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Table of Contents
Maximize Your Impact
Maximize Your Impact
The easiest way to maximize your impact in regards to family emissions is to keep the family size small.
Less mouths to feed, less buts to transport, less shoes to wear through, and less toys to buy.
If you already have kids, then this might be the page for you, but if you are in the planning stages or unsure if you want kids, click the Unwanted Pregnancy button to learn about how to avoid having a bigger family than you want or can support.
How To Reduce Our Impact While Raising Kids
How To Reduce Our Impact While Raising Kids
Major Sources of Waste
Major Sources of Waste
This article lists the some of the greatest sources of environmental harm per year while raising an average infant as (slightly edited).
~2,500 diapers/nappies which takes 500 years to fully decompose
~3,000 baby wipes in a single year which take 100 years to decompose
Baby food pouches are typically not recyclable and can take hundreds of years to decompose.
More than 20 billion pounds of clothing is thrown away every year. Much of this waste is children’s clothing, as they grow out of garments so quickly. The clothing that ends up in landfills (which is most of it) contributes to the release of greenhouse gases and can leach toxins into the soil and water supply. The same is true for the baby gear that’s thrown out when it’s no longer needed.
The single-use plastic containers that many baby care products come in contribute to the more than 120 billion units of pack.
ParentMap - it’s our business to build an inclusive community that informs, engages and inspires Puget Sound parents and families.
Simple, Thrifty, Eco-Friendly Solutions
Simple, Thrifty, Eco-Friendly Solutions
Washable, cloth nappies/diaper's.
Washable, cloth baby wipes.
Some brands sell biodegradable nappies/diapers, and wipes, but these very rarely end up in the the right kind of facilities to biodegrade properly, and without releasing greenhouse gases.
Make your own baby food. This can be as easy as mushing down the same food the rest of the family eats to help get them used to eating healthy veggies, fruit, mashed potatoes, and other healthy foods without the worry of baby food safety recalls or extra, needless packaging.
Give and receive hand me downs or buy secondhand baby clothes. Small babies often never wear half of what they are given because they grow so fast.
Repair small damage to toys and clothing. Stuffed toys should be washed, sewn shut if they split, and can be patched or dyed to hide signs of aging.
Buy used gear and furniture if it is safe to do so. Almost all baby gear can be safely purchased secondhand since most pieces of used so briefly by each child. Check your local safety laws and avoid second hand helmets, car seats, and cribs (certain dates may apply).
"Skip many of the common skin care products. Instead of purchasing diaper creams and moisturizers that often come in single-use plastic containers and can contain harmful ingredients, you can utilize coconut oil for moisturizer and breast milk (or coconut oil) for diaper rashes. For items such as shampoo and sunscreen, purchase products from eco-friendly brands that don’t use toxins.
Purchase wooden or secondhand toys. Instead of buying brand-new plastic toys, you can instead opt for wooden toys manufactured by eco-conscious brands, or buy toys from a secondhand store. Then, when your child outgrows their toys, donate them to a friend or take them back to that secondhand store."
Tools, Apps, & Guides
Tools, Apps, & Guides
Encore Baby Registry "is an online gift registry site that makes it easy to register for hand-me-downs, second-hand and new baby items. Please enjoy our free online baby gift registry, and congratulations!"
Click the button below to learn about the concept of "enough". Learn what the average person needs to live comfortably, and find tools/info that can help you work out what "enough" means for your family.
The following sections explore how to go about implementing these solutions.
Nappies/Diapers
Nappies/Diapers
"Approximately 90-95% of American babies use 27.4 billion single-use, plastic diapers every year. This generates 7.6 billion pounds of garbage each year—enough waste to fill Yankee Stadium 15 times over, or stretch to the moon and back 9 times. Every year.
For some families and communities, single use nappies can make up the half the non-compostable waste.
Click the Nappies/Diapers button to learn more about ways to reduce nappy waste, cleaning, and other general information.
Click the Libraries button to see if you can borrow or rent an affordable kit, so you can decide if cloth nappies are right your your family.
Modern cloth nappies can be a fairly expensive investment for most parents (especially with the rising cost of everyday living), and not all communities have nappy libraries, so we've gathered a directory of charities that provide free nappies, as well as government programs that offer coupons or rebates. There are also educational workshops listed. Some of which are required to receive free kits, while others provide free kits as a "gift" for finishing the workshop. Some workshops are in person and/or online.
