Hello Blogosphere! You may already know me as Manager of Nature Canada’s Protected Areas Program, but I’ll soon start to wear a second hat on the Nature Canada Blog…

Every Friday for the next while I’ll be posting my personal accounts of trying to be a ‘green parent’. My wife and I joyously welcomed our first child, a beautiful baby girl, in July and we’re excited to see how well our strong environmental values withstand the many demands – and conveniences – of modern-day parenthood.

My wife and I both have academic and professional backgrounds in biology and the environmental sciences, but our new role as parents will no doubt challenge us in many ways we can’t even imagine…

This series will focus on the various environmentally responsible parenting choices my wife and I make, such as which baby products we buy, what foods we eat and the various things we do to maintain a small ecological footprint. I’ll also write about the ways we try to gradually help our little girl connect to nature.

Now for some housekeeping.

This series will describe my own parenting choices and experiences and should in no way be interpreted as parenting, lifestyle or other advice coming from me or Nature Canada. It’s just a way for me to share my green parenting thoughts, ideas and challenges (and failures…?) with you, the Reader.

Check back next Friday for Part 2, describing what we did to create a safe, ‘harmful chemical-free’ environment for our baby prior to her arrival.

Image 1: Me with my newborn daughter (Photo: J. MacDonald)
Image 2: Hemlock grove on Frozen Ocean Lake in Kejimkujik National Park & National Historic Site (Photo: A. MacDonald)