Environmentally Friendly Christmas

Holiday Seasons are upon us and as an Anglo-Saxon American, I celebrate Christmas with my family.  The holidays are a time of excess and consumption here in the United States.  It's extremely unfortunate, because the bedrock of Christmas is the Christian holiday, but all of that has changed.  People eat tons of unhealthy food, max out their credit cards to buy gifts, and drive all over the place to get to sales, malls, and various parties.

All of this is a shame and it hurts our precious environment.  Here in New England, where I live, we are having an extremely mild winter so far, which one of my favorite bloggers, An Affordable Wardrobe, touched on this week.  This thrift shopper extraordinaire laments the lack of snow and bone chilling cold of the days of yore, and although it can't be definitively proved that global warming and our pollution is at fault, it can't help.

We do not necessarily need to go as far as Leo of Zen Habit's who is advocating his Buy Nothing Until 2013 Challenge.  There are however some things you can do to limit the impact you have on the environment this holiday season.

• Consider second hand gifts, such as from a thrift store or eBay
• Green gifts
• Make things yourself, people love a personal touch
• Bring your own bags when you go shopping
• Support a local business and buy a real Christmas tree and adorn it with homemade ornaments
• Buy local food in bulk for meals
• Have a fire with your family, and turn off the lights
• If Grandma gives everyone ugly Christmas sweaters (or not), turn down the heat!
• Drive less often, and when you need to go to malls or parties, drive slower!
• Be careful with waste, always recycle

Obviously, we all can't do all of these, but we should do our best to enjoy the holidays responsibly!

Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkuh!

Give Green Gifts

 This is part of my series: 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference. This series discusses practical ways we can go green in our lives, that will have a measurable effect on the environment.  This is an alternative to the many lists that offer 100+ suggestions, many of which are not easily applied to our lives or the impact is minimal.

With the holiday season on the horizon, we are entering the busiest retail time of the year.  While many see this as a time to purchase as many new goods as possible, regardless of their cost, for their family and friends.  Those of us who read Think, Act, Prosper also see it as a time of increased environmental damage.  Traveling all over creation to visit shopping plazas to purchase items imported from the other side of the planet, increases pollution and damage signifcantly.  I choose to see it as an opportunity to go green by giving environmentally friendly gifts.

The easiest way to do this is to make something yourself.  This low environmental impact strategy will result in a personal gift that literally represents you, while allowing personal tailoring to specifically fit the intended recipient. Give a food lover an excellent home-cooked treat, home brew some excellent homemade beer.  If you know how to knit, knit blankets or something else useful.  Don't stop at just the gift, give homemade cards or ornaments as well. 

Send an electronic Christmas card instead of a paper one!  This will save paper and reduce clutter and waste.

For gamers consider gifting an online video game or game subscription such as World of Warcraft or Xbox Live.  If you are a sportsbettor, give him some money to bet on an online sportsbook or a ticket to a local professional sporting event.  Another idea is a gift card to a local, sustainable restaurant that the person would love.   Take your dad out for a day of golf or give the less handy an oil change gift card, or offer to do it for them!  If its in your gift budget, give a bicyle or a less expensive piece of sports equipment that will keep them outdoors and fit.

Wrapping paper is one of the most egregious and foolish wastes of the holiday season.  It may look pretty, for a few seconds, but the environmental costs FAR outweigh any momentarily aesthetical benefit.  Instead use older boxes, bags or something more creative. 

Most importantly, do not settle for the "cheap" $40 made-in-China sweater that is ill-fitting, and probably wont be appreciated.  This contributes to environmental destruction and wastes your money!

Reusable Water Bottles

This is part of my series: 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference. This series discusses practical ways we can go green in our lives, that will have a measurable effect on the environment.  This is an alternative to the many lists that offer 100+ suggestions, many of which are not easily applied to our lives or the impact is minimal.

 This tip may seem pretty obvious and simple to many of you readers, yet everyday I see discarded Poland Springs, Dasani, and Smart Water bottles all over the place. First of all, buying these bottles is a raw deal, the markup is insane! Even when bought in bulk (which is bad for the environment) the cost is still high considering it's just filtered water. Don't even get me started on the LA restaurant Bazaar's "water bar".

The solution is to buy a reusable water bottle, I have a Sigg and Nalgene, and my wife has a Camelbak, I'm sure there are other quality vendors like Klean Kanteen, etc, but that doesnt really matter. The point is to get one, it should be available locally for under 20 bucks. Wash it out and start carrying it daily. 

Fill it everywhere you go, the tap at home, if your water is good, or through a filter such as a Brita. Public water fountains and many workplaces offer filtered water, the bubbler at the gym, whatever. Every time you refill it you are saving .25-2$, and you are not potentially creating waste and by limiting reliance on plastic bottles lowering pollution!

If you do have to resort to buying water, buy a large gallon or other container, return it for a bottle deposit where applicable, or put it with your other plastic recyclables.  Then when you are done with it, re-purpose it, like used shopping bags, as its own reusable water bottle (consider BPAs which many water bottles have)

Shopping Bags

This is part of my series: 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference. This series discusses practical ways we can go green in our lives, that will have a measurable effect on the environment.  This is an alternative to the many lists that offer 100+ suggestions, many of which are not easily applied to our lives or the impact is minimal.

Almost all retailers provide plastic or paper bags for every transaction and customer.  These are often provided at no additional costs, and thus customers do not value them.  This adds up to lots of waste and pollution, since people discard these bags after bringing home their purchases.  There are many easy solutions to this issue that would significantly curb this unnecessary waste.  

My favorite is reusable bags.  This could mean a burlap sack, cloth bag, or a plastic bag that is durable.  Packing these on the way to your store is a simple step, then simply bag the groceries/items yourself or give them to the bagging person.  These bags can be acquired in many ways; given out free as marketing or promotion, purchased from a dollar at a retailer or given by family and friends.  Even consider using a backpack especially when you are not driving. Many retailers even offer small incentives for bringing your own bags.  Trader Joe's enters your in a drawing for a gift card and Whole Foods offers 5 cents a bag.  

For those times that you forget to bring your reusable bags and need to use store provided ones, there are a few things you can do to limit harm.  First, fill the bags up, so you don't use more than you need.  Second, reuse or re-purpose these bags at home, there are tons of different applications, something will always come up that gives these bags a second lease on life.  Finally, after they have run their useful life, recycle them properly, rather than putting them into the garbage.