Sustainable Baby by Debbie Hodgson
Book
Louise Swinn
It’s not just when you have a baby, of course, that you start worrying about your impact on the environment, but it does all come home to you a bit hard and fast when you have a newborn in your midst, and all its associated washing – just for starters. But, despite its title, Sustainable Baby is not just useful for people with babies or kids. It’s full of good ideas for how to live your life making a bit less of an impact on the environment.
I suffer from terrible enviro-guilt, and I know I’m not alone – it’s a common affliction. I think as water preservation becomes more of an issue, and the ads on television make it more so, we are more capable of talking about these things, things that we otherwise might be embarrassed about. Short showers, for example – even skipping a day every now and then. For babies, not bathing them every day is a good start – because they don’t need it. Just top and tail them. And so on. There’s some really great advice and statistics about nappies in here – and they are the first issue for new parents, because disposals carry this horrible environmental impact and terry-towelling nappies, of course, are less bad for the environment but there is the water and the detergent; but more than that there’s the convenience of disposables. Hodgson weighs up the pros and cons and talks about how to do things better, and how to make it easier for yourself. It is very practical, no-nonsense advice.
The sections are, for the most part, valuable to people without kids. Making and mending clothes is discussed, which made me think about when the last time I darned a sock was – and she even tells you how to do it. Making toys rather than buying them, and teaching kids the importance of making things, these are things she talks about well. Cooking things slowly for your family rather than buying in, and – again – Hodgson talks about ways this doesn’t have to be so difficult that it’s impossible.
When it comes to toys, she weighs in very sensibly on the issue of buying plastic things that have a very limited play life because your child will get bored with it very quickly and/or break it, and then it just becomes landfill. You can make toys – she shows you how to make simple things like pompoms – and you can make things that aren’t toys become toys, like the simple idea for babies who love pulling tissues out of a box: just put a heap of your scarves in the tissue box and they can have hours of play. Well, they will get bored of it, but at least you didn’t have to buy it – and they get really bored of bought toys anyway.
There is an excellent section on organic food, with facts I had no idea of – like, that it’s more energy efficient to produce chicken and pork than beef. Ways to reduce water are covered really well, and how to reduce the amount of waste your household produces. It’s nothing absolutely out of this world; it’s just common sense, but it’s good to be reminded of priorities, and the best thing is the way it gives you new ideas just when you have run out yourself. Relieving enviro-guilt starts with 4 minute showers and never using a clothes dryer and it ends with how you shop and what fabrics you wear. Highly recommended reading for anyone looking for good ideas as to how to reduce the impact they make on the environment, particularly but not only parents.
