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Posts tagged as:

carbon footprint

Win 4 Reusable Chico Bags!

by Jennifer Lance on February 17, 2009 · 87 comments

Win four reusable chico bagsWe love reusable shopping bags, but sometimes, it’s hard to remember to take them into the store. I’ve gotten much better about bringing my bags into the grocery store (I only have to run out to the car about once every two months now from the checkout line), but remembering my bags at other stores is a challenge. I usually walk out with my arms full of merchandise and fill my bags at the car.

I really like ChicoBags for shopping at stores, not just the natural food store. They sling over my shoulder (and my kids’ shoulders) easily and ball up nicely to fit inside my purse.  Reusable bags are such a simple step we can all take to reduce our carbon footprint, but why is it so hard to remember to use them?  [read the full article...]

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Carbon Babies: The Octuplets and 8 Nappy Bottoms

by Cate Nelson on February 5, 2009 · 4 comments

Everyone loves news on the octuplets.  Who wouldn’t want a quick fix on the mama who has 14 children under the age of 8?

But when you think of their waste, isn’t anyone ready to say “Eight is enough”? How about one of those other snappy lines from the Simpsons fertility episode…  Might we say they’ll have a “Love/Eight” relationship, at least with the environment?

[read the full article...]

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Should We Stop Having Children to Save the Earth?

by Jennifer Lance on June 2, 2008 · 35 comments

Mother and Daughter Walking in FallOne of my friends has a bumper sticker on her car that reads, “Thank you for not breeding.”  Every time I read it, I feel a pang of guilt that I have two children.  I know that children in developed countries, especially Americans, use up for more resources than children around the world. The statistics are staggering when comparing children’s footprints across the globe, which causes many environmentalists to suggest that not having children may be the single most important thing you do for the environment. As a mother of two, this is a hard pill to swallow, and I try to convince myself that my children will be part of the solution since they are raised with green family values.

According to Mother Jones, a developed world baby’s carbon footprint is quite large:

Between 2000 and 2050, the U.S. will add 114 million kids to its population. Africa will add 1.2 billion—but their respective CO2 emissions will be the same.

One American child generates as much CO2 as 106 Haitian kids.

Zahara Jolie-Pitt will produce 45,000 lbs of CO2 yearly, compared with 221 lbs if she still lived in Ethiopia.

A typical baby goes through 3,800 disposable diapers in her first 2.5 years.

96% of American babies wear disposable diapers. In China, only 6% do. In India, 2%. [read the full article...]

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How green is your child’s school? Chances are, if your child attends a public school like my daughter, it is not a very green place, especially if it is an older facility. Kelli has already written about ways to make your individual child a greener student in "Think Green For Back to School" and Chris Baskind offered Green Options readers "Five Ways to Green Your Child’s Classroom." But do you know your child’s school’s carbon footprint? Does the school district’s board of trustees know this information? Do you include your child’s share of the school’s carbon emission when figuring out your family’s impact on climate change?

[read the full article...]

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Photo courtesy solarenergy.orgOften people ask me, what is it like living off the grid with young children? The truth is, I have never not lived off the grid with children, so I am not sure how it differs entirely. However, my children have grown up learning about sources of power and its limitations.

[read the full article...]

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