesticide residues. (that is enough to give 10 million kids five servings of F&V each day)

4. Ensure that 915 million animals are treated more humanely.
(Today more than 98% of the 345 million laying hens in the U.S. live out their lives in stacked rows of tiny wire cages. Beaks trimmed so they don't hurt themselves or chickens around them. In 2005, United Egg Producers, recommened a gradual increase in cage size for each adult leghorn to 0.47 sq. ft. By comparison, an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper is .65 sq. ft.- 30% bigger than the new "humane" goal. Sad :()

5. Eliminate growth hormones, genetically engineered drugs and feeds, and 2.5 million pounds of antibiotics used on livestock annually. (More than twice the amount of antibiotics used to treat human infections)

6. Capture an additional 6.5 billion pounds of carbon in soil (the amount emitted per year by 2 million cars driven 12,000 mi.)

7. Eliminate 2.9 billion barrels of imported oil annually (equal to 406,000 Olympic eight-lane competition pools)

8. Restore 25,800 sq. mi. of degraded soils to rich, highly productive cropland (an amount of land equal to the size of West Virginia)

Their source was Mission Organic (www. MO2010.org)

Buying and Consuming Organic foods is so much better for you!

also in Raising Baby Green:

In Aug. and Sep. 2004 in U.S. hospitals an unbilical cord blood study was conducted by Environmental Working Group (EWG). They studied the cord blood of Ten babies. There were a total of 287 different industrial chemicals circulating throught the body of the newborn. Each baby carried an average of 200 chemicals that included Mercury, fire retardants, and pesticides. Of the 287 they know that 180 cause cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal developments in animal tests.

It goes on to say that this study suggests something very important. We are the environment; there is no seperation. If a chemical is "out there" it may also be "in here," in the most protected inner sanctum of our bodies.

So they aren't sure what all this means for babies but while studies continue we can change what we eat and the way we live to protect ourselves and our children.

In an effort to remove chemicals from our home we have also decided to clean green! We just made our first batch of homemade laundry soap (next post) that is environmentally friendly and really cheap.

We use so many chemicals to clean our homes each day. There is a green way to clean just about everything, they usually cost less, make your home smell better and make them cleaner. It does require a little more elbow grease however. To me it is worth it. I was listening to the radio the other morning and they were talking about cleaning green. It was said that with white distilled vinegar, baking soda, and a lemon you can clean everything in your home. I'm willing to give it a try!

Im also over using disposable products. Unless they are for bathroom needs. Paper towels are such a waste and you can save so much money by making or buying cheap cloth napkins. One thing I have become very comfortable using in my kitchen, bathroom, etc are lysol wipes. They're out! Once the last two containers are gone we are switching to vinegar water and reusable cleaning rags. Vinegar has a horrid smell when wet but dries odorless, it is a disenfectant and will leave your home clean.

Anyway, that is just a small look inside my brain these days. I will spare you the other hundreds of pages of thoughts and feelings I have about being green to help our environment, our bodies, our bank accounts, and, for me anyway, future children.