Tiny Footprints
I have to admit some measure of alarm now that I’m at an age where my contemporaries are getting knocked up and ballooning like German airships. They include my best friend from high school, who is a kajillion miles away and doesn’t e-mail me all that much any more because, really, how do you compete with a miracle of life that has taken root in someone’s womb, even if said someone should be petitioning the Vatican to get you canonized after making you endure the atrocity known as Batman & Robin because she thought Chris O’ Connell was CUTE ? You win, fetus. For now.
Anyway, even though I wasn’t able to throw my friend a baby shower, it amuses me to think I could have subliminally transmitted my hippy liberal ways to her unborn child with an eco-friendly hoedown.
From The Oregnonian:
The roasted organic root vegetables were the first clue. Then came the table settings—not a disposable item in sight.
But perhaps the most vivid evidence that this was no ordinary baby shower was the pile of wrapped parcels, presented in brown paper, grocery sacks and reusable bags. One gift was bundled in a towel.
Mother-to-be Dr. Jenny Pompilio celebrated son Brady Bennett’s impending arrival with a Tiny Footprints baby shower. Created in the fall by the Oregon Environmental Council, the program emphasizes sustainable, nontoxic and recycled gifts, and environmental education in the home. It is thought to be the first program of its kind in the nation.
Tiny Footprints offers a “sustainable baby shower toolkit” online for free. (You can also get one mailed to you for a suggested donation of $10.) While the kit is skewed toward residents of Oregon with its mostly local recommendations, almost all its tips are universal in reach, such as the use of recycled or electronic invitations. Your non-Treehugger friends even get a page that explains just what in tarnation is going on with all the Birkenstocks and patchouli, along with suggestions for appropriate, eco-friendly gifts to ensure that the unborn tyke’s little environmental footprint stays that way.
