Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Diapers, deodorant, and other trivia

So. I will buy nothing, living solely off the bounty of the earth. It's easy to make statements like this, at least for those of us who grew up in Humboldt County. Logistics are another story.

How am I going to do this?

Food will be easy. A wide variety of healthy and even affordable food grows in my immediate area, as in much of the US. What I can't conjure out of my backyard can be bought at the local farmer's market or from 4-H students. I'll miss the convenience of popping in to Safeway at any hour, but not the preservatives and insanely abundant packaging.

Clothing is only a little more difficult. No one in my house has less than a six-month supply of socks and underwear. Anything else I can find at a local thrift store or garage sale. Lack of selection will force me to think ahead and anticipate our needs well in advance... not exactly a bad habit in itself.

Many toiletries, cleaners, and cart-filling-crap can be made easily and safely from basic ingredients like oatmeal and vinegar. Most can even be completely done without. But what about deodorant? Lip gloss? Diapers?

The diaper question will be the topic du jour as I have a baby due at the end of May. I suppose cloth is the answer, but I'm not that green. No, I love my sanitary, convenient, landfill-clogging disposables. Do I love them enough to maintain a lifeline, however diminished, to the global economic mess?

Probably not.

1 comments:

Caroline said...

Found your blog after seeing a comment you posted on The Compact blog. I may end up starting a blog myself (I have two already but for other subjects) just to track my own progress and attempt to maintain a semblance of commitment to a Compact of sorts.

In any case, I thought I would mention a podcast that I particularly enjoy and find encouraging - More Hip than Hippie - http://morehipthanhippie.com/ . I know they've done "green baby" shows in the past, and you should be able to find more info in the show archives.

I'll be following and cheering you on! (I don't believe in being a detractor about failures because it's all too easy for ANY of us to justify a revert to old ways...)