After reading this post, don’t forget to enter our contest – you could win a new dishwasher. Plus, do you have your own story to tell? Send it to greenchallenge@canadianliving.com (no more than 300 words, please), and you could win one of 30 daily prizes.
Today’s winner is Jackie Mandzak of Surrey, BC.
I have a dirty little secret – literally. I have my own green living blog telling all about how I am living greener this year – and I – are you ready for this? I have a diaper genie. There. I said it. it’s out. Wow.I’ve been working hard to turn off lights, buy organic, buy fair trade, use water wisely, use my own take-out mug, use natural cleaners, use it up, make do (I’m not so good at the do without yet) and tell all my friends and family to do it, too.But there it is – the ultimate in being un-green. Not only does it tell the world I use disposables (a necessary evil for this working mom) but that I wrap each offensive item in even more offensive plastic.
I have to ask – does this cancel out all of the other things I’m doing? If I buy energy smart and do my best not to throw away things and I recycle all I can, does this cancel it out? I’m thinking maybe it does. So my next step is to find an alternative that I – and the planet – can live with. I have some thoughts – the trick will be to find a way to cut my costs somewhere else to be able to pay for the “greener” product.
I can hardly wait until everyone wants the better alternative – the more we buy them, the more we close the loop on recycling and so on, the better the prices will be and the more accessible the products.
I like to think I’m on my way, that I’m improving every day – that someday,my son will look back at what I’ve done and say, “Thanks, Mom. Thanks for helping me have a wonderful world to live in.”
Thanks to Jackie for sending in her story – and don’t forget, if you still haven’t entered, there’s still time to send your own story to greenchallenge@canadianliving.com.Jackie wins a set of five fab books from Random House, including the following:
The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen
Living Like Ed: A Guide to the Eco-Friendly Life by Ed Begley, Jr.
Ecoholic by Adria Vasil
The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon
True Green at Work: 100 Ways You Can Make the Environment Your Business by Kim Mckay, Jenny Bonnin and Tim Wallace
Today’s code word: diapers
Read more:
• How to plant a tree
• How saving water will save you money
• 5 ways to be eco-friendly at the office
Just an update - I am trying out a new type of diaper - it’s supposed to be more eco friendly. It’s a “g-diaper”, and it’s a diaper cover (material) with a small plastic liner that you put disposable refills into. (like tucking them into a little long shower cap) When used, you flush the insert away as there is no plastic, only pulp and paper. Still working on a good fit for my squirmy son, but these could be this working mommy’s answer to disposables. You can even compost the wet ones, and they should break down over time in the landfill in case you are unable to flush them.
Have decided to use these for outings and go back to cloth diapers if we have a second child. They also look cute on!
Comment by Jackie — May 1, 2008 @ 1:47 pm