Dane Buy Local: Oh The Choices We Have To Make

By Justin Bomberg

“It’s time.” That’s all she said. Very calmly and most assuredly.

My wife knew she would soon be giving birth, and as her husband and a soon-to-be father, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, and the word “sustainable” were about to take on a whole new meaning for me.

As soon as we knew about the pregnancy, the world became a different place. It was as if a genetic switch was turned on deep within my soul, and instincts I did not even know I had started dictating my actions. Subconsciously, my interests and concerns changed instantly. The Rolling Stone magazines were replaced with Mothering magazines. I was learning that I had a “mothering” instinct along with the obvious “fathering” instinct.

What amazed me about the experience was how natural it all felt. After all, my wife was growing a human being within her, and while we were making all sorts of decisions along the way, it was clear we were at the mercy of Mother Nature. At each step along the way, I wanted to make sure our decisions complimented the natural order, rather than fight against Mother Nature. I will never forget the videotapes we saw of newborn babies being immediately placed on their mother’s belly, and within minutes of being born, trying to latch onto its mother’s nipple all on its own. The babies just knew what to do. Sorry Spielberg, but ya got nothin’ on these movies!

We chose to have our children born at our home, and I am extremely thankful we were able to do this. Dane County has some wonderful options for midwives to assist in homebirths, and the expert care we received from Ingrid Andersson and her team (gentlehomebirth.org), and Aszani Kunkler and her team (madisonbirthcenter.com), was tremendous. Having a homebirth greatly reduces the environmental footprint of the birthing process, and it strengthens that connection to nature for the parents and for the child.

I have never seen such physical and emotional strength and toughness as my wife showed that day. The unspoken communication and calmness between the midwives was impressive, especially with so much at stake and the pain my wife was going through. There was an emergency hospital plan in the small chance that medical intervention was necessary, but otherwise everyone was trusting the natural process of birth. Their mothering instincts were completely engaged.

Of course homebirth is not an option for everyone, and some mothers might not feel comfortable with this option, and making sure a soon-to-be mother is as comfortable and confident as possible is crucial. Whatever decision a mother makes though, there are many decisions along the way that can help parents connect more with their own inner natures, and to start their child on a sustainable path before they are even born.

Our birth experiences have left me feeling that birth and parenting are perhaps the most important issues we face in the environmental movement. Sustainability begins in the womb, where we all began, but American society teaches to us separate from our inner natures. We are often told that we need medical interventions before children even leave the womb, when this is often not the case, further separating us from the natural process. The theme of separation continues after birth, where in order to “get by” in society, parents need to get back to work right away and leave their kids sometimes as soon as six weeks after birth.

Sustainability is about nurturing, and environmentalists are motivated by an intense caring for Nature. The bond between a mother and child is nurturing in its purest form. This is why I feel issues around pregnancy and birth are perhaps the most important environmental issues we face. If more children were raised connected Nature, and taught to know and respect their inner mothering instincts, I strongly believe the collective will power needed to make the tough decisions to reverse global warming, and solve other environmental issues would exist. Solving these problems will be challenging, but they certainly are not more difficult than growing a child within yourself, giving birth, and then raising a child through the first few years of their life.

Another Mother’s Day has recently passed, and surely greeting card companies and restaurants enjoyed that day, yet few seem to know how Mother’s Day itself was born. The mothering instinct has been celebrated in various cultures for centuries, and one of the first people to start a movement in America to create a Mother’s Day was Julia Ward Howe, when she wrote her “Mother’s Day Proclamation” in 1870. Ward Howe wrote the Proclamation as a call to “arms” - the kind used for hugs - for mothers of the world to stop war. The Proclamation reads:

“Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

For me, Mother’s Day is about sustaining the human species, and Mother Nature. Mother’s Day serves to honor the mothers in our own lives, and also to encourage the mothering instinct in all of us. Likewise, with Father’s Day upon us, we can discover and celebrate the mothering instincts within us males as well.

As the “Green” movement continues to grow, I hope issues around birth and parenting become more prominent. Natural birth should be supported more. Families should be allowed to spend more time with their newborns before being ordered back into the workplace, among other “pro-family” initiatives. Mother Nature tells us it should be this way.

For our planet and all life on it, I hope all of us, male or female, with or without children, can tap into the “mothering” spirit within each one of us. This is truly how we will be able to make the world sustainable for generations to come.
In the words of my hero, once again, “It’s time.”

Justin Bomberg is a member of the board of Wisconsin Partners for Sustainability and president of Story Me This Productions, Inc.