Why I want to use cloth diapers....

1. I don't want to contribute needlessly to the destruction of the environment any more than I normally (and inevitably) do!

The Real Diaper Association, an advocacy group founded in 2004, estimates that 27.4 billion disposable diapers are used each year in the U.S. (according to the EPA, that translates into more than 3.4 million tons of waste dumped into landfills) and that producing those diapers also consumes huge amounts of petroleum, chlorine, wood pulp and water. (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1702357,00.html)

Dumped with those diapers are all the chemicals contained within them, like sodium polyacrylate (a chemical linked to toxic shock syndrome, female organ problems, and slow healing wounds), tribulytin (one of the most toxic substances ever made and detrimental to the immune system and the healthy production of hormones), and dioxin (which causes liver disease, immune system suppression and genetic damage)...not to mention the old toxic and oh so eternal standby, PLASTIC! Not only that but all that fecal matter in our landfills often finds it way back into our water supply. (www.diapersafari.com)

2. I don't want to pour my money into multinational corporations who have no regard for their workers, the environment, or any other living creatures besides their CEOs and stockholders.

First we have the companies that make disposable diapers. Let's take Proctor and Gamble, the producer of Pampers (the leading disposable diaper):

• Procter & Gamble has been criticized for failing to remove unsafe and potentially carcinogenic ingredients from its personal care products.

• Environmental groups have criticized Proctor & Gamble for working to weaken Europe's laws regarding toxins in household products and for funding an organization that fought GMO disclosure laws.

• Labor rights organizations have accused Procter & Gamble's Guangzhou factory of forcing "temporary" employees to work 12 hour days and lobbying against minimal labor standards in China.

• Some of Procter & Gamble’s products are still tested on animals.

And....

According to Global Labor Strategies (GLS), a nonprofit resource center for social movements, Procter & Gamble is one of the corporations “acting through business organizations like the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and the US-China Business Council,” to lobby against China’s Draft Labor Contract Law. This new law proposed by the Chinese government aims to secure minimal labor standards for workers, such as enforceable labor contracts, severance pay regulations and negotiating power over workplace procedures and policies...an important step in improving a system where poverty wages, lack of health and safety protections, and the absence of any legal contracts are common for Chinese workers....US companies [like Proctor and Gamble] have threatened to withdraw business from China if such a law is passed. Other companies lobbying agains the law include Google, Wal-Mart, Nike and General Electric. (http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper/company.cfm?id=279)

Kimberley Clark, the producer of Huggies, is no better:

Kimberly-Clark...uses vast amounts of paper each year to meet consumer demand, and more than 2.5 million tons of this paper is composed of virgin tree fiber. The company is guilty of sourcing from endangered forests and emitting toxic substances such as mercury and dioxin that have devastating effects on the environment and human health. One Kimberly-Clark plant in Washington emitted 26 pounds of mercury into state waterways in the year 2000 alone. (http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper/company.cfm?id=250)

What's more, using disposible diapers doesn't just support the corporations that make them, but also the corporations that sell them. Disposable diapers are expensive. Most sources say that the average child will cost about $2000 to diaper in disposibles (compared to less than $600 even in a "premium cloth diaper system" like BumGenius). In order to find the best deals on diapers, parents like us would be under great economic pressure to comparison shop and get the best deals possible...leading us to shop at the biggest box stores we can find...like Walmart. And what do we support in America when we shop at a store like Walmart? Primarily, low wages for American workers and the subsequent subsidization of multinational corporations by US taxpayers.
Walmart employees earn so far below a living wage that they were eligible for $2.5 billion dollars in federal assistance in 2004. [The Hidden Price We All Pay For Wal-Mart, A Report By The Democratic Staff Of The Committee On Education And The Workforce, 2/16/04] Even while announcing the "greening" of Walmart, CEO H. Lee Scott Jr. recently told WalMart workers, "Even slight overall adjustments to wages eliminate our thin profit margin." Thin profit margin? One analysis of the Walmart Annual Report claims that, "Wal-Mart can cover the cost of a dollar an hour wage increase by raising prices a half penny per dollar. For instance, a $2.00 pair of socks would then cost $2.01. This minimal increase would annually add up to $1,800 for each employee."
But then again, Walmart workers might not be able to afford socks at $2.01, especially if they have a family member who is in need of medical treatment.

The average full-time employee electing for family coverage would hve to spend between 22 and 40 percent of his or her income just to cover the premiums and medical deductibles. These costs do not include other health-related expenses such as medical co-pays, prescription coverage, emergency room deductibles, and ambulance deductibles. [Wal-Mart 2006 Associate Guide and UFCW Analysis].(http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/facts/)

While a worker at Walmart makes $13,861 annually, the CEO of Pampers parent corporation Proctor and Gamble made $25.14 million in total compensation in 2006. (http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper/company.cfm?id=279)

Are these the kind of organizations that deserve our $2000?

3. I want to support companies who believe in and support American-made, ecological, and worker-friendly products.

Lets just take three companies to compare to the above multinationals, two cloth diaper producers, Kissaluvs and BumGenius, and one supplier, Ithaca's Jillian's Drawers.

All three companies have environmental commitments incorporated into their very mission statements, and they are no less progressive when it comes to worker relations. Kissaluvs produces its diapers in Houston, TX from USA-made fabric, and names its beloved employees on its website, all of whom work in a supportive and safe atmosphere and make up to $15 a hour with paid sick time and holidays. BumGenius diapers were designed by a mom "out of necessity" and are still produced "conscientiously" in the United States. Jillian's Drawers, started as a small home-based Work At Home Mom business, is currently a Certified Tompkins County Living Wage Employer and all of their employees enjoy paid time off as well as flexible work schedules to meet family demands. As a cloth diaper and natural parenting store, they specifically seek out and feature products made in the United States and by companies that support Work At Home Moms.

4. I want Azalea to grow up aware of herself and her part in this interconnected world.

What do we teach our children when we wrap up their biological waste in plastic and throw it into the trash...where it ends up in someone else's backyard? What do we teach them when we buy products made by the poorly paid overworked parents of other children in "funny little countries where they speak funny little languages" just so that we can take the easy way out? What do we teach them about the world they live in when we strap them to shopping carts and walk them through the depressing aisles of the fluorescent lit WalMart where the downturned faces of the employees glare out to them from every unhappy task?
We teach them quite a bit! And then we wonder how CEOs happily look the other way after environmental disasters, oil spills, and mercury leaks! And how we can so readily invade other countries and bomb their cities all in the hope of securing more oil contracts so we don't have to resort to the inconvenience of redesigning our cars. Or even how we find ourselves with so very little sympathy for the suffering of others in our own country.

I want Azalea to ride around in her Ergo strapped to my chest while her cloth diapers get laundered so she learns about how we clean up our own messes. I want to take her to Jillian's Drawers where other babies bop around playing noisily, and I run into other moms I know, and the saleswoman knows her name, so she feels like a member of a supportive happy community. I want her to grow up understanding that sometimes you pay more money to support what's right, instead of chasing the bottom line at the expense of the world and other living creatures. In short, I want her to save the world...in her kissaluvs.

So I've decided to use cloth diapers. Who supports me?