The Buy Nothing New Kid.

The problem:

The Baby Products industry is going strong and proving to be a ray of sunshine in tough economic times. Over the five years through 2011-12, industry revenue is expected to grow 1.1% per annum  to be worth $4.38 billion. Cashed-up parents have been buying up big for their newborns, with only the best in mind. This attitude, combined with rising birth rates to older parents, has given rise to a new area of growth: high-end baby products (Ibis World Research 2010) 

That's basically $4.38 billion dollars worth of strollers, nappy change tables, toys, clothes, bassinets and other junk that is used at most for 3-6 months.

This junk uses energy, water and finite resources as it is made.  If it 'works' you'll probably need a bunch more coal-fired energy and water to power it and then when the kid is sick of it it will inevitably have to go somewhere.

The waste and energy associated with buying stuff for the kid when it is a baby doesn't take into account the environmental impact of adding another (Westerner) to the earth. This is also a little worrying.

In a study done by Paul Murtaugh & Michael Schlax called "Reproduction and the carbon legacies of individuals" it was found that even if you live a really sustainable life (drive a Prius, use Green Energy, are vegetarian, use energy-saving bulbs etc.) these efforts are effectively useless if you have a kid.

In fact Murtaugh & Schlax also found that the in developed countries, each child adds about 9441 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide to the carbon legacy of an average female currently alive - this is 5.7 times her lifetime emissions.  


The solution?


Well the first option is to sterilise yourself and/or use contraceptions. But if (for whatever reason and seriously probably not a great idea to take sex ed advice from a preggo) this is not an option then raise a kid who will be a decent human being and attempt to fix things.

Apparently this is harder to do than it sounds.

So use the only power that you really have as a parent (until they're old enough to work) - try not to buy the kid anything new. 

For as long as you can get away with it.

I don't know if this is possible, but I'm willing to give it a decent crack.

Will keep you posted.

It's been awhile

Yes, yes it has. Quite possibly the most intense three weeks of my life! But why bamaboozle with all at once? Instead keep checking-in and I'll drip feed you the best of what's been going on bit-by-bit.

But firstly, 'Collaborative Consumption, The Story of Stuff and the responsibility of waste now seems to be back in vogue and doing the social media rounds.

Yet decision makers seem to be doing diddly squat about it (If I'm wrong please, please shoot me back an example). Mac are a big offender but by no means the worst, for me the problem is much closer to home - the cafe next door still insist on serving my vege lasagne and salad in polystyrene.

We're working on it.

In the meantime, here's a little treat from Leyla. Beautful to look at, but would love to see a little more instruction on what the bloody hell we're meant to do about it. How do I make sure my phone and 'stuff' in general can be re-used.

The Garage Sale Trail

According to the holy scriptures of the ABS, Australians generate 3.2 million tonnes of solid waste which is 1,629 kilograms of waste per person - that's a lot of junk in mother nature's trunk!

So give the fine lady a hand by not buying new crap and instead picking-up some pre-loved bargains garage sale style.

As part of the Bondi Sizzle Community Festival my good buddy Ben is curating a suburb-wide garage sale called the Garage Sale Trail.

If you (or one of your mates) lives in Bondi, be one of the first 50 to register your sale and get yourself a little bag of goodies. The garage sale with the best name, spunkiest looking host, or coolest outfit will be judged by a celebrity panel and get even better prizes.

Not everyone can live in Bondi, but you can head on over to pick-up some goodies. Think bikes, surfboards, clothes, books, music and mucho mas stuff left over from flighty backpackers and the razzledazzlerati! A map of the sales will be releasesed a few days before the sale on Sunday May 9.

Get along!