Blog Action Day

Today is Blog Action Day, where bloggers are encouraged to discuss one issue: the environment. So we thought we would share some of the green living Rhys practices on a daily basis.

*Rhys uses cloth diapers at home.

Sure, they are a little more of a pain in the ass, and yes, we have to do a couple extra loads of laundry a week, but it does dramatically lessen the impact Rhys has on the environment. For example, between birth and age 2 1/2, a baby will use 6,000 disposable diapers. By contrast, during that same period, Rhys will only use at most 6 dozen cloth diapers, using about 30 pounds of cotton to manufacture. Sure, we use disposable diapers when we travel, but by using cloth at home, we are saving resources and landfill space. Oh, and Rhys does not have as many diaper rashes when we use cloth versus when we travel and use disposable. Although this does reduce how much we can pull out the Buttpaste that Nick and Jessica bought him, which always makes for a fun laugh!

*Rhys ate homemade baby food (when he still ate baby food)

Nothing like boiling an entire pot full of apples to make homemade apple sauce! Rhys never really dug the manufactured baby food (and was DEFINITELY not a fan of rice cereal!), which was just as well because that gave us the idea to experiment at home to come up with foods he liked. Basically, any type of fruit, pureed, was what Rhys desired. So we put our oven and our pots to use to make his food, and experimented with all kinds of spices along the way. Plus, we found some awesome baby food ideas online - who ever heard of a chutney sauce for babies?! The best tip: make a bunch of baby food at once, and freeze it in ice cube trays. Then just pop them out and warm up as many as you need for your little guy's serving. Genius!

*Rhys shops at his local farmer's market

Each Saturday Rhys hops in his stroller and takes his canvas bag to the Ferry Building, where local farmers sell all kinds of grapes, berries, grapes, peaches, grapes, pears, grapes, apples, and oh yes, did I mention grapes? Rhys likes to hold out his hands for the free samples, which they are only to happy to give him. (Read: a "free" sample to Rhys, who, if he likes it, instantly demands more, means his mommies just got roped into buying a whole pound of whatever he just ate! But hey, it supports local farmers, and is certainly healthy for Rhys. =) And, his mommies would much rather buy him a pound of grapes than a pound of junior mints...mostly because his mommies want those junior mints for themselves!! =)

*Rhys takes the bus home from daycare

Ok, so this is not so much a factor of being green as a factor of one of his mommies being inept behind the wheel of a car when she as to park it in a non-90 degree angle kind of way. See previous post for complete details. But still, he's riding the bus every day. To Jessica: Yay public transit!!!

So these are just a few of the everyday things that Rhys does to be an environmentally responsible citizen, shared with all as part of Blog Action Day. In addition, Rhys would like to share that he found out last night that in general airlines do not recycle the massive number of cans and bottles used on each flight, because "it would just be too hard." (Actual quote). Rhys would also like to share that he heard an entire diatribe from his mom Brandi about the fact that it does not take more effort to schlep a bag of trash to a bin than to take a bag of coke cans to the blue bin right next to it. But, for the record, Midwest Express does make the effort to recycle, so at least the people in Nebraska can cheer!!