Read selected articles from the Green Guide for Christmas.
Christmas gift buying is a nightmare for most of us. Crowded shops and irate shoppers slither past each other in the early evening darkness and the incessant rain dampens dreary spirits. We all know the scenario too well. So if you want to reduce your impact on the planet we recommend you think a bit more about how you do your Christmas shopping – you may even be able to do it all without ever leaving the house.
If you do decide to brave the throngs of shoppers, before you buy, ask questions like: do I really need this? Where did this come from? Was it created in a fair trade situation or was someone exploited to get it here at this price? Was this wooden toy made using wood from a sustainable source, is buying this tortoise shell contributing to hunting endangered tortoises? Try to become a discerning buyer.
The Green Guide to Christmas lists a wide range of mail order shops selling products as diverse as fairly traded chocolate, organic clothes and solar powered radios. The key thing about all the suggestions, ideas and listings is that they are more planet and people friendly than most of the stuff you will find on the High Street.
There are an increasing number of stores and organisations whose trading ethos is more ethical and environmentally friendly. You can purchase from these in the knowledge that the entire buying chain has been considered.
If you have time, try making your own gifts using recycled and sustainably-sourced materials. Some of the stores listed stock craft items. You never know, you might discover a hidden creative talent.
There is huge pressure to conform to the social mores of gift giving. Try not to get caught up in the supposed need to exchange gifts with people you don’t really know. It is far better to give something as a token of genuine affection than something which is empty of sincerity.
It’s taken for granted that you won’t knowingly buy goods created in potentially exploitative situations where human rights and dignity are infringed. Additionally, there are steps you can take to reduce your ecological impact on the planet when buying gifts.
DON’T
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IF YOU BUY
Books & Magazines
Books, especially those printed on sustainably sourced paper, represent thoughtful, durable gifts.
Expand your usual reading list to include topics like such as holistic parenting, organic gardening, animal rights, environmental concerns, and similar topics. Or give someone the gift of a subscription to a less conventional magazine like Resurgence, Green Futures or Clean Slate.
Clothing
Look out for clothes made from fabrics like organic linen and unbleached, organic cotton. There are now many fashion companies selling a wide range of designs for people of all tastes, sizes and ages. More designers are choosing natural materials in their clothes. However, most High Street clothes will have been manufactured in non-sustainable, non-environmentally friendly ways.
Most fabric for clothing is derived from plant or animal sources. This can mean inhumane treatment for the animals which provide wool, silk and leather clothing. Another problem is over-exploitation of land due to monoculture production. Conventional cotton is a difficult crop to grow and the amount of chemicals used has a serious effect human health and the world’s eco system. It is the highest pesticide consuming crop across the world. The land and water used to grow cotton is often diverted from the indigenous population causing shortages and hardship. Organic cotton is on the increase, making the organic option more readily available and bringing the price of organic clothes down.
Another sustainable and organic idea is hemp, which requires no pesticides, herbicides and little fertiliser. It can clean the land by weed suppression through its extensive root system and it removes greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. It is easily grown on marginal land not suitable for other crops. Hemp can be used to make many clothing items, including shirts, jackets and trousers.
Better still why not have clothing made out of recycled rubbish. Sounds gross, but the result is actually very attractive. Recycled products like polartec fleece are made from recycled plastic bottles.
Edible Gifts
When buying food, think organic, seasonal and local. Try to reduce the amount of packaging and choose glass containers over plastic. Think about food miles – how far the product has travelled to get to you. Also consider fair trade items and look out for the Fairtrade Mark (read more below). This ensures that the overseas producers of items like chocolate, coffee, tea and fruit get a fair price and a fair deal. Farmers’ Markets are a great place to start looking for seasonal and local food. You’ll also get a chance to talk to the people who produce the food you’ll eat.
Energy Savers
Designed by Trevor Baylis, the Freeplay self-powered radio is an unusual, bright and colourful gift idea. It is powered by winding a handle or through solar panels. The sound quality is excellent and you can now get DAB digital wind-ups. Wind up torches mean you’ll never be caught in the dark and you can also get wind-up mobile phone chargers.
