Green Zone Online

Big cups, opaque cups, yesterday’s cups, coffee cups, oval cups, tea cups, tiny cups, walk into any Goodwill or Salvation Army and there is an abundance of cups, whole sets of cups, partial sets of cups, and the lone rangers of cups lining the back shelves. Also, in almost everyone’s house in America you will find at least one set of cups, or more, retired in a back closet. There are more sets of cups than there are people to drink out of them. Marketers trick the consumer into believing they need cups for summer, cups for dinner, cups for holidays, cups for juice, and so on. We have reached a point where there is just too much, and it doesn’t just obtain to cups. Take a stand and refuse to be the cup-consumed consumer. Resist the urge, say no to cups, however festive or complimentary the cups may be, especially the disposable kind. Use what you already have. Get some punch and party with the cups you’ve got. Instead of purchasing your happiness, drink to it, it’s what’s inside that counts!

I am not a mom and I may never be, but don’t tell me that using cloth diapers is more than you can handle; I won’t believe you. My friends’ share in parenting two kids, they work, they both change cloth diapers. You take the outer liner, which comes in many fun and exciting patterns, insert a cloth liner, and put on baby. In an undetermined amount of time the diaper is removed, the cloth liner is placed into a bin that closes, the outer shell relined, and the child is returned to civilization. When the bin is full, dump into wash machine, put in detergent, push start, wait for the end of the cycle, put into dryer, push start, fold and begin again. Cloth diapers are not new; your grandma, or grandpa, maybe with a one or two greats added, washed certain matter belonging to certain people, related to you, with his or her bare hands! Disposable diapers are the third most common item in American landfills and loiter for 500 years. When it comes to your dollar and the green concern, cloth is much cheaper than organic, disposable, biodegradable diapers and the not so biodegradable diapers. Yes, it does use water and electricity to wash diapers, but read more on The Panelist, and remember, water and energy are renewable, disposable diapers are a dead end.

Trivia: Over the first year of life, how many diapers will a baby wear?