s/o How crunchy are you?

[Anonymous]

Breastfeeding (1)
Baby wearing (1)
Cloth diapering (0)
Organic food (0)
Vegan/vegetarian/other dietary choices based on environmental impact (0)
Recycling (1)
Natural cleaning products (1)
Avoidance of plastic and/or battery-operated toys (1)
Co-sleeping (1)
Car-free, hybrid car, or car-lite (one car for a family) (0)

= 5

Do I get extra points for BFing 3+ years w/each of my two kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I guess I fall short of family cloth, but it does not seem outrageous to me. I get points for all the other things, except home births, and so do all of my friends.

Where the heck to you people scoring 2s and 3s live anyway?

Dubai. Vegas. Shanghai. The people that live these cities don't care about your compost bins. If you turned off the electricity in any of these towns within a week there would be nothing but human waste sludge, blowing toxic dust and non recyclable plastic. And diapers. A towering mountain of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I dont get the scoring system. Isn't there a varying level of doing each of those things?

More to the point, is there some implicit virtue in a higher score?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I guess I fall short of family cloth, but it does not seem outrageous to me. I get points for all the other things, except home births, and so do all of my friends.

Where the heck to you people scoring 2s and 3s live anyway?

Dubai. Vegas. Shanghai. The people that live these cities don't care about your compost bins. If you turned off the electricity in any of these towns within a week there would be nothing but human waste sludge, blowing toxic dust and non recyclable plastic. And diapers. A towering mountain of them.

Well that's a lot of ethnic stereotyping. Here for example are a bunch of posters from the Emirates talking about diapers: http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/general/raising-eco-baby-1.502628

(Tell me I do not have to explain that Dubai in UAE)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You left Out a huge one: limiting the number of children you have to replacement level (2) or fewer. It makes most people very uncomfortable to acknowledge the fact that the singlemost 'eco' thing you can do is not overpopulate. All the vegan carless composting you can imagine doesn't even approach the environmental footprint of adding another human to the planet with a life expectancy of 80 years. Really.

That is just stupid. China has one of the worst environmental records of any country, and they severely limit children. It is not "eco" to not have kids. You are essentially limiting the amount of granola babies born. I mean you would instill your crackpot beliefs into your progeny, wouldn't you? It seems that you would want more people raised in this glorious hippie manner.

You don't get it. The carbon impact produced PER PERSON is much smaller in China than in the US in part because of the one child policy.

http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2009/jul/family-planning-major-environmental-emphasis

I think you misread the article. It is saying that children have an impact on total carbon, not per capita carbon.

[Anonymous]

At last I am a perfect 10 in something!

Breastfeeding (1)
Baby wearing (1)
Cloth diapering (1)
Organic food (1)
Vegan/vegetarian/other dietary choices based on environmental impact (1 - we buy humanely raised meats from local farmers)
Recycling (1)
Natural cleaning products (1)
Avoidance of plastic and/or battery-operated toys (1)
Co-sleeping (1)
Car-free, hybrid car, or car-lite (one car for a family) (1 - have one car, bought used.)

[Anonymous]

I don't know about you, but I am feeling extremely guilty about all the skin I shed daily. Such a waste. I am trying to find ways to recycle my dead skin. I was thinking about crocheting a net from my lost hairs and my DH's used condoms. Then, I could take the collected skin and use harvested rain water to make a paste that I could apply to the roof of my grass hut to improve its rain shedding capabilities. Of course as long as it is done in a sensitive manner, as to not offend the clouds.

[Anonymous]

I recycle my 12 kids' sandwich bags as condoms! They work great!!

[Anonymous]

I got an 8 on your scale - and I agree that I'm pretty crunchy (though you wouldn't necessarily know that from looking at me). Surely I get extra points for two homebirths, right?

[Anonymous]

What? No battery-operated toys? Does my vibrator count? Wait, it's a plug-in, so I'm good.

[Anonymous]

Is crunchy a religion? Kooky cult? Poverty/third world thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is crunchy a religion? Kooky cult? Poverty/third world thing?

Honestly, I consider my crunchiness a religion -- yes. It's something I live by daily and I make rules for myself like 1. take anything that can't be recycled curbside to whole foods recycling bins 2. Buy all LED light bulbs 3. Cut down on meat products

etc... it really is a way of life and crunchiness influences many of my most basic and daily decisions..... I am not sure why it would be a poverty/third world thing. It's usually the most developed, sophisticated countries that are eco-friendly (ie- scandinavia)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is crunchy a religion? Kooky cult? Poverty/third world thing?

Honestly, I consider my crunchiness a religion -- yes. It's something I live by daily and I make rules for myself like 1. take anything that can't be recycled curbside to whole foods recycling bins 2. Buy all LED light bulbs 3. Cut down on meat products

etc... it really is a way of life and crunchiness influences many of my most basic and daily decisions..... I am not sure why it would be a poverty/third world thing. It's usually the most developed, sophisticated countries that are eco-friendly (ie- scandinavia)

Oh yes, please tell us the virtues of countries you DON'T live in

[Anonymous]

Extra point for being an atheist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


I love how people are always spouting this off as the gospel truth. You do realize the US birth rate is BELOW replacement level and has been for some time, don't you? Most developed nations have similar low birth rates.


this is not true. Simply said. It's NOT true. Our nation is growing rapidly due to several things: 1. immigration, 2. people having babies. Immigrants are the fastest growing population, esp. hispanics. By 2030 I think they said hispanics will make up 50% of the population, there was an article about it in the Post. You are crazy to think our birth rate is BELOW replacement. That's simply NOT TRUE.

What is your source? The US birth rate is hovering just below replacement value. Immigration is a different issue. And the real population boom problems are in third world nations. There's actually a "population aging" problem on the horizon in the industrialized nations.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j-rsHpEQoEp9X39o8M3t_MiOgxaw?docId=a46464eeb5ac4f779225ebec382f900a

"the United States has one of the highest population growth rates among industrialized nations. Its fertility rate is just below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman, but its population has been increasing by almost 1 percent annually due to immigration."