According to financial analyst, Charles Sizemore, in his article Stocks: Investing in a Dirty Business (SFO Weekly), 4 million new users of disposable diapers will be added in 2010 alone. Why this astounding number? Sizemore contends that we are in the beginning stages of a new baby boom, with the number of births in the U.S. expected to spike in the coming years.
Bear with me for a minute while I launch into a little review of U.S history (Sizemore’s article served as a refresher course for me, too). “Baby Boomers” is the term used to describe the generation of children, now older adults, born after World War II. These “boomers” gave birth to another large generation of children in the 1960s and 1970s, who are sometimes referred to as the “echo boomers” (who knew I was an echo boomer?). Even younger than the echo boomers is the millennium generation, a term used to describe anyone with a birth date between roughly the late 1970s and the year 2000. According to Sizemore, these echo boomers, along with the millennium generation, are predicted to add to the U.S. population by becoming parents themselves, in record numbers.
Let’s cut to the chase. Sizemore makes the argument that, based on these predictions, investing in disposable diaper stocks is a pretty good bet. He goes on to say, “According to the Clean Air Council, Americans throw away 570 diapers per second and 49 million diapers per day. Given the number of Americans entering their peak child bearing years in the next five years, I see these numbers only increasing.” While this reasoning may make sound financial investment sense to some, disposable diapers sure aren’t going to do the earth any favors. Thus the name of his article, which refers to the business of disposable diapers as “dirty”. I am sure this play on words not only refers to the fact that diapers hold baby pee and poop on a daily basis, but also refers to the impact that these products have on the environment.
After reading this article, I found myself wondering, why not invest in our children’s future by doing what we can to protect our planet? As we at Diaper Parties SM have said before, using even one cloth diaper a day can make a significant difference. If the popularity of cloth diapers continues to rise along with the population, maybe we will see a whole new generation of babies sporting cute and colorful (and don’t forget reusable) cloth styles instead of disposables. And maybe this is really just the beginning of a new group, called Generation Green. It’s just a thought.
Do you have thoughts on this issue? If you do, we would love it if you shared them.
Bottoms Up!
Sarah