I am assuming that Seattle, like Berkeley, is a hotbed of green ideas. So it’s no surprise that Lynn at Family Style Love says “I think that I have become borderline obsessed with “greening” my life.” She makes the most excellent point that all the magazine articles that are selling us greener versions of products we already own are really suggesting that we buy more stuff, which is really the big problem here, isn’t it? The stuff? The stuff that is taking over the planet?
Reuse, baby!
And that, my friends, is why my husband and I drive old cars rather than hybrids.
So, let’s take a look at how Lynn avoided buying some plastic-y bibs. Instead she bought some snaps. And used some dishtowels. And made a functional, washable bib for the ever-adorable Harris.
photo: lynn
photo: lynn
Rock on, Lynn! See her tutorial here.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Awesome! I am definitely trying this!
Cool idea. But the high chair is what I noticed in the photo. Lynn or other knowledgeables – what’s the make/model? It looks like it’s made of WOOD. As in, not plastic. Which is green, right?
Muchas gracias.
I wrote about this, in an almost-related kind of way (!) today. I agree about those green magazine articles — someone (you) finally put that sentiment into words!
I love the car comment! Makes me feel good about driving my 1998 Escort rather than a fancy new hybrid!
Kelly- yes, that highchair IS wood. I am not exactly sure how green he construction actually is, but you are right, it is NOT plastic! I purchased the chair through OneStepAhead.com. It was very reasonably priced too, and has a tray you can add if you like. Hope that helps!
YAY!! I would LOVE to see more great ideas like this – ways to avoid buying any more STUFF! I wholeheartedly agree that the “Green Movement” often forgets the first and second principles of REDUCE and REUSE. And I’m such a sucker for all those ads encouraging you to be greener by buying more stuff!
I also saw the idea with dish towels done using bag clips as the connector. Way easier for busy (and lazy) mommies! I’ve tried it and it works great.
I want to make some of these. If I can actually do it, I’ll try to post pictures
A top ten list of green around the house with our family
1. We have about 2 dozen dishtowels that we use instead of buying paper towel. (Wash regularly and bleach once a month ladies. That’s all it takes. Really.)
2. We use cloth diapers. Cloth diapering is the new eco-friendly chic thing to do! And let’s face it, those padded bums are just too damned cute to cover up.
3. We trade baby items with friends. At this age, kids go through clothing and toys faster than the toys can possibly wear out. Clothing and toys can last through 3-4 families worth of kids and you’ll all save money by sharing.
4. Use Freecycle. We get a lot of our kid’s items off freecycle. But we also contribute things that we no longer need. That means those items are going out to be used again rather than ending up in a greenhouse-gas- producing landfill.
5. Recycle your clothing into new clothes or toys for your kid! I make old t shirts into pants or new shirts for my son. I also make scraps of old clothing into patchworked teddy bears which my kid and all my friend’s kids really seem to enjoy.
6. Commute without the car. Most of the week, our car stays parked in front of the house. We use our city’s public transit system to get to work and to take our kid to daycare. When we can, we use public transit for our errands and social activities as well.
7. Compost and garden! We’ve got pet rabbits which means plenty of manure as fodder for our composter. Our climate hardy tomato seeds were so good that even though we didn’t plant a garden this year we ended up with more plants than we know what to do with! The dill we planted 3 years ago has gone rogue and turned into a weed found all over our property. Better food for all of us and better food for our furry little compost providing friends.
8. If you have to renovate or fix up part of the house, do what you can to work with recycled parts from salvage or to use sustainable materials. We’re expecting to tear down and rebuild our porch later this year. When we do, there are a bunch of perfectly good parts from the old porch that will be re-used on the new one. We’ve also re-purposed the old kitchen sink and it’s cabinet when we remodeled to be a basement utility sink.
9. Switch you lights to compact fluorescent or halogen. Seriously, I used to work in the theater lighting business. I’ve done the number crunching to calculate exactly how much power I was using to light a single performance. Gotta say crunching the numbers made me very willing to invest in more energy efficient lighting around our house.
10. pay attention to all the little appliances in your house that draw fantom power. TURN THEM OFF. Your TV, your VCR, your microwave? Yeah, they all have a phantom power load to run those little clock displays. When you’re not using them, turn them off or unplug them. Want to use a power strip? Make sure you turn that off when you’re done too because it is also costing you a couple cents a month just in phantom power drawn for the light on the switch. You can save up to ten dollars a month by cutting off all your phantom power sources in your house. Mind boggling isn’t it?