Some Real Q&A with a Real ‘Live’ Green Mom

Living green is harder for some than others. Some of us live in cities and states that don’t have curbside recycling programs. Some of us are busy diaper-changing, house-running mothers. Helga of Live Green Mom has been both. In fact, where she’s found the time to raise two children, green up her family’s lifestyle AND blog about it may be the biggest attraction for Live Green Mom’s readers.

Recently, our resident green and solar guru Taylen had the pleasure of asking the Live Green Mom some questions about the trials and triumphs of attempting the holy eco-trinity: Living. Greening. Mothering.

Why the green life? What was the light bulb that clicked on to start this lifestyle?

A: When I was 12, in 1982, I spent the summer in Hamburg, Germany with my grandparents, my Oma and Opa. My grandparents brought their own shopping bags to the markets with them.  Everyone was actively recycling and there were places to recycle everywhere, including metal bins placed here and there to drop off your old batteries.  In 1982! Unheard of here in the USA! I remember thinking “What a pain, why don’t they just throw it away?”

I didn’t think of it again until I became an adult. When I moved from Texas to Boston, in 1995, I noticed that recycling was a part of most everybody’s daily life. Recycling bins were everywhere. I did the basic recycling that our garbage pick up service offered, but that was about it. It wasn’t until I became a mom and the garbage really started to pile up – diapers, wipes, etc – that it started to sink in more. But I was elbow-deep and sleep-deprived in raising babies and toddlers, so I still didn’t dig in like I should have.

What measures are you taking in your everyday life to be green?

A: To me, being green isn’t just about recycling, reducing, reusing. It’s about trying to eat more organic foods, less processed foods, getting rid of chemicals in our household. I’ve done a great job, if I do say so myself, on getting rid of chemicals around my house. That was not hard at all.  The food thing? That’s my challenge. My kids, while not being junky eaters, refuse to try new fruits and vegetables based on color & texture. It’s the single most frustrating thing I deal with these days, my children and what they will – and won’t – eat.

I do make it a point to recycle what I can. You know, you cannot recycle a pizza box with a grease stain on it, but I’ve been know to cut off those parts of the box so I could recycle the rest. I point it out to the kids so they get the message – can’t recycle all of it? Then try and recycle what you can of it. We also, of course, bring our own stainless steel water bottle with us when we go out. I bring my own containers to restaurants for leftovers, instead of using a to-go box. I know that if I implement these ideals in my kids early on (they are 6 and 8), then it just becomes a thoughtful way of life for them, instead of a struggle to change ingrained habits when they are older.

How is it different living in New England as compared to Texas in regards to the green life?

A: It is WAY different! It seems as though Massachusetts is just ahead of the curve in all things green, compared to Texas. Texas is getting there, but my mom only just starting having the option to curbside recycle over the past couple of years. She isn’t in the best of health, so keeping her recyclables and toting them to a recycling center just wasn’t an option for her. So she just threw everything away. When I go back home, I see all the little holes here and there that could be filled with a greener option. Here, I can bring plastic bags I have accumulated from bread or whatever to the grocery store and put it in a plastic bag recycling bin. When I’m back in Dallas, not so much. Not everyone shops at Whole Foods.

Has being a wife and mother change the pursuit of being green? If so, in what ways?

A:  I started to realize that I wanted my children, and grandchildren, to be able to enjoy the earth the way I have, the way our grandparents have. And with the way things are going, it is getting harder and harder to promise my kids anything close to what we knew. Just like when I was a kid in elementary school, I could go outside and roam my neighborhood for hours, playing with whoever was home, and coming back in time for dinner. Can’t do that now. Someone would call social services on you! What is the weather going to be like for my grandchildren? What we do today with our environment directly affects the answer to that question.

Also, the environment is having a direct impact on our health. Infertility, allergies, asthma. My son was born with nut allergies and eczema, and no one in my family has ever had any allergies. What caused that? I’m lucky it wasn’t worse, and I’m even luckier that he has outgrown his nut allergy. But many aren’t so fortunate, and I think it will get worse. I also hope that by having a greener lifestyle, my children have no problem having their own children someday. Infertility due to environmental reasons are a very big issue these days. Plastics are coming back to bite us in the ass.

What ideas, tips, and/or advice do you have for other families trying to do their part in going green?

A: It is so easy to enthusiastically  say “from now on, I’m green all the way!” but hard to implement on a large scale all at once.  My whole thing is “small changes add up.” Start with baby steps or you will get overwhelmed and give up. Most of us think in an all-or-nothing mindset, “If I can’t do it all I’m not going to do any of it,” but that doesn’t get us anywhere. You wouldn’t expect your child to master reading the first week he was taught it; reading is taught in steps until you master it. It takes time. Same with going green. Start small and build from there. We are all learning and working toward the same goal. Hopefully!

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As a man not totally foreign to child-rearing (I have done my small share of doo-doo duty) and brother to a real-live green mom in her own right, I have born witness to the tribulations of trying to raise children eco-friendly. I’ve seen the price tag on Seventh Generation diapers. I know that some kids just don’t want organic carrots over individually wrapped Ho-Hos. Yet I’ve only had a small taste of the everyday challenges that Helga and the Live Green Mom ilk face and the dedication it must take to continually strive to get healthier and greener.

Such is the inspiration of Live Green Mom as she helps create an inter-web of green lifers — mother, father, uncle and aunt alike.

Posted on May 26th in CalFinder Solar by Dan.