The DIY page offers videos and written guides in various language, plus free patterns for people who want to try making their own nappies. These can be made from many materials, even upcycled clothing and terry cloth for the absorbent inner pad.
Eco-Friendly Baby Food
Eco-Friendly Baby Food
The suggestions in the link to the right talk about getting only the best food and using a blender, but the main rules of feeding a baby include starting out slow with simple single-ingredient foods, and avoiding certain foods like peanuts and honey which can be particularly dangerous for infants.
Since the dawn of humanity, mothers have been chewing up food for their babies, but simply using a fork or spoon is just as serviceable so long as the food is soft enough for a baby to eat safely.
Baby food companies have had many recalls and scandals concerning the lead content in baby food as well as other safety scares. The pouches that many baby foods come in are generally not recyclable, and some communities don't have the facilities to recycle or reclaim glass jars or lids. Making food at home, even if not organic or with other fancy labeling can help you save money, protect the environment, and be just as safe or safer than what you can buy from corporations.
One Green Planet is your online guide to making conscious and compassionate choices that help people, animals and the planet.
Baby-Friendly Recipes
Baby-Friendly Recipes
The Good Trade is a Los Angeles-based lifestyle media brand providing over 100M readers with vetted shopping recommendations and editorials on sustainability, slow living, and self-care.
Transportation
Transportation
Travel makes up a big part of our pollution, especially if you drive a fossil fuel vehicle. Taking the bus, train, or using person-powered modes of transit from walking to biking can all make a big impact not only on climate change, but in our personal health, and the air quality around our communities. A growing number of school districts around the world are now banning parents from driving their kids to school as it causes traffic jams and subsequent smog increases around the school grounds, something which is particularly dangerous for growing brains! New research is even finding that noise pollution from traffic around schools negatively affecting children's cognitive abilities.
Active Transit
Active Transit
This is the best option for shorter distances, including walking, cycling, skateboarding, roller skating, or even paddling by boat.
Fun & Play
Fun & Play
A shocking number of toys are not only plastic (which can contain dangerous chemicals including PFAS), but also heavy metals such as cadmium and lead. Older toys are often full of these toxic chemicals, so it's worth looking for eco-friendly alternatives.
Aside from toys, playing in nature, crafting and DIY recycling projects can help stimulate learning, improve confidence, while also improve mental and physical health.
This section contains a selection of examples and guides to eco-friendly, child-safe play:
How to Create a Natural Playground at Home "Natural elements inspire open-ended play and resilience in children."
Nature Play at Home: A Guide for Boosting Your Children’s Healthy Development and Creativity (PDF) This guide is full of colourful photos and uses a shovel rating to indicate difficulty levels of each project.
Suggested Reading
Suggested Reading
This section is for books and audio books.
Practical Lifestyle Tips
Practical Lifestyle Tips
Downsizing for Dummies "...provides you with strategies to downsize your life by moving to a smaller home, decluttering, simplifying your budget, and saving more money. You’ll find tips to help decrease your cost of living, lower your home maintenance costs, protect and leverage your assets, and decide whether downsizing is right for you and your family. After downsizing your life, you’ll save time on household chores and gain the freedom and flexibility that come with having fewer possessions. What will you do with all the time you save? ..."
Clothing
Clothing
Restyle & Restitch for Little Ones shows you simple ways to turn old adult clothing into free or affordable baby clothing. The Swedish author provides pretty photos showing where pieces were cut from, traceable patterns in the back pages, the front pages are full of useful tips for total beginners and intermediate crafters. If you don't understand any of the instructions, look for step-by-step guides online as there are many with photos as well as videos that are great at demystifying sewing terms and techniques. One of the bags is sewing machine free, and several ideas in this book could be sized up for older children of even adults.
Grants & Funding
Grants & Funding
Oceana
Oceana
Australia
Australia
Western Australia
The Sustainability Grants Program (in the City of Cockburn) "offers funding for projects related to six sustainability themes. Open to small businesses, schools, not-for-profits, and collective households, successful applicants can receive up to $4,000 for their project."
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