Now that my diabetes is back under control again, I have plenty of time and energy to obsess over other things. Namely my beautiful little boy, who's 7 months old already, and making sure the world is safe for him and future generations. (Note: This has absolutely NOTHING to do with diabetes!)

It started around Earth Day. We "celebrated" the day like any other day. My husband put pesticides on the front lawn (die grubs! die!) and I carted home a dozen (doubled) disposable plastic bags of groceries, including a big bag of Pampers. I then proceeded to clean the house, using standard petroleum-based cleaners and paper towels.

Needless to say, we weren't a very green household.

Then, I was given a freelance writing assignment about a local hospital's new green initiative. In short, one office is going paperless and saving 200,000 sheets of paper a month. That translates to two dozen trees saved each month!

In doing the research, I became pretty sick to my stomach about how much waste I personally create. The statistic that struck me the most was about diapers. It takes 500 years for one disposable diaper to degrade. 500 YEARS!! It's just mind-boggling. To put in into context, 516 years ago, Columbus "discovered" America. 500 years from now, it will be 2508. And my little boy's poopy diapers may live to see that?!?

As I weighed my options--cloth diapers, which are costly to get started on, use up a lot of energy and water and are a messy and time consuming labor of love, or disposables, that practically never degrade and are filled with all sorts of chemicals (but are oh, so easy to use!)--I found a better alternative: The gDiaper.

The gDiaper combines the best of both worlds. Cloth outer with a disposable liner. Actually, the liner is flushable, compostable and completely biodegradeable. It breaks down in just 50 to 150 DAYS. It is an amazing invention and best of all, it does the job its intended to do.

My new diapering obsession has given way to being more green in everything I do. I use washclothes to clean instead of paper towels, bring my own reusable bags to the grocery store (when I remember to, and I feel really guilty when I forget), I'm recycling everything I can remember to recycle and I'm being more aware of what chemicals are in the cleaning products I use.

I realize it is just a small part in the bigger problem, but I feel a lot better about myself and more hopeful for the future of our world with every diaper I flush.