Will baby Arthur have a “green” bottom? This PA pic was taken by a former colleague and friend Andrew Parsons
What nappies did baby Leo wear?
So blue is the new green, but is the blue brigade true to this?
As press officer for East Anglia’s leading recycling roadshow Slim Your Bin, I once contacted Cherie Blair’s office in the run up to Nappy Week to ask if baby Leo used the environmentally friendly nappies and whether she would endorse them to help divert the tens of thousands of disposables dumped at landfill sites.
As the first lady of the country, I felt she could set a glowing example by giving the cotton alternative her stamp of approval. High profile and celebrity endorsement, if genuine, is a great boost; after all, look what Twiggy has done for M&S.
Her refusal to come clean over MMR at a time when the public had grave concerns about possible side effects had left a very nasty taste and I felt this was one way she could redeem herself.
But the answer was a resounding no. Her family’s private life would remain that way and regardless of whether she chose cotton nappies or threw out disposables, she did not want to add her weight to a campaign which encouraged mums to use cotton nappies.
What possible harm could that have done? Why has Cherie never wanted to connect with mothers?
Next week it is the launch of this year’s Real Nappy campaign. It is estimated that between 400,000 – 500,000 nappies a year are disposed of at landfill, taking up to 500 years to decompose.
I’m wondering if David Cameron, the proud father of a new baby son, will boost his green credentials even further by coming clean about young Arthur and his nappy wear.
Ellee, you should know better.
Cherie Blair is not the first lady. Don’t pander to their nonsense by refering to her as such.
Louise,
Are you saying that Cherie isn’t a lady? :>)
That wasn’t my initial intention, but it is a point!
And is the use of traditional nappis that environmentally friendly – what with all the detergent used to clean them – the carbon used to heat the scarce water to clean then and inveitably the carbon used to power the radiators or tumble drier used to dry them.
Can you tell I dont have kids :o)
As Jonathan Sheppard pointed out, it’s between the devil and deep blue sea as far as nappies are concerned. The alternative, a world without nappies, is too awful to contemplate. I suppose one could buy one of those high-pressure hoses used at car washes. But then that would risk ‘throwing the baby out with the bath water’ to recycle an old phrase.
Mind you, there are one or two grown-ups I wouldn’t mind taking a water cannon to.
Even if ‘sposies and cloth nappies used the same energy overall you can’t escape the fact that 8 million bundles of s*** end up in our landfill sites EVERY DAY.
The next time you pour a glass of water let’s hope the pathogens have been successfully removed from it after it filtered down through all those nappies to the aquafer.