Buying disposable nappies is an easy way of dealing with a common new parent problem – time. In this dizzy rush we find our selves propelled to an early rushed to grave it is easy to forsake the planet in order to gain a few extra minutes to fill with other childcare issues, from feeding to cleaning, fetching to carrying. I know I have done it; rushed into the nearest shop for a packet of disposable nappies because Terry nappies are such a fiddle seeming to take forever to dry ready for the next pile of poo!

Had the natural nappy kits been available I may have though twice about using disposables. Yes the new style of terry nappies, and the other brands now available, do take time to wash and dry but seem much easier to use. What is more, there is not the horrible danger lurking next to baby’s skin – TBT or Tributyltin which is know to disrupt sex hormones in disposable nappies sold throughout the world. How does it get there? It leaches out of the plastic sheet covering the top surface of the nappy in direct contact with our Childs skin. A child wearing just five nappies a day would be exposed to 3.5 times the tolerable intake.

Back to the new terry nappies. Each nappy is made of organic material ranging from cotton to hemp, even bamboo, with great absorbency and comfort. A thin disposable lining fit the nappy, often produced from natural starches that breakdown in land fill sites or can be flushed down the loo, but it is not recommended. The starter packs for a child of seven to ten pounds costs from £260 and included 30 nappies, a roll of liners and a carry bag with some helpful suggestions. More rolls of liners are available as time moves forward, as are larger nappies as your child grows. The spent nappies are ideal for reuse for the next child or they do make great mop up rags for the garage or shed.
To put it another way, a child uses, on average 5472 nappies in 30 months which works out at £1,203.84 based on a nappy cost per unit of 22p and six nappy changes per day over those 30 months. Therefore, going the natural, non-disposable way will save up to £500 and help reduce the 8,000,000 nappies that go into landfill every day.
There are also companies who will collect and launder nappies for you - try www.naturalnappies.co.uk
For other site try www.littlelamb.co.uk and www.spiritofnature.co.uk

I have long wondered how manufacturers can claim that their hybrid cars are eco green when they need not only liquid fuel but also electricity which they, the manufacturers, seem to forget about when doing the eco chart.

When visiting showrooms and asking for the comparison charts for fuel consumption there is always a vague reference to the fact that electricity is a renewable source so does not need to be counted in the emissions chart? So if I now put an extra battery (or three) into my car, change my engine to run on petrol and electricity I reduce my carbon footprint? Is it me or have I missed something here? The electricity still has a carbon footprint some say higher that of petrol engines due to the way electricity is produced. Coal and gas have a high footprint, as does transmitting the electricity to our homes where an estimated 40% is lost as it travels along the cables. That is another story to come back to soon.

There is a way of making the car greener and that would be to have a wind turbine or photovoltaic set of panels to charge up the car. If, as we are led to believe, a group of scientists have developed a panel that can produce up to 80% more electricity than panels used at the moment it should be easy to keep the carbon footprint down, even if sometimes the mains are used.

Now here is a thought; rather than shouting about the free energy would it not be better for the manufacturers to either have a built in solar charger or sell the car with a portable solar unit. I am not a fan of wind power because of the irregular supply they offer – one day I hope to change my mind.

The other day I was asked about natural condoms which took me back a few years…no don’t be rude. My thoughts went to an archaeological dig I was on in Wales as a teenager when we came across a submerged jar containing animal skins stitched in the shape of a long straight sock. Little did we know at the time we had found a jar of natural condoms. So my mind rambling I started to research if this product was still available and, guess what, it is. The lambskin condom called ‘Fourex’ and another Kling-tite both use the thin intestine of the animals to provide the sheath. Whilst the natural skin condom does prevent the larger sized sperm escaping, it will not protect against the smaller HIV/AIDS cells so one may like to use the condoms the Vegan society approves, made by a company going by the name of Condomi who use natural latex and no plastic. Even the government in Brazil are getting into the production of natural latex condoms as a way of protecting their rain forests. The idea is that trees are tapped for the natural latex in the Chico Mendes reserve as a cash crop rather than allowing trees to be cut down for the ever increasing need for hard wood. The government estimate that Brazil imports 100 million condoms into the country so the latex will provide a good income for the farmers and locally produced condoms. This, in turn, will cut down on air or sea miles thus reducing the countries carbon footprint. Unfortunately, there is no natural product based female condoms I have been able to find. However, the Femidom is a product made from polyurethane that is safe to use and if disposed of in a tissue and then the bin it is a suitable alternative.