Action Tips: Have a Green Christmas

‘Tis the season to give, celebrate and renew, so how about renewing your commitment to protect the environment. Here are a few simple ways you can make a difference this holiday season:

The gifts

• Buy fewer presents through a Secret Santa gift exchange. Draw names from a hat, assigning each family member to buy a gift for one other relative.
• Many gifts come from across the globe, causing planes and shipping trucks to contribute greenhouse emissions. This year, buy locally made gifts from a craft fair or local shop.
• Host a white elephant gift exchange. Instead of buying your friends new gifts, host an exchange where everyone gives used possessions such as used books or DVDs.
• Find a gift that doesn’t require batteries. Even rechargeable batteries are an environmental hazard, and 40% of battery sales occur during the holidays.

The wrapping

• Holiday gift-wrapping is responsible for half of America’s yearly paper use. Try wrapping presents from recycled newspaper, calendars, and posters, or with eco-friendly fibers like hemp. And remember to use as little tape as possible!
• Reuse last year’s holiday stuff!
• Cut up old greeting cards to use as gift tags or placecards.
• Add fresh double-sided tape or glue to make last year’s ribbons and bows sticky again.
• Frame especially attractive old greeting cards to hang on your walls as holiday accents.

The lights

• Use LED (Light Emitting Diode) lights for lighting around the house and on the tree. You’ll use up to 100 times less energy than traditional Christmas lights.
• You decorate the outdoors as well? Keep the presentation small and use mini-lights – they save energy!
• Reduce the size of outdoor lighting displays - A smaller presentation of lights can still be attractive, and more appropriate in the 'season of giving'.
• Turn off all decorative lights at bedtime. That includes those on the tree, around the house & outdoors.

The cards

• Holiday season cards contribute to the loss of up to 30,000 trees. Homemade cards are an eco-friendly greeting that you can make with just glue-stick, your own paper, and family photographs.
• Forget that card and pick up the phone. Chances are your family and friends would much rather prefer to hear your voice and have a real conversation over some generic words in a card.

The tree

• Should you go the live tree route or get a plastic one? It depends on who you talk to really. We’re going with the folks at TreeHugger who say that while an artificial tree might seem like the greener option, they have a few problems:
  • they’re usually made of polyvinyl chloride (aka PVC), a type of plastic that creates a lot of pollution,
  • they're difficult to recycle
• Christmas tree farms, on the other hand, have sustainability built into the business: when you cart your tree off for trimming, they’ll plant another one to sell a few years down the line. In the meantime it’ll be turning carbon dioxide into oxygen and providing habitats for animals.
• Still, some farmers use harmful pesticides and other chemicals, so find a local organic grower. Plus, buying from a local farm also means the trees haven’t been hauled cross-country in a CO2-belching truck.
• And don’t forget to take drop off your tree at a tree recycling location after the holidays.

Decorations

For the tree:

• Reuse last year’s decorations.
• Adorn with popcorn and other edibles.
• Decorate with nature – pinecones, acorns, thistle and/or dried flowers. Just add a bow and a hook, and voila, you have a decoration!

For around the house

• Create your own Christmas wreath. Use a wire coat hanger as the circle frame and glue or tape pine cones, ground twigs and pine needles.
• Use live greenery like rosemary, thyme and sage. They’re wonderfully fragrant and can be used to season recipes.
• Bowls of nuts or fruits, colorful squash, pomegranates, whole pineapples and more can create a festive look that you can eat later!
• It may not be exactly nutritious but a homemade gingerbread house can be both attractive and tasty too.

Sources:

EarthEasy.com

Time.com

Earth911

TheDailyGreen.com