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Family Footprints

You might have your baby’s footprint in a frame... But how does it impress on our planet? Roundabout gets earth-mothery and checks a family’s impact on the environment.

“All life reproduces,” says Lisa Harrow, actress, eco-campaigner and author of What Can I Do? (Transworld Publishing). “But we are now a plague species – one that threatens to destroy its environment because of the pressure of numbers and the demands those numbers make on the environment – we need to consider ways to preserve our habitat. Because parents are responsible for educating the next generation, the onus falls even more on their shoulders, as of course it should.”

Procreation is the playground of greenhouse gases. Just bringing one baby into the world accelerates the earth-rotting industry of plastics, chemicals and foul emissions (and not of the nose-holding sort). And – as if you didn’t know – the parenting market is the one urged to buy, buy, buy. But with some awareness we can help make the world a less disposable place.

Dirty work
The old soak and mangle was undoubtedly a more environmentally sound method of washing. But when baby makes so much of it, we’re rather glad pressing a button can save us the elbow grease. But washing and drying contributes to the horrendous donation our households give to the greenhouse problem – enough to put your brain on spin-cycle!
What Can You Do? Efficiency is the key. When choosing a machine get one that suits your household – i.e., the right size. Part-loads in a big machine are wasteful, as are multiple loads in a small one. Don’t use more than the recommended amount of detergent. Extra won’t make your load any brighter. And when it comes to drying – use the sun. Yeah, okay, use the wind. We have plenty of it. A tumble dryer will generate over 3kg of emissions per load. But if you must, then reduce the water first with a fast-spin in the washing machine.
Fact: Washing with hot water generates 15 times more gas emissions than washing with cold.

A disposable future?
Each year in the UK 2.8 billion nappies go into landfill, where, according to research, it can take up to 500 years for them to decompose. It doesn’t smell too good, especially when they also produce the greenhouse gas methane and toxic liquid that can leak into soil and water supplies.
What Can You Do? “For times when reusables really aren’t practical, eco-disposables are a viable alternative,” says Lisa. “They are unbleached, use less plastic and chemicals, and are theoretically biodegradable.”
But here’s the rub: if biodegradable nappies are headed for bin-linered landfill like any other disposable, it only breaks down the argument.
Fighting for a fresher planet involves home composting or vermicomposting.
But many manufacturers make ambiguous eco-happy claims. Unless you have a garden the size of Kent a daily diet of, say, 10 complete nappies will be too much for the worms to chew - and is every part of the nappy organic? Many use plastics for fastenings or covers.
Reusable cloth nappies are the other solution – but you can’t be saving the stench in your laundry room by washing every freshly-filled bundle as it’s changed, or that washing machine will be working overtime. Pile them up in an airtight container and wash less frequently and at lower temperatures. Otherwise, for all the good you’re doing the land, you’re costing the ozone.
“Reusable nappies have evolved considerably in the last few years,” says Mark Burr, of Babykind. “They are very easy to use and clean and of course fully machine washable. They are also, believe it or not, fun! They come in lots of colours and designs and are becoming a bit of a fashion accessory! Modern reusable nappies are also extremely reliable - once you find what suits your baby you should expect fewer leaks than with disposables.”
There is a best-of-both worlds solution: eco-liners for cloth nappies that can be stripped and composted no problem (although keep that compost juice far from the veggie plot. Plants only!)
Fact: Studies show disposables keep baby boys’ testicles at higher than normal temperatures, which could affect fertility.

Baby food
“Healthy, organic, locally-grown produce will build strong, healthy children,” says Lisa Harrow. “Not pesticides, chemical fertilizers, hormones, antibiotics, and all the additives that are put into processed foods.”
“Healthy soil means healthy food, which turn means healthy people. Soil is essential to life and a healthy soil has food, air, water and micro-organisms to help plants grow,” says Philippa Blackburn, of Flights Orchard Organics. “Intensive farming, using chemicals to feed plants and control pests, can reduce the life in the soil which can then have a knock-on effect on other animals in the food chain. Research has shown that organic food contains higher levels of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, and if that isn’t enough to persuade you – it tastes better too!”
So organic may be the bones for a healthy future but what’s your serving suggestion? Is your cupboard full of baby jars, or do you chop and blend? Whichever way, kids produce a lot of waste...
What Can You Do? There are plenty of pre-made organic choices out there, from big corporations like Heinz to Only Organic. But convenience means packaging. Reuse baby jars in the home or recycle them at glass banks.
The best choice is to make your own, and you’ll be supporting local producers, and not the global corps, if you buy from markets and box-delivery schemes. And you’ll save on the plastic. For non-meat and non-dairy scraps, make or invest in a wormery.
Vermicomposting is perfect for home use. No contact with worms required! “Giving back to the earth what came from the earth is nature’s way, a closed loop,” says Lisa. “And the juice produced is great fertilizer and kids can bottle it in used drink bottles, design labels and give it away to gardeners.”
“Composting and using wormeries are fun ways to teach children about the life cycle of food and the importance of using the earth’s resources wisely,” says Woody from Bubble House Worm Farming. “Whenever we set up wormeries in schools the children’s enthusiasm is wonderful and hopefully, by the time they reach adulthood, they will be better custodians of the planet than we have been.”
Fact: An average Western dustbin contains 10% Glass, 30% Paper/Cardboard, 9% Metals, 3% Textiles, 4% Plastics, 23% Vegetables, 21% Dust, Cinders and others!

