Living a good life

The Good Life
by Francesca Price, New Holland, $39.99
Anyone keen to make their life cleaner and greener should grab a copy of Francesa Price's The Good Life.
Price offers readers easy and affordable ways to make the most of what we have in our backyards.
Her book is "your guide to a greener, cheaper and more fulfilling life in New Zealand".
Chapters include eating, shopping, parenting, holidays and travelling.
She notes that one of the biggest differences we can make when it comes to eating more sustainably is to buy locally grown food. Farmers' markets are the perfect place for this.
A lot of the advice offered is simple stuff such as turning off the tap while brushing your teeth and turning appliances off at the wall. But what makes this book special is the detail Price goes into.
It's not just a "do this" and "do that" book ... it's more try this and when you find it works try this ... she also points readers to websites for in-depth knowledge. Every household should have a copy of this book so the entire family can browse at leisure. If everyone who read it just made one change for the better to the environment imagine what that could mean in the long term.
Extract:
Oh, the responsibilities of parenthood. From the minute they're born, our children present us with dozens of daily decisions about how we feed them, clothe them, medicate them, educate them, discipline them and generally raise them. They force us to evaluate who we are and what values and lessons we want to pass on.
The way you decide to be a greener parent will change as your children grow. At first, it will largely involve the decisions you make on their behalf, be that the food you feed them, the nappies you wrap them in or the chemicals you try to limit their exposure to.
As they get older - and this is the scary part - it is your own behaviour that will have the most significant impact on them. There is little point lecturing your children about turning off lights to stop climate change if you drive them to school in a four-wheel drive every day.
Tell your kids to do something and they will invariably do the opposite; show them and you have a convert.
It was having children that first pricked my environmental conscience. I was far more of a live-for-the-day person before my daughters came along. I earned reasonable money and spent it freely on disposable items, eating out, driving my car and flying to far-flung parts of the world. I was pretty self-orientated and, amazingly, even a holiday in the depths of the disappearing Amazon didn't spur me into action.
However, the birth of my first daughter did. I was immediately struck by the awesome responsibility of what I chose to put into her tiny body. I read everything I could get my hands on and learned about the benefits of breast milk and organic food. I also learned to trust my instincts - which told me these things would give her the best start in life.
Over time, it started to dawn on me that there was little point spending hours mushing up organic food if I wasn't also looking after the world I had brought her into. It forced me to start thinking beyond the little world of my family and to start considering what was right for the planet. I realise now this is the basis of all holistic living. If we look after the whole, then the whole looks after us - be that a body, a garden or a planet.
I'm sure most of you didn't have to go through childbirth to get to this point but still, today, it is my kids that keep me focused. I know that they will bear the legacy of what I do or don't do; in the same way we bear the legacy of our parents and their parents before them.
I also know I am being watched and my actions will be copied. If I can plant a seed with them, say no to a plastic bag, walk to the dairy, and go on a bush walk rather than to the mall, I am showing them what I consider to be important.
Of course, the downside of this is that your children become your watchdogs and, the minute you slacken, they will be the first ones to pick up on it. Recently, we went for a walk on a wild west coast beach that was about a 20-minute trek from the car park. As we wandered back along the shoreline, one of my daughters spotted a collection of plastic bottles that had washed up. Lazily, I was hoping we could ignore them as we had our gear to carry but she was insistent that we bring them home to recycle. What could I say? I wrapped the oily bottles in a towel and lugged them back to the car.
There are many other ways you can demonstrate to children how to look after their environment but, of course, you don't have to be a parent to do any of these. Children will learn from any adult they spend time with - grandparents, teachers, family friends. In fact they will often listen and watch another key adult in their life with far more interest.
Being a godparent and a little lacking in Christian credentials, I am hoping that I can, at least, play a role as an environmental educator if not a religious one.
Your green baby
Being born in New Zealand sets children up for a great start in living a greener life. They are born into a place of outstanding natural beauty, clean air and positive, supportive attitudes toward natural parenting.
There is an acceptance that children are a part of daily life and that we will work together to protect them from anything that poses a threat to their health and their environment. The challenge, as a new parent, is working out what those threats may be and doing your best to minimise them in your child's life.
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is one of the best ways you can give your baby a healthy, environmentally friendly start in life.
Breast milk is often referred to as nature's perfect food: rich in all the nutrients that a newborn baby needs until it is at least four to six months old. Not only does breastfeeding boost the immune system and lower a baby's risk of illness, it leaves behind no waste. A University of Otago study found that it boosts IQ levels too. The World Health Organisation recommends that mothers breastfeed their infants for two years. Yet only about one in every six New Zealand women breastfeed until their babies are six months old. Only you can decide what is right for you and your baby, but if you are looking for support or just more information a good place to start is La Leche League (www.lalecheleague.org.nz).
Bottle Feeding
Of course, not all mothers can breastfeed, which can lead to feelings of frustration and inadequacy for mothers whose babies were born prematurely or for other reasons could not feed naturally.
You can make bottle feeding your baby into a more natural experience by increasing your skin-to-skin contact. This encourages the nurturing hormone, prolactin, to flow and bonds you with your baby. Massage, co-sleeping and using a baby sling are other ways to get physically close to your baby. And dads can do all these, too.
Extract taken from The Good Life, by Francesca Price, published by New Holland, RRP $39.99