Christmas is Coming

I have worked on creating an entire eco-holiday section for the City of Irvine; this might serve as a nice starting point for you to get some ideas. You can see tips for Christmas, along with four other holidays, at this link: http://www.cityofirvine.us/green_holiday_home.php

Best,
Erica

Erica Hooper
S. Groner Associates, Inc
(SGA) 4510 E. Pacific Coast Hwy,
Ste. 300 Long Beach, CA 90804
p|(562) 597-0205
f |(562) 597-0231
www.sga-inc.net

To Judy and others:

This is from my employee newsletter this morning: a workshop to demonstrate how to make your own gifts. The contact person may be able to share her syllabus or other materials with you, to adapt for your area & audiences. The Clark County Clean Water Program is sponsoring the Gift of Green Cleaning Workshop on Thursday, December 11. One of a series of WSU Extension Watershed Steward community workshops, the class will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Three Creeks Library, Vancouver. Watershed Stewards will demonstrate how to craft unique, low-cost "green" gifts. Learn how to make environmentally friendly green cleaning supplies for common household tasks. You can save money and also safeguard the health of your family and the environment by using simple, nontoxic alternatives to harsh chemicals in your home and garden. The workshop is free, with a $15 optional green cleaning kit available for pre-purchase. To register, call Watershed Stewards, 360.397.6060, ext. 7703.

Theresa Cross, MS RD CD

Tobacco Prevention and Education
Clark County Public Health
360.397.8000 ext. 7378
1601 E. 4th Plain Blvd
Vancouver WA 98666
Mailing address: PO Box 9825
Vancouver WA 98666-8825

Hi Judith

I used to work in Community radio broadcasting on an environmental issues show and we'd always present one programme focussed on this. Traditional alternative ideas included as follows

Alternative presents: Adventure/learning gifts which families and/or friends/partners can do together, e.g., guided walks in parks, short events such as cultural talks, touch pools, museum visits, seed collecting, kayaking trip, friends group events, etc Oxfam/TEAR/ etc charity gifts where given a budget kids can choose their gifts from the charity catalogue so that instead of them getting a gift they help to spend the same money to help others and they get a card telling them how the money is helping. They could still be given something very small as a gift if preferred. Subscriptions to charities/ environmental groups/environmental magazines/herbarium &/or other friends groups, etc., like WWF, Sierra club, Kew Gardens and other more local groups.

Alternative wrapping for presents: instead of using traditional paper use one or more cloth tea towels (you may call them kitchen towels). They often cost similar amounts, but can be used afterwards. There are still issues about where and how they are produced, but there are more sustainable options.

Solar-powered Christmas lights are now available and as you say there is the LED vs traditional light globes.

Just a few options which may help towards your list. I'm sure there're many others.

Good luck
Edwina

Edwina H R Davies Ward
Coordinator, Healthy Wetland Habitats Program
Species & Communities (Off Reserve) Branch
Department of Environment and Conservation
17 Dick Perry Avenue,
Kensington WA 6151 or Locked Bag 104,
Bentley Delivery Centre WA 6983
Tel: (08) 9334 0570
Fax: (08) 9334 0199
Email: [email protected]
Website:http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/management-and-protection/wetlands/healthy-wetl and-habitats.html

Hi Judy,

Google "hundred dollar Christmas", which is a movement and also a book written by Bill McKibben. It is all about the consumerism of Christmas, and about refocusing the holiday and returning to the old ways of gift giving which don't involve spending endless amounts of cash. Good luck!

Cheers,
Andrea Koch

Sustainability Coach and Consultant
Sydney, Australia

Erica,

you have put together a wonderful site and thanks for sharing it! One thing that could be added to the information Erica developed at the website below is to suggest "shopping at home." Most of us have some things that are in lovely condition, but we may not use them or want them anymore, and they could be the perfect gift for someone else. This is pretty easy "shopping" - no money required to buy stuff you already own, no trips to stores, reuse of things that are too good to be tossed, plus the fun of being creative about your own stuff, and the ability to pass on to someone in your life an item that they could use and want. An example: in my circle, we exchange books, puzzles and games that are in great condition, and wanted by someone else. They make perfect gifts. (The really, really good things are also known as "heirlooms" (e.g. jewelry, beautiful dishes, fine furniture) and it's a very generous gift to pass them on while your heirs are young enough to enjoy and use them...) How is this different from "re-gifting?" You are trying to find things you own that would be desired by and useful to the person you're giving to, not just passing along some white elephant someone else gave you. And, it would be good to _strongly_ emphasize getting "consumable" gifts for people you don't know really well, but must give a gift to: e.g. your child's school teachers or your work colleagues. These are the people for whom gift cards and fruit boxes were invented! E.g., teachers usually have more mugs and apple stuff than any human could ever make sense of, and my experience is that they really appreciate gift cards for places that sell things like movie rentals, art or office supplies, coffee, etc. The amounts on the cards don't have to be big to be appreciated.