The heat is on
Monitoring baby’s temperature is all-consuming for some, but with a room temp guideline of 16-20 degrees, winter doesn’t warrant molten-lava heat.
What Can You Do? Use renewable energy. Investing in green energy production – solar, wind, biomass – will help hugely to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Turn the heating down or off at night and pop baby in a Grobag. They come with seasonal tog-rating and allow baby to kick, but not kick off.
Fact: One quarter of all the UK’s emissions of carbon dioxide (the key climate change gas) comes from household use of fossil fuels.

Happy shopper
Consumerism and all that’s wrapped up in it – manufacture, waste and effect – is precisely what drives up greenhouse gas emissions. “When an environmentally-conscious parent makes a purchase, they consider how the product was produced, how much waste was produced during its manufacture, what it is made from, and what will happen to it when it is no longer useful to them,” says Lisa. “This is conscious consumerism.
“We need to start buying and using energy-efficient products, driving fuel-efficient cars, reducing agricultural and industrial pollution, and considering the long-term effects of the production methods of every thing we use.”

“Domestic properties produce about one quarter of all UK CO2 emissions. Reducing CO2 emissions is not only great for our planet and our future generations but also our wealth. Taking relatively small measures such as insulating our lofts and radiators and fitting low energy light bulbs could reduce our energy bills by around 30%, “ says Chris Proczkowski, Managing Director of Pro Eco.

What Can You Do? Buy at markets where you can cut out the packaging and avoid products packaged for single use. Or buy in bulk and transfer the products to your own reusable containers.
Where you can, stem the consumerism tide by purchasing second-hand. Buggies, cots and equipment can be reused again and again. If it’s thrown, it goes up in a puff of toxic smoke, so recycle your old goods. There are plenty of ‘preloved’ baby stores and solutions around.
Fact: The UK uses about 10 billion retail carrier bags a year, many of which end up in our rivers and seas, posing life threat to whales, birds, seals and turtles.

Plastic fantastic – not!
Become a mum and you’ll soon realise that your life is plastic-coated. Toys, tableware, bottles. Handy maybe. But healthy? “There is increasing evidence that plastic is highly toxic,” says Lisa. “And it’s slowly poisoning us. We microwave food in plastic without knowing chemicals in the plastic are absorbed by hot, especially oily, food. Once inside the chemicals don’t leave us, but accumulate in our fatty tissue with potentially serious consequences to our health. Plastic baby bottles have been found to leak bisphenol-A into the milk.” And to add insult to injury, the manufacture of plastic is also leaching the earth’s oil resources, spilling out some horrific fumes in the process.
What Can You Do? “The power of the consumer should not be underestimated. Manufacturers make what people want to buy. That’s the basis of the market economy. We have the power. We should exercise it, not just take what’s on offer,” says Lisa Harrow. So use china, porcelain and metal for plates, containers and cutlery and buy old fashioned wooden toys – since when did your child prefer the plastic contents to the wrapping anyway?
Certain plastics – PET, used for bottled drinks, HDPE, used for milk and shampoo bottles, PP, for ice-cream and spread tubs – can be recycled in your home and in sorted waste. But that’s about it. Hard plastics are a nuisance – avoid buying them. What plastic containers can’t be recycled, reuse. Get the kids to collect scraps in them for compost.
Fact: Modern technology is researching biodegradable plastics made from corn, potato starch, sugar cane, even tomato skins. Some are already available.

Toys without Tantrums
There are now plenty of alternatives to the rack ‘em stack ‘em products for kids, manufactured in moulds and moved with global-logo trucks – and little thought. So why not look at birthdays, festivals and gift-buying in a more lime-ish light.
“The ‘organic’ label seems to be taking a back seat as more consumers grow to understand that although a product may be made from organic textiles, the manufacturing process it takes to achieve the end result is not necessarily ecologically sound,” says Jo Ashburner, of Noo Noo Designs. “An ‘organic’ product can have up to 40% non-organic content, but is still able to be listed as ‘organic’. True eco products tick all the boxes from source through manufacturing, from the maintenance and care of those products, through to the happiness of the workers and their surroundings and the maintenance of the quality of the workmanship brought out in those environments.”
“Ultimately, by choosing eco-products, we choose to spend our hard-earned money on products that have solid foundations, and we therefore contribute individually, but in no small way to perhaps a more sustainable way – the ecologically sound way.”

Please note that a full low down on the top issue of the moment would take more than this magazine to cover. So we’ll be coming back to it in future. But this feature’s intention is to offer suggestions, raise awareness and inspire families to re-think their lifestyles.

Family Footprints

You might have your baby’s footprint in a frame... But how does it impress on our planet? Roundabout gets earth-mothery and checks a family’s impact on the environment.

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