You can make a positive difference to the way you live your life by changing the way you use energy in your home. Use energy wisely: ensure your home is insulated and don’t leave electronic equipment on stand-by when not in use. Low energy light bulbs may seem a bit mundane but might introduce someone to the concept of saving money and energy.
By far one of the best – and one of the easiest – things you can do this Christmas is to switch your household electricity supply to one of the renewable energy companies – Good Energy, Green Energy and Ecotricity. This means that all the electricity you use will come from sustainable and renewable sources. You will also be contributing to the reduction of harmful greenhouse gas emmisions that are causing climate change.
If you buy battery-operated gifts also buy rechargeable batteries. Better still, avoid gifts which require electricity.
You can make your own logs to burn in the fireplace using a log maker. Recycle your old newspaper by soaking them, then squeezing the mush into a mould and leaving it to dry. These logs will burn like wood for up to an hour.
Fair Trade
In conventional trade, Third World producers usually get low prices for their products and often suffer under poor working conditions. Exploitative child labour is not uncommon. Profits usually end up with large companies and middlemen, rather than the people who make the goods. Fair trade is a partnership between producers and buyers which ensures that producers get decent wages, good working conditions and fair prices. Prepayment is often made where needed so workers can afford to send their children to school, buy medical care and save for their future.
Fair trade also means that products are purchased as directly as possible from producers; it increases producers’ access to markets by providing feedback and advice on products and product development; and it seeks to protect human rights. Fair trade demonstrates concern for environmental sustainability and means respect for people.
Oxfam, Traidcraft, New Consumer and Christian Aid, amongst many others, have fair trade catalogues and work closely together to support communities in developing countries. Profits are ploughed back into well-managed development projects throughout the world.
Other more unusual gifts you can find in fair trade catalogues are: Djembe drums, Cambodian ceramics and basketware, Ghanian woodcarvings, Latin American recordings, tribal rugs, handcrafts from Thailand, India and Bali, Mexican hammocks, hand painted rainsticks, wind chimes, and stone carved incense holders.
Games
Nowadays, it is possible to get games made from recycled and recyclable materials from the Green Board Game Company. The games are for everyone, from children of 12 months upwards, to games the whole family can enjoy. The listings contain several companies making and selling natural toys and games.
Healing
Holistic medicine is enjoying unprecedented popularity as people take more control over their health and realise the limitations of conventional medicine. The beauty of holistic medicine is that it is preventative and it treats human beings as composites of emotional, spiritual, physical and mental parts, something conventional medicine often overlooks. Products looking after personal wellbeing are more thoughtful than a prescription from the local chemist.
A less materialistic gift is to pay in advance for a session with a therapist like a massage, or a weekend retreat. Check out your local health food store or go to a multi-therapy health centre in your area where you can be sure that the therapist is registered and insured. For a list of registered therapists you can contact the many membership organisations listed in the Green Guide.
Organic oils are of a finer quality than non-organic oils for two reasons. Firstly, like all organic produce, no pesticides or harmful fertilisers have been used on the plant, and secondly, the oil has been more gently treated in the distillation process to preserve the subtle qualities of the original plant. Organic oil usually smells like the plant from which it was extracted, whereas non-organic ones can smell quite sterile in comparison.
Home
There are innumerable things you can do in your home to reduce your ecological impact, from simply buying biodegradable cleaners instead of conventional household cleaners, to buying a new environmentally friendly washing machine which uses less water, or a fridge which uses less electricity than conventional models.
Eco laundry balls are a very unusual gift which are used in the washing machine instead of washing powder. They produce ionised oxygen that activates the water molecules naturally.
There are several furniture designers in the Guide making furniture from sustainable, recycled and/or reclaimed materials. These are listed along with companies selling furnishings and items for the home. When choosing wood products of any nature always try to ascertain that the wood used is FSC-certified (Forest Stewardship Council). This means that the wood will come from sustainable sources that are well-managed and preserve habitats and biodiversity.