Regards,
Camille Kirk

Planner Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability Group
Office of Resource Management and Planning
University of California, Davis
(530) 752-7954 [email protected]

The New American Dream has a neat Simplify Your Holidays booklet. http://www.newdream.org/

Tina Woolston

Project Coordinator
Office of Sustainability
Tufts University
617-627-5517

Judy I like this idea from Oxfam, at least in Australia: http://www.oxfamunwrapped.com.au

No more unwanted gifts.

Rgds,
Tony.

Check Earth 911 http://earth911.com Many common magazines have green holiday ideas, too. Health food magazines or food co-op publications as well. Look for magazine "Simple Living" Check websites of Sierra Club, etc. I had done a library display on "A Simple Holiday" 7 years ago. Display included quite a few books just on the topic of simplicity as well.

Here is bibliographic info on books specifically relating to Christmas:

Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for a More Joyful Christmas Bill McKibben (NY: Simon & Schuster, C1998) ISBN 0-684-85595-X 394.2663 MCK GTf4986.A1M37

Simple Pleasures for the Holidays: A Treasury of Stories and Suggestions for Creating Meaningful Celebrations Susannah Seton (Berkeley, CA: Conari Press, C1998) ISBN 1-57324-135-0 (hardcover) 394.26 SET GT4803.S48

A Simple Christmas: Celebrating the Old-Fashioned Way in a Post-Modern World Lori Salkin & Rob Sperry (Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel Publishing, C1997) ISBN 0-8362-3593-2 (hd) 394.2663 SAL GT4985.S16

Marilyn Sobanski Rainbow Recycling Black Mountain, NC 828-669-5459 [email protected]

This excellent book also has some thoughtful reflections on holiday celebration & some good alternative ideas:

The Simple Living Guide: A Sourcebook for Less Stressful, More Joyful Living Janet Luhrs (NY: Broadway Books, C1997) ISBN 0-553-06796-6 (hc) 646.7 LUH BJ1496.L84

Marilyn Sobanski

Rainbow Recycling
Black Mountain, NC
828-669-5459
[email protected]

Here's a helpful piece on some of the impacts of artificial trees: http://www.reapcalgary.com/blog/?p=321

Andrea

Pull up this publication (Buncombe County NC Solid Waste Newsletter, "One Person's Trash ...") http://www.buncombecounty.org/common/general/newsletter_2006_Fall.pdf

See p. 2, "10 Tips for a Happier Holiday Season". Below the article is also a list of links on topics of holiday lighting, travel, gifts, etc.

Marilyn Sobanski

Hi Judy,

StoryCorps, the largest oral history project of its kind, is currently promoting another great way to give a meaningful, inexpensive gift with a low environmental footprint. They've declared today, November 28, the National Day of Listening, and launched a website (http://www.nationaldayoflistening.org) with ways to record a conversation with a loved one using materials already found in most homes. The site also contains a free downloadable guide, questions and stories to inspire conversation, and tips on how to share and preserve these discussions for future generations. There's also a section on the website with web banners, introductory videos, and more to make this project easy to share with and market to others. Although the official day of listening is today, these tools can be utilized at any time, and would make a very meaningful yet very inexpensive and earth-friendly gift. The initiative is also featured on the Green Daily blog (http://www.greendaily.com/2008/11/25/national-day-of-listening-holiday-without-stuff/), as part of their quest to answer this same question.

Happy holidays,
Amy Weinfurter

Coal Creek Watershed Coalition
P.O. Box 39 Crested Butte, CO
[email protected]

http://www.nccecojustice.olowcarbonchristmas.pdf

Andrea Koch
Sustainability Coach and Consultant
Sydney, Australia

We also have some additional info on Real vs. Fake Christmas Trees and holiday waste reduction tips here:

http://rcbc.bc.ca/resources/news_room/media_releases.htm

And here:

http://rcbc.bc.ca/resources/news_room/fact_sheets.htm

Regards,
Mairi

Mairi Welman
Director of Communications
Recycling Council of B.C.
604-683-6009 ext.305

For your piano-side Yule tide singing pleasure ? a sustainable Christmas Carol sung to the tune of Deck the Halls.

