A Green Christmas

Christmas

If you ask one to describe Christmas, the green Christmas tree is an answer you un doubtfully hear from everyone. But how green is Christmas actually? If it possible to celebrate the ‘happiest time of the year’ in a more sustainable way?

There are several approaches towards having a lower impact on the environment during the holidays. The first topic being the Christmas tree itself. Should one get a fake tree or a real one? An artificial Christmas tree is made out of plastics and are intended to be used between six to ten years. And even though the idea of an artificial, reusable tree might sound sustainable, it actually isn’t. Not just because the trees are usually made oversees and have to be shipped here, but mostly because people don’t even use their tree for that amount of years. Each year the quality of the tree decreases and the tree often ends up on the landfill before it reaches the intended lifetime. Once these three have ended up on the landfill they never degrade. A real Christmas tree has a foot print too, but compared to an artificial one its relatively compensated by the carbon the trees have soaked up during their lifetime.  The greenest option however is choosing for neither one, instead one could create their own tree arrangement using found branches [1].

The second topic, the one people usually find underneath their now sustainable tree, are the gifts [2.]. If we have just invested in a more sustainable tree, we of course cannot place gifts underneath it that aren’t sustainable. So in order to make your Christmas more sustainable, one should pay attention to the following things:

-        Buy less. The simplest option might just be buying less gifts, often Christmas gifts are things people do not really need or want and with that the risk of these gifts being discarded increases. Instead of buying multiple of those gifts, it might be better to search for that one special gift one really wants to have. To make it easier for people to figure out, a secret Santa game can be played, in which each player randomly gets a name they have to buy a present for. This automatically eliminates the over shopping for multiple persons.

-        Create your own gifts. Not all gifts have to be bought. One could create an unique and personal one, one with a special message. A gift that’s more meaningful.

-        But if a gift has to be bought, Shop Green. Look for locally made gifts or gifts that are made from recycled sources. 40% of the total battery sales occurs during this time of year, and discarded batteries form an environmental hazard, so make sure to give ‘battery free’ gifts.

-        Green wrapping or packaging of the gifts. This does not have to be done with new materials. By saving bubble wrap or special wrapping items from earlier events can save a lot of new materials. Or make sure you get environmental wrapping paper.

By following these tips a more sustainable Christmas shouldn’t be too difficult. So instead of ‘I've been dreaming of a white Christmas’ let’s sing 'I've been dreaming of a green Christmas’ this year.

1. http://www.greenvillages.com.au/dreaming-of-a-green-christmas/

2. http://eartheasy.com/give_sustainchristmas.htm