Other greener gift ideas for the home include: cookware, juicing machines, hangers, mirrors, bedlinen and mattresses.
Horticulture and Gardening
Outdoor gardening can sometimes be more of a chore than a delight in the dead of winter. But you can continue your horticultural tendencies indoors with potted plants and herbs. Plants make great presents as they reduce indoor pollution, absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen.
Another interesting idea to get children interested in recycling and gardening is to buy a wormey to make your own compost from household and garden organic waste.
Invest in a Worthy Cause
This type of gift is ideal for those who think they have everything. Be less consumerist, think globally and make a personal contribution to the planet by looking after less fortunate people, wildlife, and land. Invest in the future of organic farming or even rare vegetables.
Think about the plight of others less fortunate than you, in poverty stricken countries. Put your money where their mouths are and give someone the gift of sponsorship. You will be helping to achieve a humane standard of living for people who will certainly not be celebrating Christmas in the style we do.
Adopt an animal or a bird with one of many animal conservation and welfare organisations. Adopt a acre of land or rainforest. Ease your conscience knowing that instead of consuming more of the earth’s valuable resources, you are actually helping to conserve them.
Plant a tree. Since the Second World War, over half of Britain’s ancient woods have vanished. The remainder is still very much under threat. For example, The Woodland Trust acquires woods and bare land across the country in an endeavour to protect and enhance the countryside.
You can even adopt a vegetable with Garden Organic. In the 1970s, misguided bureaucratic regulations decreed that all varieties of vegetable must be registered on a national or EU database. Many were somehow missed out and failed to be registered, which means they cannot now be legally sold. So people have stopped producing them and, in effect, 2,000 British vegetables have been lost!
To mitigate this, Garden Organic’s Heritage Seed Library offers a scheme whereby you can ‘adopt’ one of the vegetable varieties, directly contributing to its conservation. Your donation will contribute to refrigerated seed storage, propagation facilities, equipment and extra staff.
Skin Care
Skin is the body’s largest organ. Why eat organic food if you are going to slather your skin in chemicals? Look for alternatives that use the natural healing powers of mother nature.
Hemp oil is renowned for its moisturising and antiseptic qualities. Cosmetics based on it contain only natural minerals and non-animal derived ingredients. Lotions are less sticky and able to penetrate the skin more easily than those made with other plant oils. A wide variety of products are available including: shampoo, shower gel, body lotion and perfume.
There are dozens of cosmetics companies making good quality, natural and cruelty-free products. You will find many in larger health and wholefood stores and most offer a mail order service. BUAV’s Little Book of Cruelty-Free lists all the manufacturers and brands making animal and cruelty-free cosmetics.
Stationery
Stationery is a Christmas gift staple. Almost everyone loves beautiful writing paper. Some of the most creative and beautiful stationery sets are made from recycled paper, handmade and dyed with natural colourants from places like Tibet, India and Nepal. Paper is just one finished product – you can also buy photo albums, diaries and envelopes. You can now even get recycled paper products made out of elephant dung from the Exotic Paper Company – see www.ellipoopaper.co.uk.
Woodcrafts
To many people, green gift buying is synonymous with old fashioned wooden toys. And the listings following illustrate that wooden toys are well worth mentioning. They are not only attractive and durable, but are often safer than plastic modern toys. The only thing to watch out for is that the wood comes from sustainable forests. Avoid tropical hardwoods so that you don’t contribute to the further destruction of the rainforests. When you are buying wooden furniture or toys, look for the symbol on timber goods that tells that that the wood is from sustainably managed sources – the FSC logo. Nowadays, you can also find products made from reclaimed and recycled wood.
Trees
Finding an environmentally friendly, ecologically sustainable, organic, rooted or biodegradable tree isn’t easy. But we have looked into the issue and here is the low down.
