Tips for "Greening" Your Holiday Season
While the winter holiday season brings good cheer to many
people, it
also brings more solid waste to the landfill, unintended
impacts to the
environment,
addtitional consumption of natural resources, and additional debt to
the
average American family. Regardless of which holiday you celebrate,
here
are some environmentally-smart tips and web site links for a less
wasteful
-- and perhaps less stressful -- holiday this year:
-
Instead of material gifts, consider Gifts of Time to share your
expertise or help.
For
example, offer to do chores, babysitting, dog walking, snow shoveling,
etc. Or,
offer your expertise: how to bake, knit, repair things, set up a
backyard compost bin, etc.
You can design and create your own gift certificates, or
visit these web sites for inspiration:
- Consider "experience" gifts instead of material ones:
coupons to attend a movie, concert or show; dinner out at a
restaurant; membership at a local gym; registration fees for a
workshop or class; gift certificates to a yoga class, or IOU's for
picnics at the beach and hikes in the woods.
- Instead of buying wrapping paper, try
using: colorful pages
torn from magazines to wrap small gifts, old road maps or the
Sunday
comics
for larger boxes. Reuse brown paper grocery bags, and draw your own
designs. Avoid using paper entirely by using reusable
decorative
tins, baskets or boxes. Reusable cloth ribbons can be used in place of
plastic
bows. Here are some good ideas to inspire you: http://eartheasy.com/gift_wrapping.htm
-
If you buy tangible gifts, look for durable and re-usable items and
resist the
latest
"fads" at the shopping mall. Look for gifts with an
environmental message: a nature
book, a refillable
thermos bottle, a reusable tote bag, a battery recharger or items made
from
recycled materials. Choose solar powered instead of battery powered
products.
Or better yet, ones that require no power at all.
- You are probably receiving piles of mail order catalogs at
this time of
year. Call the company's 800 number and ask that you be removed from
their
mailing list.
Visit these websites to Learn more... about
reducing waste and the environmental impacts of the holiday season: