In Search of a Celebrity Organic Mom

I’m not immune to the allure of celebrity. And I see how it sells green books. The ones with famous people attached to them absolutely have better Amazon ranks than those that don’t. Odd but undeniable.

So it’s only natural that I wish one of the bumps People, Us Weekly, and others are constantly writing about would suddenly start carrying around a dog-eared copy of The Complete Organic Pregnancy and telling the stalking paparazzi and all reporters they speak to just how important having an organic pregnancy is.

I see pictures of Jennifer Garner pushing a cart full of loaded cloth bags outside of a Whole Foods and wonder (longingly) if she’s the one to be our poster bump girl. I think she’s a much, much more likely candidate than Ashley Simpson. And I harbor a certain fantasy that perhaps (I hope) Jessica Alba read the book. I’ve SEEN several reports saying she has greened her recently born babe. InStyle wrote that she has an eco-nursery filled with organic cotton onesies and did eco-friendly renovations. It’s funny how taken the tabloids are with pregnancy. I get it -- I’m quite taken myself.

Wouldn’t it be great if the celebrity offspring on BabyRazzi.com were instead constantly covered on EcoRazzi.com? (haven’t yet surfed here? I warn you, it’s addictive.) And the outfits various supermarket checkout magazines are constantly highlighting on young Suri, Violet, and Shiloh? What if they were all organic cotton, fair trade, thrift store finds, or even hand-me-downs? That would make me so happy. And the bottle all of these same rags are constantly debating if Suri should still be carrying around at her age? What if it were glass? Not even BPA-free plastic but regular old totally inert and easy to recycle glass. That would really be something.

I remember that a while back, way before my baby-making days, the model Cindy Crawford went on a national daytime television show and made her own baby food. She had read about home making baby food in a book, Super Baby Food (one I used for some helpful guidelines for my own daughter) and felt the need to tout the concept to the world.

If this is the sort of word of mouth that gets organic parenting the widespread audience -- and eventually practitioners -- so be it. The movement needs help to get to the next level. I’ve certainly had plenty of other environmentalists point out to me that having a child is about the least eco-friendly thing you can do. But it can be done in a mindful manner. And it would clearly have a big impact if more people parented green.

I guess it just needs to be made sexy by a few celebrities and we’re there. Come to think of it, more celebs -- not just the parents -- need to be making biking and things like reusable water bottles trendy. Imagine if every picture of a star with their giant iced coffee were replaced by an image of them holding a Kleen Kanteen bottle? Revolutionary.

There are clearly plenty of people in Hollywood very involved with environmental causes. But organic moms don’t yet have a mascot. And we need one. Ms. Garner, are you reading this?