Within the last year, I’ve fallen in love with my library. I think I have ten books checked out right now, and I’m reading a few of them at once. The library enables me to read as much as I like without worrying about the cost or the waste. Lately, of course, I’ve been perusing the pregnancy section of the library. I came across Raising Baby Green: The Earth-Friendly Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Baby Care by Alan Greene, M.D. I’m not really looking for any guidance on “green” topics, but it is a topic I care about, and I figured I could at least review it for LoveLiveGrow. Plus, in the meantime, I might learn a thing or two.
Instead of any education or pleasure, though, all I got out of this book were frustration, anger, and incredulous sputters.
The first clue that this book wasn’t going to sit well with me came two pages into the introduction. Greene wants to give a small example of a way to make a positive difference. Here’s the sentence that gave me my first sputter:
“…If every household in the United States replaced just one box of conventional facial tissues (175 count) with 100% recycled ones, together we could save 163,000 trees for our children’s world.”
First, I usually dislike examples that talk about what would happen if “everyone” did it. There are usually benefits to the individual regardless of what the masses do, and hanging your movement on the masses is a losing proposition. It’s a small gripe, as is my feeling that trees are a strange place to start when talking about conservation. Trees are a renewable resource. I don’t mind getting around to trees, but leading with them seems odd.
The great big fail, though, is recommending that you replace one disposable product with another. Disposable items are inherently bad for the environment, bad for your money, and bad for your state of mind. Especially when you’re talking about tissues, for crying out loud. I’ve written about reusable kitchen cloths, bathroom cloth, and menstrual products, but it doesn’t even strike me as interesting to talk about not using reusable tissues for your snot. Who does that?
Chapter One has a section called “Why Go Green During Pregnancy” where it talks about a tiny study of umbilical cord blood where each baby was found to have about 200 different industrial chemicals in the cord, including mercury, fire retardants, and pesticides. Greene quotes the report as stating that most of these are known to cause cancer, be toxic, and/or cause birth defects. Then he says something I whole-heartedly agree with:
“We are the environment; there is no separation. If a chemical is “out there” it may also be “in here”…”
I completely agree! It is impossible to live surrounded by toxic chemicals and not be affected by that.
However, the rest of this chapter goes on to talk about things that the mother can personally do (or not do): eating the right foods, drinking good water, not dying her hair, not breathing gasoline fumes, etc. These specific actions may be good on their own, but they don’t address the 200 chemicals thing. It doesn’t matter how many small adjustments I make to my choices – I have to breathe this air; I can only buy clothes at the places that are available to me, I can only live in the houses that are legally allowed, etc. I’m simply not in control of the amount and variety of industrial chemicals in my environment, and it’s mean to lay that on the individual. It reminds me of the Checklist of Fear – the irrational belief that if you put enough things on the list, eventually you’ll be safe. You won’t be. And you won’t make a huge dent in those chemicals by not dying your hair, either.
Next up is Greene’s poetic love of organic foods. One section asks “What Exactly is ‘Organic’?” and he goes on to provide some answers:
The word organic extends a promise of a food that is natural, pure, and brimming with healthy nutrients.
Organic farming is a method that honors our health and the health of the planet.
Organic fruits and vegetables are grown in fertile soil teeming with life. Organic farmers follow earth-friendly cultivation practices…
Organically raised animals are treated in a way that protects their natural development and behavior…the animals are raised in a healthier and more humane manner.
I know that’s what we’re supposed to infer from the happy little cartoon cows pictured on the sides of the packages and all, but I’m not buying it. I do frequently buy organic food, since I want that word to mean something, and sometimes it does, and I don’t know what else to do. But, in the meantime, I don’t get all doe-eyed over the myth. I’m not going to go into a full-scale anti-organics bitch here. Instead, I’ll ask a couple of rude questions and give you a couple of links. You can go digging for more if you like.
- The little organics label with your best interests at heart? Who owns that company? Kraft? ConAgra? Coca-Cola? Nestle? Do you think they have your best interests at heart?
- Are organic crops grown with care, or are they just grown “organically” until something goes wrong, at which point they’re sprayed down anyway and then sold as conventional crops? Is that what you want from the word organic?
- And the title of this Treehugger article says it the best: “Has the ‘Organic’ Label Become the Biggest Greenwashing Campaign in the US?”
Okay, this has turned into a LONG rant, so I’m going to leave the rest for part two. You can tune into part two on Thursday to hear the rest of the rant and find out what I rated this book.
In the meantime, tell me what you think about disposable products, organic foods, or any other green topics that come to mind.
Read Issa’s Reviews: Raising Baby Green Part One on LoveLiveGrow and leave your comments.