Jen Gale - The Sustainable(ish) Guide to Green Parenting: Guilt-free Eco-ideas for Raising your Kids

For parents everywhere keep on keeping on.

Contents

My thanks again to the brilliant team at Green Tree and Bloomsbury for being so lovely to work with, and so enthusiastic about a second book! Special thanks to Charlotte Croft and Holly Jarrald for polishing my ideas and ramblings into a much more cohesive format!

Thanks as well to my lovely agent Kate who was on maternity leave for much of the period during which this book was coming to life (congratulations Kate and family!) and to Rachel for stepping in to cover so seamlessly.

Im not sure many books written during 2020 will fail to acknowledge the tireless work of our amazing key workers and NHS staff who have kept the country running during these unprecedented times thank you all for your hard work and the sacrifices youve so selflessly made.

Which brings me on to thank my husband, a key worker himself, who instead of getting a bit of downtime at the weekends had to pick up the reins of entertaining the kids whilst I attempted to hide myself away (usually unsuccessfully, it has to be said) and write.

And of course, thanks to our kids, William and Samuel, for being so bloody resilient during lockdown, for putting up with some of Mummys more crazy eco-ideas, and for both learning to make a cracking cup of tea.

Lastly, I said it in The Sustainable(ish) Living Guide , but I make no apologies for saying it again here a massive thank you to YOU. For being curious, for reading, getting informed, and for making a difference.

Having kids is a life-changing experience. It changes your life in all the obvious ways less sleep, less disposable income, fewer nights out, a whole new set of challenges. More joy, more laughter, and more love than you ever knew was possible.

Its also one of the most climate-unfriendly things we can do as individuals. According to Mike Berners-Lee, in his brilliant book How Bad are Bananas? where he lists the carbon footprint of pretty much everything, having a child results in the release of anywhere between 210 and 5000+ tonnes of CO2 depending on how you raise them, and whether they continue to live in an eco-friendly way once theyve left home.

Now lets be clear here, the very last thing I want to do is to shame anyone, or to up your levels of guilt/anxiety. Having kids or not is a hugely personal decision. Its your decision to make (we have two kids, Im not judging anyone) and if youre reading this book, the chances are that decision has already been made. However, what we can take from this is that we as parents can have a huge impact on the impact that both we and our kids have on the planet.

With a whole new precious life to look after, comes a whole new perspective on the world, and maybe even our place in it. We see the future differently. We start to look beyond our own lifespans and look towards the kind of world our kids might be living in when theyre all grown up. The expectation (certainly in more recent times) has been that each generation will be better off than the one before that they will be more affluent, and that their quality of life will be better. We almost took it for granted.

And now were suddenly faced with the stark reality that this new generation may be one of the first to be facing a significantly poorer future than we were able to look forward to as children.

We look to the future, to their future, only to be hit by the realisation that the someday impact of our rapidly warming planet is now very much an impact that will be seen in the lifetime of our new child.

In 2018 the IPCC (Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change) told us we had just 12 years to make unprecedented changes if we were to limit climate change to 1.5oC above pre-industrial levels. Were currently on course for a 35 oC rise by 2100. And while I personally wouldnt be able to tell if my cuppa was at 97 oC or 95.5 oC, the planet can tell. At or below 1.5 oC, things will change, but in a way that we, and the planets ecosystems, can adapt to. If nothing changes and we continue on the current trajectory, our kids are looking at a very different world, with rising sea levels causing a loss of land for living and growing food on. We are already seeing climate refugees people having to move from their homes due to the encroachment of the sea, or because land that could once be farmed is now too dry, or it floods and destroys crops. Our kids are potentially looking at a more crowded planet, with less habitable land, less drinkable water, less available food, more severe weather events more frequently, more disputes and more exploitation of both people and planet.

If youve read The Sustainable(ish) Living Guide , youll know that uplifting starts to books are not my forte, but I think we need to be clear about what the future could be. Not to scare the crap out of you and paralyse you with anxiety, but to show you whats at stake.

The future Ive just described is not what any of us wants, but its the future were creating for our kids if nothing changes. If we dont change. Yes, we need governments to take radical action. Yes, we need businesses to make huge changes. But we also need to make change ourselves, and together we absolutely CAN make a difference.

In that IPCC report, they called for unprecedented change and that sounds pretty daunting, doesnt it? But, actually, all it means is doing something we havent done before. As a new parent (or indeed at any stage of parenting), everything we do is unprecedented! Were constantly learning new skills, doing new things. Weve got unprecedented nailed down. Now all we need to do is to take those skills of adaptation, learning and resilience and use them to make some better choices for the planet. Simple, right?!

Well yes, kind of. Lots of the changes and ideas Im sharing in this book are simple. Theres no rocket science, no silver bullet, no secret blend of herbs and spices that Im going to share. These really are simple changes, many of them akin to the kinds of things our grandparents were doing just a couple of generations ago. But just because things are simple doesnt mean theyre easy.

We live in a society where were told over and over again that more is better, that new is better. Were bombarded with literally thousands of messages a day telling us that our lives will be better, easier, if we buy x, y or z. That well be more beautiful, richer or more successful if we have the latest gadget or that shiny new pair of shoes. Our lives are busier than they have ever been. Convenience trumps all. More often than not we choose the quickest and easiest options, not because we dont care, but because were busy, and tired, and stressed. We fall into very unintentional habits.

And when it boils down to it, a lot of what Im going to share in this book is all about changing habits. Creating a new, sustainable(ish) normal. Making changes to lifelong habits is hard (but that doesnt mean were not going to make a start!). And when were making changes in not only our own habits but doing it as a family, its even harder (again, not an excuse not to start).