Green Christmas

Everybody is busy with this season. Christmas is the spirit of remembering Christ’s birth and showing love by means of giving gifts to others.

Perhaps, the most unique way of showing the real essence of Christmas can also be shown through taking care of our nature and environment. Christmas season and our environment co-exist. With a little effort and imagination, we can reduce the environmental impact of the holiday season.

How about spending less on Christmas gifts? Look for locally made gifts - many gifts in today's marketplace come from halfway around the world, and the impact of transportation contributes significantly to greenhouse emissions and global warming. Local craft fairs and artisan shops are a good source for gifts that come without the added costs of transportation. 

Support gifts made from recycled sources. It is not just fun and exciting thing to do, by supporting these businesses; it will help reduce the waste stream while promoting the concept of making best use of available materials.

No to 'battery-operated” gifts – Based from studies and EPA, about 40% of all battery sales occur during the holiday season. Discarded batteries are an environmental hazard. So, why give gifts that have an impact on our environment as well as our children’s health?

Buy toys that are more of educational rather than the famous toy robot on their favorite cartoon movie. Let us teach them to use more their skills in reading and thinking than playing and promoting violence.

Christmas is a time for giving and a time for family. What a great opportunity to start a family tradition of giving back to the earth and instilling the values of sustainable living to your children, friends and community. Start an annual, earth-friendly Christmas family tradition! It will also get you outdoors for a few hours to build an appetite for the big dinner.

Start an annual activity in your family to get to know nature more. Count the birds. Donate some cage in your local zoo. Or even adopt a pet. This will help you discover something from each member of the family and they would appreciate nature more.

Mountain climbing with the family members is the best way to bond for this season.

Giving some pledge of planting a small tree together is the best way to show you value nature. Donating Non-Biodegradable and Biodegradable trash bins is also an excellent move.

Use LED (Light Emitting Diode) lights for house and Christmas tree lighting. Do you know that LED is 95% less energy than larger, traditional holiday bulbs and last up to 100,000 hours when used indoors?

Aside from rampant fire caused by defective Christmas lights, turning off and outdoor house decorative lighting at bedtime, would save you a lot of energy bills and help save our energy crisis as well.

Live potted trees - if you buy a small tree in a large pot, you may be able to reuse the tree for 2- 3 years without having to plant or re-pot the tree. 

Reuse gift wraps where possible. You can also ask your kids to think more artistically by making some colorful gift wraps out of old newspapers and magazines.

Lastly, promote an activity in your family, community and friends where you can make them aware about our current situation in global warming and at least ask them to think of something that they can contribute to help save our environment. At least volunteer to plant a tree, go solar, clean our environment and air, etc.

I am pretty sure, this is more than just Christmas season if and only we would think and act like that – a better and greener Christmas season ever.