*Deck the Walls with stuff from China,*
*Fa-La-La-La-La, La-La La-La.*
*Cough up dough and cut the whinin'.*
*Fa-La-La-La-La, La-La La-La.*
*Don we now name-brand apparel,*
*Fa-La-La, La-La-La, La La La.*
*What to buy for old Aunt Carol?*
*Fa-La-La-La-La, La-La La-La.* *

* *See the blazing mall before us,*
*Fa-La-La-La-La, La-La La-La.*
*Stand in line and join the chorus,*
*Fa-La-La-La-La, La-La La-La.*
*Fight the traffic and the weather,*
*Fa-La-La, La-La-La, La La La.*
*Maxing cards out altogether,*
*Fa-La-La-La-La, La-La La-La.* *

* *Fast away the paycheck passes,*
*Fa-La-La-La-La, La-La La-La.*
*iPods for the lads and lasses,*
*Fa-La-La-La-La, La-La La-La.*
*All stressed out for Christmas season,*
*Fa-La-La, La-La-La, La La La.*
*Can't remember quite the reason,*
*Fa-La-La-La-La, La-La La-La.*

James Polk,

Green Architect
[email protected]
http://newamericanvillage.blogspot.com/

Judy

I just installed 18 mini Christmas lights with 100 lights per strand. I used a kill a watt meter and found that they equaled two strands of the traditional mini Christmas lights. The LED cost $ 20 dollars, the bulbs are said to last 10,000 hours + as compared to 1,800 hours for the normal lights. If the wires hold up it should be a financial benefit along with the carbon footprint benefit. I will have to remember to let you know the saving for the Christmas season.

Ken Gooch
Citizen [email protected]

I recently bought two strings of LED lights and noticed they have the 60 Hz flicker, which is rather nauseating. Do you know of any brands that have been able to avoid the flicker?

Tina Woolston

Project Coordinator
Office of Sustainability
Tufts University
617-627-5517

I recall a NW Earth Institute discussion course titled, Voluntary Simplicity, in which we discussed ways to simplify the Christmas mayhem.

Archie Phillips

Hi All,  

I have been thinking about some environmentally and socially friendly ideas for the holiday season.  

Our family doesn't get a tree, instead we donate the money (we would have spent on a tree) to a charity such as the Red Cross, The Smith Family, etc and each year a different person gets to select the charity that the money goes to. Feels great to know that we are helping those that are less fortunate than us.   We have stopped putting lights on the house too and have explained to our neighbours why we don't do what 'everyone else' is doing - climate change and the threat to biodiversity and the world's poor.   Also, I have started giving people 'worm farms' as a present - most people are happy to receive the gift and it opens an oppportunity to help get them started on the road to sustainability.   Other good ideas are herbs (that can be grown even on a window in a unit) and things for the garden (like native plants - that help to bring wildlife such as birds into the area).   We try and focus on family and friends rather than simply buying stuff for each other.   There are also plenty of charities that need blankets to keep the homeless warm; tinned food to feed the hungry; and presents for disadvantaged children or those in hospital at this time of year.   Given the recent financial crisis, there are many families that are facing a difficult holiday for the first time (due to job losses, money troubles and morgage forclosures) - so please think of others at this special time of year. Believe me, you will get a lot more satisfaction giving to those that REALLY need it!   On the subject of cards versus ecards: maybe a personal phonecall could be better wishing them all the best and asking about their plans, etc. Find out if they are doing OK, as many people really suffer around this time of year, perhaps because things are not going 'as they should' (suicides and depression are very common). We all need to improve our human bonds - perhaps an ecard is the easy way out.    

PJ

Hi PJ,

Your ideas will be very precious gifts for Christmas. J My wife is Vietnamese. She is a Buddhist and I am a Caucasian Roman Catholic. We are both quite old and remember times that were not so good. We have travelled. Her concept of gifts is to give a year supply of fresh vegetables to an orphanage in Nepal, or to buy the Christmas dinner for a school for the blind in Saigon. She does them in the name of someone for whom she wants to create good karma. She doesnt want to manipulate minds. In her naïve innocence she just thinks that those are great gifts! In Vietnam, if you cannot think of a good gift the best alternative is to go to a live fish market and buy frogs, catfish, turtles, and eels and let them go. If only one of them lives it is still a good prayer you gave life and freedom to at least one. What matters in a gift is what you have in your heart. Gifts should only give very simple love, not politically-correct re-education. If they laugh at you for being eccentric it does not matter. The gift is still good.

Steve

Hello All,

Since there has been some discussion of "greening" the holiday season on this list, I thought I would share a small but very popular program we run every December in San Francisco. The "Dreaming of a Green Christmas" program allows residents to "purchase" saplings from the Public Works department for use as their Christmas tree. Once the season is over, the trees are picked up planted on the streets of San Francisco. Residents LOVE this program and it has gotten quite a bit of good press over the years. It saves trees, prevents landfill waste, connects residents with urban greening and raises money in the process. Learn more here: http://www.sfenvironment.org/greenchristmas/

Lawrence S. Grodeska

Internet Communications Coordinator
SF Environment City and County of San Francisco
11 Grove St. SF, CA 94102
Direct: (415) 355-3733
http://www.SFEnvironment.org