The favourite option is to buy a new fir tree with its roots still attached from an ecologically sustainable source and plant it in your garden after Christmas. Do this every year until you have a mini forest in your backyard. This obviously is not a viable option for most of us.
You can get a tree like this in a very large pot to allow growing room for the roots and bring that inside for twelve days every year. But be aware that the climate difference might not suit it and if you do decide to plant it outside don’t dig it up the following year to bring it back in.
The simpler option is to buy a real tree from sustainable source every year and have the council mulch it into woodshavings to compost local parks and forests. Some councils have shredders which they use for park waste and some actually provide a special tree shredding service at this time of the year.
Ask your retailer how the tree was grown and ideally buy from a retailer registered with the British Christmas Tree Growers Association (BCTGA) – see www.bctga.co.uk. The BCTGA encourages people to recycle their trees once they have finished with them.
There are only a few organic Christmas tree growers in the UK - see www.soilassociation.org/christmas for details. If a tree retailer claims to be organic ask if they are certified by the Soil Association or one of the other organic certification bodies. Trees certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) means that the forests and woods where the trees are grown are managed in an eco-friendly and sustainable way. Unfortunately, as yet there are not many FSC-certified Christmas tree growers in the UK.
Cards
During the festive season people in the UK will send millions of Christmas cards. But you don’t have to become one of the people sending new cards made on virgin paper. Friends of the Earth (FoE) and other charity stores sell gummed labels to stick over your favourite cards from previous years to reuse them. Each label includes a note explaining to the recipient that you have chosen to reduce waste.
Many campaigning and conservation organisations and most charity shops sell cards made from recycled sources and use the profits to fund their work or donate to worthy causes.
After Christmas you can recycle your cards. For the fifth consecutive year, the Woodland Trust has teamed up with retailers WHSmith and Tesco to deliver its annual Christmas Card Recycling Scheme. Recycling bins will be in all WHSmith high street stores and all Tesco Extra and Superstores from Monday 2 January until Tuesday 31 January 2006. See www.woodland-trust.org.uk/cards
Trimmings
Keep in mind the environmental impact of what you do and promote ethical and environmental choices with your wallet.
Remember that many of the decorations available in High Street stores from late September onwards have been treated chemically to colour the paper or are made out of non-biodegradable substances. A large proportion will have been manufactured in countries where employment and environmental legislation is at best weak and at worst ignored. You can make a difference by supporting fair trade organisations and boycotting manufacturers who exploit people and the environment. Take a moment to consider where things you are buy have come from.
Decorations in the home fall into three categories: evergreens, paper decorations and tree decorations.
Before you go out to the nearest park or hedgerow with a hack saw (not recommended or condoned), check out your local farmers market or green grocer. Of course, if you live in the countryside or are fortunate enough to have a holly bush in your back garden, now is the time to take advantage.
Paper decorations have become an increasingly obvious part of a Western Christmas. Try making your own which can be used more than once. Avoid anything which cannot be recycled or has not been produced from recycled materials. Good quality paper decorations will last longer than cheaper ones or simply try something else like potted plants or holly and ivy.
Use edible tree decorations which can be given to garden birds afterwards, like popcorn and cranberry strings. If you are buying new decorations, purchase from fair trade catalogues or go for decorations that use sustainable resources such as fabric angels, papier maché balls, wooden handmade and painted tree hangings, hanging embroidered boots, terracotta bells and glass ‘icicles’ or small bags filled with nuts or other treats.
Wrapping paper
Do you need to use so much wrapping paper? Do you need to use any wrapping paper at all? FoE suggest wrapping gifts in old newspaper or magazines. They also recommend using brown paper that has not been dyed with toxins, or hand decorating boxes to cover gifts, or wrapping them in cloth or fabric. How about tin foil that can be used for cooking later, or the coloured paper wine bottles often come wrapped in? Being creative and using something different does not mean being dull.
