April 22, 2009, is Earth Day. Pull out the red crayon and circle that date on your calendar! Why? Because it’s the perfect day for resolving to go green!
You can jump start your Earth Day and green commitment with Classy Kid’s Degradable Diaper Sacks. Keep them in your diaper bag or within reach in the nursery. While ordinary plastic shopping bags may do the trick for containing dirty diapers, plastic takes years to break down in the landfill. These green diaper sacks break down and decompose quickly, making them a green, eco-friendly diaper disposal sack.
From an envionmental perspective, cloth diapers really make sense. Cloth diapers also make financial sense. If you’ve never before considered using cloth, between the state of the economy and worries about your baby’s future world, using cloth might make sense for you. Cloth diapers might add up to serious cents, too—-think hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars–in your wallet over the diaper-wearing years.
If you’re interested in figuring out how much money you can save by switching to cloth or starting your baby out in cloth, check out this handy calculator at Diaper Pin.
Even if you don’t have plans to go full-time cloth, keep in mind that you can always use cloth on your baby part-time. And, with the swim season coming up, you can even consider a reusable swim diaper, like Swimmi Swim Pants from Bummis. The price of a Swimmi is roughly the cost of one of those packages of disposable swim diapers, and if you expect to be at the beach or pool frequently, you’re bound to save a ton of money. Plus, you’ll be doing a little something to help preserve the Earth for your baby and future generations!
Though my baby has now moved onto sippy cups, I remain fascinated by baby bottle innovations. Adiri’s Bisphenol-A free natural nurser is one bottle that grabs my attention, especially since it seems like a great pick for busy new moms or working mothers.
The Adiri Natural Nurser is designed with safety and comfort in mind, made with polycarbonate-free materials and with a design that aims to give baby a natural nursing experience.
If you’re looking for a great and afforable baby shower gift, definitely check out the Adiri Natural Nurser 2 Pack!
I’m head over heels in love with yet another Trumpette product. This time it’s Trumpette’s Organic Tights.
With “recycle” imprinted on the fabric, these organic tights are the perfect hand-me-down after baby outgrows them. Available in sizes 6-12M or 12-18M.
Oh, in case you’re wondering, it’s not too late to jazz up your little one’s holiday with a dash of eco-green. Place your Trumpette order today for delivery by December 24th.
If you’re looking for another reason to buy eco-friendly toys, consider this news: a Michigan-based environmental research group has found that one-third of popular toys “contain medium or high levels of chemicals of concern.” That’s one in three!
If you’re a brand new parent or an expectant mama, it’s probably hard to imagine right now that someday you’ll find yourself packing away baby gear. But, that bittersweet day will come. I know. Just weeks after my third child was born, I was already packing away her tiniest onesies and last week I gave away her exersaucer to another family. Why can’t they stay tiny for longer?
When the time comes to move baby gear out of your house, go green! Recycle that gear at one of these…
3 Eco-Smart Baby Gear Sites:
1. BabyEarth. Eco-friendly baby retailer, BabyEarth, offers the BabyEarthRENEW program that is a hassle-free baby gear recycling program.
2. Hand-Me-Downs. “A new classifieds site for moms where you can buy, sell, give away or donate your new or ‘gently used’ baby gear.”
3. Freecycle. This site is “all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills,” and offers listings by regions.
Binky. Nuk. Ninny. Fussplug. Chewy. Soothie. Mute Button. These are only a few of the many pet names parents and children attach to pacifiers. But these days eco-conscious parents aren’t just trying to figure out what nicknames to call their pacifiers, they’re trying to figure out which pacifiers are BPA and Phthalate free. In other words, they want to know which pacifiers are safe?
While there are a number of pacifiers on the market that fit the BPA and Phthalate free bill, here are three parent approved picks.
* Klean Kanteens are reusable, risk-free, environmentally responsible stainless steel bottles. They are perfect alternatives to plastic bottles.
* Klean Kanteens are toxin-free, BPA-free, and non-leaching. Kiss those health worries goodbye.
* Klean Kanteens are lightweight. Little hands will have no trouble holding onto them.
* Klean Kanteens are clean tasting. No yucky plastic taste.
* Klean Kanteens are dishwasher friendly! That’s good news for moms and dads who don’t want to spend their free time at the sink.
* Caps, sippy adapters and Klean Kanteen spouts are made of non-leaching polypropylene.
Growing up, a childhood friend’s mom used to “reuse” plastic sandwich baggies. Rather than tossing a plastic bag after school lunch, she brought it home for her mother to wash, hang dry, and reuse again and again. I remember thinking, “why, on Earth does that mother bother?”
Now, years later with eco-consciousness on the brain, I find myself thinking, “why on Earth wouldn’t I bother?” I can’t believe how many plastic baggies I use in my household, especially for Goldfish and Cheerios on-the-go snacks.
Whether you bring your lunch to work, pack a lunch bag for your preschooler or use plastic baggies for toddler snacks, have you ever added up how many plastic sandwich baggies you throw out each month in your household?
Plastic baggies may be inexpensive at the register, but they add up to huge environmental costs, especially in landfills. If you’re looking for plastic alternatives, check out these eco-friendly sandwich bags: Happy-Sacks. They are lined with coated nylon so moms and dads can easily wipe off gooey peanut butter and jelly residue.
Hey, Green Treehouse fans, what are your tips for a “green” lunchbox? We’d love to hear from you. Drop a comment below.
Going green means minimizing risk of exposure to toxins. Check out this Parents TV clip featuring Pediatrician Dr. Alan Greene, author of Raising Baby Green, for quick tips on growing an eco-baby, including his number one tip: choosing an organic cotton crib mattress for baby.
Angel Wing Sweater, by Oeuf
Organic Tights, by Trumpette
Organic SleepSack, by HALO
Organic Crib Sheets, by Q Collection
April 22, 2009, is Earth Day. Pull out the red crayon and circle that date on your calendar! Why? Because it’s the perfect day for resolving to go green! 
