How to Celebrate Sustainably this Holiday Season

Peace on Earth goes beyond the Christmas holiday. Small steps to create an eco-friendly festive season can turn this wish into action year-round. If you celebrate sustainably this holiday season, the Earth will be here for many holidays to come. 

Caring for our Earth is a year-round commitment. Christmas-specific sustainability adds a layer of meaning to the joyous season that’s often synonymous with high consumption.

 

Opt for Low-Impact Displays

Your best bet is to forgo electric lights altogether. But if Christmas isn’t Christmas without twinkling decorations, you can lessen the resource drain in several ways:

• Reduce the size of your displays. Smaller presentations can save a lot of power. 
• Mini lights, especially those on long strings, with 100 minis per 40-foot stretch, can heighten the energy savings of smaller displays.
• LEDs, which use 95 percent less power than traditional bulbs. 
• Don’t forget to turn off your Christmas lights at bedtime. 

Better yet, create your own display using recycled material. You’ll be amazed at what you can do with recycled plastic bottles or milk cartons.

 

Plant a Live Christmas Tree

Manufactured trees are infinitely reusable … in theory. In practice, they’re often discarded after a few years, jamming the landfills with plastic “greenery” that will last forever. Locally grown live trees help the air quality as they grow. They also constitute a renewable resource and don’t require extensive transportation to reach your house. The greenest option is a potted or container-grown tree that you can plant on your property, where this living Christmas memory can continue its air-purifying work. If you place it in a large enough container, you can use a potted tree for several holidays before it puts down roots in a permanent home.

 

Recycle Everything

Wrap gifts in newspaper, brown bags, extra fabric, repurposed commercial paper, or anything else you can think of that will help reduce the 4 million tons of wrapping materials that enter the waste stream each year. Make holiday cards or ornaments by cutting up last year’s greetings, calendars, and magazines. Don’t limit your recycling to gift wrap, decorations, and cards. Don’t forget to mulch your live cut tree and to save plastic peanuts and other packing materials.

Rethink electronic gifts. If new electronics are on your gift list, recycle or donate the old ones. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates Americans throw out 9.4 million tons of electronics every year. By recycling 1 million laptops, we can save enough energy to power more than 3,500 homes each year.

 

Give Homemade Gifts

Few things are as personal as a handmade present, whether it is a gift from the kitchen, a one-of-a-kind CD, or a handmade scrapbook filled with pictures and other mementos. Don’t forget services such as cooking or gardening or the gift of experience, such as a special trip together. In addition to decreasing your environmental impact, such presents represent the greatest gifts of all: the gift of time and self.

The possibilities of creating a more sustainable Christmas are limited only by your imagination. (Battery-free toys and recycled/repurposed gifts anyone?) Consider each eco-friendly step as a gesture that extends far beyond the holiday season. Working for a sustainable future is a gift to yourself, your neighbors, and our planet.

Happy Holidays.

 

By Bob Pitkins
An environmental journalist who reports on sustainability efforts around the country. He enjoys trying out new vegan restaurants and visiting second-hand stores in every city he visits.