Why Being “Green” Matters to Me
When thinking about branching out from Chloe and Doogie’s adorable instagram page to dive into the world of green, cruelty-free baby and beauty products, I asked myself why this mattered to me and what I have to offer. I wrote out a few bullet points on a plane ride from Maui to San Jose, California recently, and once I got going, I got really excited about the idea of having my own blog.
I’ll take it way back for a moment so you can get an idea of where I came from and henceforth, what I feel I have to offer in this space.
At a young age, I was very outdoorsy — I loved to play outside with my sister, I was always on sports teams that had to do with being outside (swimming, tennis), I was in an all-sports summer camp outside everyday from age 7 to 15 (when they finally said I was too old to return as a camper), and trips with my family always included outdoor hikes, exploration or walks. As my Dad is now a retired airline pilot, his passion was flying, traveling to new parts of the world, seeing how others lived, observing lifestyles, and returning home to share the things he had seen. Due to his occupation, my sister and I were fortunate to travel a ton with my parents growing up, and very early on had a prevalent appreciation for our world. In addition to our travels, we spent winters as kids on the ski mountains of Park City, Utah and from 8am until 4:30pmwhen the chairlifts closed, I spent my days wizzing in and out of the trees. My parents instilled in me at a young age how precious the environment is and the importance of preserving its resources. If I had a dime for every time my dad screamed at me to “turn off the water–you’re wasting it!!” or “that can be recycled you know,” I wouldn’t need to work — ever!!
As I grew up, these morals stuck with me and by the time I got to college and chose my major of Recreation and Leisure Studies, I hit my stride with the great outdoors. I took classes that focused on eco-tourism, planned Earth Day in May for my classmates with a group of friends, visited National Parks and wrote essays on the park preservation, studied the practice of Flow (click the link if ya dont know, now ya know), and spent hours reading books on environmental sustainability. Now, I realize that ski resorts, golf courses and public recreational facilities often go against the concepts of eco-tourism and building sustainable environments due to the need to cut down trees, clear space, create man-made environments, etc., but my point is more that I consciously developed a well-rounded view of how our resources and environments were impacted in a holistic way.
Flash-forward to my present day life where I live on the 3rd floor of a cute, shabby-chic old building on the Bay Area Peninsula, working in Human Resources (not at all connected to environmental sustainability, but a career that fulfills me), and married to a wonderful human with a baby on the way. We spend our leisure time going for walks, hiking, seeking out new places we could take creative day-trips to enjoy the great outdoors and visiting family. My husband is also quite outdoorsy and although he never disclosed this during our dating years, when we moved in together, I quickly picked up on how conscious he is of his carbon footprint. Lights are always turned down at night, water is off during the brushing portion of teeth cleaning, leaky faucets are tended to in a timely manner, and everything — I mean everything — is recycled properly. I thought I was pretty good at recycling, but I was no match for Charlie who will meticulously rifle through the garbage to find the one item I discarded that he knows can be recycled.
So — How does all of this relate to starting a green baby + beauty blog? Glad you asked! Although my life has changed from frolicking outdoors all day to working inside an office building, my morals are still intact and thinking about the planet, my impact on it, our garbage and recycling practices, and how I can be better at giving back to the earth, while being conscious of what I’m putting on and in my body, is still important and prevalent in my everyday life. I think through what I put on my body, my face, what products we use to clean our home, what we put on our pets, what they eat, how much waste we create, and soon, I’ll also be thinking about how to create the best environment I can for my baby. Because I spend so much time thinking about this, I thought I would share my journey with you as I stumble through becoming a new mom and everything that entails, with my background of being an environmentally-conscious citizen as my north star — I am truly a BEGINNER in every sense of the word and here is where I will share my trials, my errors, products that “wow” our family, and more. Will I make mistakes? Most certainly. Will I learn new things? Absolutely. Will I have hard days as a new mom and reach out to ask questions? You can count on it. But I’m excited for all of it and can’t wait to #GoGreen with all of you along the way.
My hope is to create an environment where I can share my thoughts on being an environmentally-conscious Mom in 2018 but also provide an opportunity to hear your feedback, thoughts, stories, amazing product recommendations and spend time talking about our planet and how we can do better, everyday.
Love <3
Val
3 Comments
Maria
Hi Val! I’m a mom to a two year old toddler and found that when I became a mom I became more mindful of reducing waste, my carbon footprint and finding products that are natural for baby. I can’t wait for you to share more!
Linn Smith
You really inspire me. When I was in high school we started an ecology club. People scoffed and only certain soda cans were all aluminum back in the day. We planted trees and tried to be good steward but we were a little ahead if the curve. I’ve always been ahead. Those days stayed with me and I still try to do the right thing. With this new season of life you will experience many things. Enjoy them all. I think John Lennon said” life is what happens when you’ve made other plans” so true. Just remember its all worth it.
Lori Horta
This was fantastic to read. I really look forward to reading these and learning from you as well. You have always come off as easy going and very friendly. I think you will do a great job at being a mother just by the way you take care of Doogie and Chloe. Everything is strange at first but by the end of the first month, you will be a pro!