If you do buy wrapping paper try to get recycled stuff, available from Traidcraft and Oxfam amongst other places. Try to make it reusable by tying it with a ribbon or string. Imagine what life was like before sellotape! Giving someone a card with a gift could be superfluous. Maybe you can write the recipient’s name and your message on the wrapping paper.
Advent calendars
Chocolate calendars are popular and, for many, an essential part of the build up to Christmas Day. The Day Chocolate Company has produced a fair trade chocolate advent calendar in a unique partnership between small-scale cocoa farmers in Ghana and British fair trade supporters. Each of their chocolate calendars will benefit the its association of small cocoa growers. As well as the guaranteed fair trade premium, they will also receive a share of the profits. The secure price paid to farmers means they can plough the profits back into their community to buy necessities like farming equipment, clean water, education and health.
Crackers
We were unable to find any recycled Christmas crackers though not from want of looking. But you can make your own crackers courtesy of Absolutely Crackers. They supply cracker kits containing enough card, snaps, ribbon, hats and jokes to make six.
The big advantage of these, is that you can add your own gift and with a bit of careful collection you can reuse the hats and jokes. They are fairly easy to make. You could even use the cracker card as a template to make your own. You’ll need a rolling pin or something similar to get the shape without cracks and creases. The jokes are standard cracker jokes which means they are terrible. So while you are looking for suitable gifts you might want to make up your own jokes as well!
If this sounds like too much effort, you can also get quality crackers from Traidcraft at www.traidcraftshop.co.uk
Christmas is a time of particularly high resource consumption. The whole house is heated as extra family members return to the fold for the holidays. Lights, televisions and stereos are left on and cooking appliances are used more heavily. The extra packaging and consumption adds up to an increase in waste and rubbish.
Every time we use electricity, gas, petrol and oil, we create carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. Global warming is possibly the most serious environmental problem the planet is currently facing. It leads to changes in climate which affect the patterns of the seasons; alters the agricultural cycle which will mean dramatic shifts in where and when food is produced; causes sea levels to rise which threatens low-lying coastal districts; and not least means an increase in the harmful effects of the suns rays on humans, wildlife and plants. The increase in the number of skin cancers over recent years is not simply down to the increase in the number of people taking more sunny holidays.
At the moment only a tiny percentage of our energy comes from sustainable sources but this figure could be much higher with your help. At a time when energy consumption is particularly high, consider the finite resources of the planet and how you might reduce your immediate impact. Whether in our homes or on the garage forecourt, because instant energy is taken for granted it is easy to forget how it got there in the first place.
Increasingly there are options for you to both reduce the amount of energy you use and to seek out more sustainable sources. Most of the waste generated in the household can be recycled. The listings at the end of this chapter provide plenty of options for making changes. What really lies at the heart of the issue is a need for us to make a cultural change. We need to stop assuming that we can go on as we are indefinitely. This attitude applies not just to electricity but also to gas and water. And if you are not interested in making a change for the future sake of the planet and its inhabitants, do it now for purely selfish reasons. Every time you leave a light on it’s costing you money. It may be pennies, but they all add up. Ten to fifteen percent of your electricity bill goes towards lighting.
If you want to conserve energy and resources, common sense is often the best guide. Here are some ideas:
Here are some suggestions that you may not have thought of:
Things to keep in mind after Christmas
Many games are discarded after the holiday season. When you are tired of them, why not donate them to the local hospital or jumble sale. And give unwanted clothes to charity shops such as Oxfam or Scope. Unwanted books can also be donated to schools, hospitals, libraries or charities. Unless something is completely worn out and has come to the end of a useful life, you can bet there will always be someone who can make use of it.
Your local council is your best source of information on local recycling schemes such as bottle and paperbanks and door-step collection services. Recycling is usually under the auspices of the environmental department. Most councils will also have a civic ammenity site where you can get rid of larger items such as fridges or freezers or where tricky items like car batteries and engine oil can be dealt with safely. Remember that even if something cannot be recycled, it can be disposed of in an environmentally safe way.