How pregnancy can change your view on sustainability

In the last six months, it´s become even clearer to me why we need to change this line of thought. Why complacency no longer counts as an argument, if we really want to change something. And why the actions of every single person count just as much as the big picture. Since i´m pregnant, a sustainable lifestyle has taken on a new meaning to me - out of love for the future of my child.

Sustainability in Everyday Life

In the past years, i've pretty much dived intensely into this topic and integrated the things into my life that i can easily implement. For example, i don't eat any meat, i use carsharing, public transport and often ride the bike, use mostly natural cosmetics, buy regional at local markets or second-hand, i drink tap water out of reusable bottles and try to use electricity and water sensibly.

A small start, but still there is still enough on my list that i have not managed yet: subscribing to a regional vegetable box, having less but more sustainable fashion in my closet, reducing plastic waste when shopping, and supporting more local stores instead of big chains. Knowing that we will be three people in our little family at the end of November, this list has actually grown. Why? Because i want to make a contribution so that our child can grow up safely on this planet. Because i want to teach him my values of protecting the environment. And of course because i only want the best for our baby. 

So all of a sudden, there are completely new questions about sustainability: Do we use cloth diapers or disposable ones? Which parts of the first shopping can we buy second-hand and which ones should be new? On what mattress should our newborn sleep? And - very importantly: What clothes should he wear on his skin?

Photo by © Sonja Köllinger

Less is More

Of course in answering these questions, there aren't just ethical aspects involved, but also financial and practical aspects. But there shouldn't be any excuses here either - the principle “less is more” still counts as much as ever: I´d rather invest in a few rompers from sustainable materials that grow with my child, than items of all sizes that will soon be too small anyway. Better to have a neat and smaller toy box, instead of having one that overflows with cheap plastic pieces and where only a fraction is played with anyway. It's absolutely fine to use used items, that may be already available in the circle of friends and can be passed onto the next family. All this saves money and is much more sustainable. And all this is a small step in the right direction.