Listen now | 18 minutes, 42 seconds
Parenting is tricky, green parenting trickier. That's why we appreciate Manda Aufochs Gillespie, also known as the Green Mama. She's working to bring together a talented community of new parents and newly green folks to help each other out with life's great mysteries, diaper related and otherwise. She's hooked up in the green community, and ready to help.
Published on June 25, 2008 at 4:30 p.m., as part of the The Little Green People Show.
Susan from Indiana commented, on June 27, 2008 at 10:05 p.m.:
I have to say that disposable diapers work really well. My baby doesn't have any rashes ever, nor do we have problems with leaks.
the green mama commented, on June 30, 2008 at 3:49 p.m.:
Thanks for the comment Susan!
Oh yes, disposables definitely do "work" well. If you define that work as catching pee and poop. If you define, however, working well as also being safe for the environment and for our children's health then they don't necessarily perform as well.
A couple of interesting things I've discovered about disposables are that they almost never break down in the landfill (and landfills aren't built to be able to handle human waste safely and thus can lead to contamination of soil and water), that they contain not just trees (and sometimes old-growth trees), but also plastic. They also in many cases contain fragrance (which has phthalates) and trace amounts of dioxin (a super toxin) from the chlorine bleach, and SAP (which many people have health fears about).
For me, I have decided to hold diapers and other products I use with my child to a higher criteria.