Eco-Crimes in South-East Asia

Did you know that a Jumbo Jet can use over 18,000 litres (4,000 gallons) of fuel just to take off? (from 1000 Fantastic Facts written by Anne McKie and Angela Royston)

How many trees do you think I’m going to have to plant to compensate for that? When I return from two weeks polluting Malaysia with disposable nappies I’ll have to total up the amount of carbon my family have added to the atmosphere and figure out how many cabbage trees I have to add to the local reserve.

As the for the disposables, I don’t know how I can get past the shame of it…my babies have both been in cloth from birth and the thought of my baby using them for two weeks makes my stomach churn. I’ve done my best though. I trotted along to Commonsense Organics on the weekend and forked out $75 for two packs of Moltex, the German made eco-disposable (we’ll just ignore that oxymoron…). I restrained myself from buying some of the nifty Nap-Naps covers that they have in stock there now and I also restrained myself from telling the cashier in a loud voice “I don’t normally use these things you know. I use real nappies!” He probably couldn’t care one way or the other but I felt like he was taking 100 points off my eco-cred. Oh the shame. And it’s actually Real Nappy week this week too! Next time I shop there I’m going to have to buy 20 new real nappies to make up for it.

(BTW if you’re wondering why real nappies are cool, Sharon has written a very helpful post here. And if you want to read more about the downsides to disposables in general, then try this post by Melanie at Bean Sprouts. Sara goes all the way and tells why she chooses cloth in all areas!)

cheers!