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I have made the case against making babies from a few different angles on this blog and elsewhere. It’s always a good way to stimulate discussion. I am personally responsible for one pregnancy. If and when you create a human, you will need to buy or borrow things that have been designed to contain and transport them safely.

Moses’ parents supposedly stuck him in a reed basket and sent him floating down the Nile, I don’t personally recommend that method of child carrying even though it was very plasticless.

Parents in many countries are now required by law to place young children in age appropriate car seats. 15 years ago, I borrowed two infant car seats from some community program. I returned them once my babies reached the minimum weight requirement for the next step up in car seats. As far as I know, all baby car seats are made from plastic. The best thing that you can do to reduce environmental impact is to borrow a seat from a family member or a community program. You should read up on proper installation and adjustment of these things. Having one doesn’t make your baby safe, you have to use it correctly.

Green Baby Guide says that car seats up to six years old are safe as long as all the parts are there and in good condition. It’s better to say thanks but no thanks to family and friends that offer you anything older or in any way worn out.

If you have to buy a new car seat, take good care of it and save all the packaging and user manuals for the next owner.

Our baby carriage was a crazily overpriced metal framed Italian job. I was assured that they had a high resale value. I have conveniently forgotten whether that was true. I was impressed by the quality. We lived on a road with a gravel shoulder, so those crappy little strollers with the little plastic wheels weren’t going to cut it.

If you want to do what is best for your baby and also better for the planet you have a lot of options to choose from.

Lots of people swear by baby slings. I have never used one, so I can’t really vouch for them. There have been safety concerns. Most injuries that have occurred are the result of improper use.

Photo Credit: AMCDawes

I did a lot of baby carrying without a sling. I once made the terrible mistake of attempting to walk down my unfinished wooden basement steps while wearing wool socks. I had a baby in my arms. I managed to fall in such a way as to gently plop the baby one step up from where my head landed with less gentleness and about four steps up from the where my ass landed without even a hint of gentleness. Carrying babies with your bare hands might be the greenest choice, but it is not the safest.

Combination car seat/strollers didn’t exist when I had babies. They are plastic, but they are one hunk of plastic that does the job of two. They also meet the requirements for taking on board an airplane. If anybody has had good or bad experience with one of these, please comment.

I just spent a few hours blog surfing. I wanted to add a few more green blogs to my blog roll. I decided that I need to take some more time to refine the criteria. The explosion of environmentally themed blogs, like most explosions, has expanded in all directions. The tag lines say it all…

There is How being green can be sassy, sexy and fun. The blog is called Green and Clean Mom and it has a forum and frequent giveaways.

There is Sustainable Innovation, and Green Tech for Savvy Green Consumers, Readers and Thinkers. Ecoble’s tagline is pretty wordy, but it’s content lives up to the hype. The savvy readers that the blog is reaching out to can find links to 18 free Green eBooks in a recent post.

Some green blogs are very personal, while others are almost completely impersonal. Some green blogs are trying to sell you stuff and others are pleading with you to stop buying stuff. Some blog authors are all about documenting their personal dedication to specific aspects of environmental responsibility, while others offer their expert advice on econews. Some try to do several things at once. Examining a wide swath of the green blogosphere has given me what I hope is only a temporary identity crisis with regard to my own blog. I will start adding to the blogroll tomorrow.

Here is a picture that I took in Ireland last January. It looked greener in real life, but not that much greener.

Blogging and Journalism used to have a LOT of sibling rivalry. AssHats like Karl Rove still deride bloggers as less than valid when it suits them. But there is a lot more symbiosis these days. Big news media is co-opting the blogging format and bloggers are being invited to the party. I think that this is mostly a good thing.

Another positive change involves the increased attention to the cause of reducing plastic use. The BBC hosts a blog called Month Without Plastic. I found out about it because I am on the blogroll (Yay!!!).

Chris Jeavans is attempting to live a normal life with one big change, no new plastic.

First off, I want to welcome a new blog to my blogroll… Plastic Bag Watch is a very focussed blog dealing primarily with banning campaigns throughout the UK. Here is a neat map that he used to show many of these campaigns:

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The most interesting post on this blog for me was a commentary on EU laws standing in the way of outright bans of plastic bags. I myself am quite perturbed that the EU is forcing Malta to stop requiring local beverage companies to use returnable glass. This will be a step backwards as far as I am concerned as the businesses will undoubtedly go for the cheaper plastic. This will only add to the already prevalent problem of litter.