Each Christmas, our family continues to find innovative ways to reduce our impact on the environment. Here are some ideas that your family may like to consider:
Christmas Trees – we eliminated our tree altogether and we place our gifts around a festive stuffed Christmas Santa Bear. If this is too drastic a change for your family then go for a potted, live tree that you can replant after Christmas. Still not comfortable, then choose a live cut tree over an artificial tree that and can be taken to the chipper afterwards to ensure there is no waste. They smell nicer too.
Cards – by far one of the most wasteful traditions we practice. Think of the volumes of paper need, the energy used in manufacturing and transporting the cards first to the stores and then to your recipients. Try a phone call instead to connect with friends and family or send an e-card via e-mail. A nice idea is to setup an online family album with pictures taken throughout the year and send a link to friends and family. If you do get cards sent to you, save them for the following year and make cut-outs from their pictures to reuse as gift tags.
Decorations – reduce where possible but still keep it festive for that Christmas feeling. Try homemade decorations such as popcorn strings and making decorations from recycled materials. Use LED lights both inside and outside the house or burn candles to add a real Christmas ambiance.
Gift Wrap – again none is better but if you wish to keep it a surprise, try wrapping in materials you already have around the house such as newspaper, bags or last year’s saved wrappings. You can draw your own Christmas designs onto plane looking bags. You could also wrap one gift inside another such as a tea or bath towel.
Shopping – remember to bring your own bags and look for products with no or minimal packaging. Buy locally made or search for used items in good condition.
Gifts – apply green thinking to your gift giving as well. Think about giving services like hair and spa treatments or booking family vacations or outings. Buy locally made items or give homemade gifts. Search for e-gifts that can be digitally downloaded such as music, video games or online courses. Re-gifting is no longer taboo in the sustainable world.
Food – as much as possible buy food that is both organic and locally produced. Not only is this more sustainable but it is comes with great health benefits as well.
Entertaining – avoid paper and plastic as much as possible by serving your local organic food on real dishes. Collaborate with friends and family to share dishes for large gatherings. Real napkins and tablecloths will also go along way to reduce waste.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Go Green for Christmas
I was truly surprised when I read this statement from the David Suzuki Foundation’s report ‘Sustainability within a Generation: A New Vision for Canada’
“Sustainability means doing things better – not doing without. Right now, Canadians consume too much, and most of it is wasted. Less than 10 per cent of the energy we generate is actually used for its intended purpose. Most of it goes up in smoke. Our economy is fully one-third less energy efficient than the United States and only half as efficient as most European countries.”
This was so far removed from what I believed to be true. I guess I just thought that we Canadians, being surrounded by vast areas of wilderness and an abundance of nature, would be natural leaders in protecting our planet. I happily thought I was doing my part by recycling each week, washing clothes in cold water and switching all my light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs.
Then, one Christmas a few years back, I had a strong emotional response to what I now recognize as the insanity of our wasteful world.
Here’s my story….
As was tradition every Christmas eve, our family stuffed ourselves with a great Turkey dinner and then heaved into the living room to gather around the beautifully decorated tree with the usual overflowing pile of presents underneath. It was one, two three go, and the gift opening frenzy began. Twenty minutes later, the gifts were all open, the chatter died down and I was overcome by an overwhelming feeling of melancholy. I looked around the room at all the ‘stuff’ and I thought to myself, ‘what here did any of us really need’. I looked at the pile of gift wrapping and I thought ‘what a waste of paper’ and as all the kids soon started to get ready to leave, to visit other family and friends or do last minute preparations for Christmas day, I thought ‘but we didn’t even get a chance to really visit’.
For the few weeks following that Christmas I couldn’t shake the downhearted feeling. After I had returned the unneeded gifts and filled the recycle bins with packages and unusable wrapping paper, I decided then and there that Christmas for our family had to change. I wanted to get back the real joy of Christmas and not feel ashamed over the excessiveness and wastefulness of it all.
I called a family gathering and I explained to the four nearly grown kids, that the next year they weren’t to buy us gifts because we didn’t need anything. They balked at this a bit but for the most part they were ok with it. I hadn’t told them yet, but I also wasn’t going to buy them the usual mountain of gifts the next Christmas.
