Pediatrician Dr. Alan Greene, a leading authority and spokesman for the “green baby movement,” didn’t change his last name to underscore his passion for environmentally sound parenting—he was just born that way. Destined to live up to his name, he is dedicated and determined to educate all eco-conscious parents who are wondering how we can save our planet and our children’s future. Dr. Greene shares some of his wisdom with Glam.

Your book, Raising Baby Green: The Earth-Friendly Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Baby Care, raises important topics for parents to consider. Why do you think it’s such crucial timing to get this message out?
If you think about all the childhood illnesses that have increased in the last 20 years—and there are a lot of them: allergies, asthma, ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), autism, high blood pressure, diabetes—it’s not that our genes have suddenly changed in the past two decades; it’s the environment that we live in.

There’s a real need for us to be green parents for the sake of our children’s current and future health. How would you define a green parent?
Green parents are those who begin, ideally early on, raising children with an awareness of the connection between their kids and the environment. With conscious awareness, a green parent strives to do things each day in small, incremental steps that improve the quality of our environment, by preserving forests, cleaning air, husbanding soil, protecting wildlife, valuing dwindling resources, and at the same time maintaining our climate and sustaining our planet’s crucial resources.

You say that raising a green baby starts as early as pregnancy.
It certainly starts during pregnancy. There was a study I was involved in where we found an average of 200 industrial chemicals in the blood of babies’ umbilical cords at the moment they were born. What this teaches us is that there is not some gap between what is happening out there in the streams and in the air and what’s happening in our bodies—it’s all connected.

Your book describes a study about children who made the switch to organic foods—even for just one day—and the positive results they reaped.
Yes, this is a very encouraging study, and the ongoing work since then suggests that, within 24 hours, you can make a big difference in your child’s pesticide exposure. The children, who were eating nonorganic foods, had evidence of organophosphates—the nerve toxin pesticides that we know cause a lot of health problems (such as decreased intelligence and increased attention problem in kids and hormone problems in adults)—in their urine at levels above what the EPA considers safe. They were switched to a mostly organic diet—they ate the same foods as before, only organic. The children were tested day and night, and within 24 hours, the evidence of pesticides in the body not only virtually disappeared but also stayed low for five days in a row. In the final stage of the study, the children were put back on their regular, nonorganic diet and their pesticide level shot right back up.

That study alone would make parents think seriously about spending the extra money for organic food, but what do you say to parents who balk at the idea of spending so much in this economy on more expensive food choices?
Any time you buy something, whether it's food, clothing, cars, houses, or whatever, you pay for its value, right? Things that cost more usually provide a higher, longer-lasting value to the consumer. I was involved recently in a study through The Organic Center that proves organic food is, on average, 25 percent more nutritious, so you're definitely getting more for your money.

One of the struggles parents have is trying to get extra servings of fruits and vegetables in their kids, and when you buy organic, every time you eat four servings, it's like you're getting a whole extra serving of nutrients that your kid wouldn't be getting in eating regular food.

And it could be more costly in the long run not to buy organic foods, if you’re creating disease in your body through pesticide intake.
That’s one thing we have to realize as parents. We are going to invest in our kids’ health in one way or another: in money, in time, and in attention. How much better to do it in a delicious and preventive way than in medical treatments after the fact?

One of the many great and simple ideas that you suggest in your book is for families or individuals to replace a box of regular tissues with recycled tissues. I’ve never even thought of doing that—and most people probably don’t.
The ripple effect of that is huge. The Natural Resources Defense Council calculated that if every household in the U.S. switched just one conventional box of tissues to recycled ones, together we would save 163,000 trees for our children’s world. And just by saving forests we’re helping to reduce global warming, one of the biggest topics of the day. But there is a lot more benefit than that: The recycled tissue comes from recycled paper that would’ve ended up in a landfill someplace or burned in an incinerator, so by switching just one box of tissues, you save more than 453,000 cubic feet of landfill space and avoid more than 10,600 pounds of pollution.

~Jill Daniel

For more information on Dr. Greene and making healthy green choices for pregnancy, childbirth, baby, and childcare, visit his website and sign up for the free e-newsletter.

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