When Christmas arrived, the kids were surprised to see that I hadn’t put up a tree and instead I had made the house look festive with lights and decorations and I had made the centre of attention a 3’ tall Santa Bear that I already had sitting on a pedestal. They also noticed that there were no gifts to be opened and instead, after enjoying a great Christmas dinner, we presented the kids with a weekend getaway trip in January at a local ski resort. The kids were thrilled with the idea and excitedly helped to plan the details of the trip such as games, food and activities.
Needless to say, we had a blast on the trip and we had a chance to renew our family bonds through fun and games and quality time spent together. Something our busy schedules rarely allowed us to do. For me, I was satisfied and proud that there were no unneeded gifts, no wasted gift wrapping and packaging and delighted when at the end of the weekend I asked for a vote as to whether we should do this again the next year and I got a resounding cheer.
I know that this new family tradition will continue for years to come and I hope that my children will carry on this tradition with their families allowing them to capture the true meaning of Christmas and at the same time sustain the world for generations to come.
“Sustainability means doing things better – not doing without. Right now, Canadians consume too much, and most of it is wasted. Less than 10 per cent of the energy we generate is actually used for its intended purpose. Most of it goes up in smoke. Our economy is fully one-third less energy efficient than the United States and only half as efficient as most European countries.”
This was so far removed from what I believed to be true. I guess I just thought that we Canadians, being surrounded by vast areas of wilderness and an abundance of nature, would be natural leaders in protecting our planet. I happily thought I was doing my part by recycling each week, washing clothes in cold water and switching all my light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs.
Then, one Christmas a few years back, I had a strong emotional response to what I now recognize as the insanity of our wasteful world.
Here’s my story….
As was tradition every Christmas eve, our family stuffed ourselves with a great Turkey dinner and then heaved into the living room to gather around the beautifully decorated tree with the usual overflowing pile of presents underneath. It was one, two three go, and the gift opening frenzy began. Twenty minutes later, the gifts were all open, the chatter died down and I was overcome by an overwhelming feeling of melancholy. I looked around the room at all the ‘stuff’ and I thought to myself, ‘what here did any of us really need’. I looked at the pile of gift wrapping and I thought ‘what a waste of paper’ and as all the kids soon started to get ready to leave, to visit other family and friends or do last minute preparations for Christmas day, I thought ‘but we didn’t even get a chance to really visit’.
For the few weeks following that Christmas I couldn’t shake the downhearted feeling. After I had returned the unneeded gifts and filled the recycle bins with packages and unusable wrapping paper, I decided then and there that Christmas for our family had to change. I wanted to get back the real joy of Christmas and not feel ashamed over the excessiveness and wastefulness of it all.
I called a family gathering and I explained to the four nearly grown kids, that the next year they weren’t to buy us gifts because we didn’t need anything. They balked at this a bit but for the most part they were ok with it. I hadn’t told them yet, but I also wasn’t going to buy them the usual mountain of gifts the next Christmas.
When Christmas arrived, the kids were surprised to see that I hadn’t put up a tree and instead I had made the house look festive with lights and decorations and I had made the centre of attention a 3’ tall Santa Bear that I already had sitting on a pedestal. They also noticed that there were no gifts to be opened and instead, after enjoying a great Christmas dinner, we presented the kids with a weekend getaway trip in January at a local ski resort. The kids were thrilled with the idea and excitedly helped to plan the details of the trip such as games, food and activities.
Needless to say, we had a blast on the trip and we had a chance to renew our family bonds through fun and games and quality time spent together. Something our busy schedules rarely allowed us to do. For me, I was satisfied and proud that there were no unneeded gifts, no wasted gift wrapping and packaging and delighted when at the end of the weekend I asked for a vote as to whether we should do this again the next year and I got a resounding cheer.
I know that this new family tradition will continue for years to come and I hope that my children will carry on this tradition with their families allowing them to capture the true meaning of Christmas and at the same time sustain the world for generations to come.
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