because you care: 2009

Christmas is an extremely wasteful time. 25% more waste is produced over this festive period. So hopefully you are asking yourself - How can I reduce my impact on the environment and in turn save money this Christmas?

Even if you have bought gifts that have excessive packaging you still can make a difference.

Be conscious of what you wrap your gifts in.

What impact is my wrapping going to have on the environment?
Can a use a different source of wrapping that is more eco-friendly?
Do I have any old wrapping paper that I can recycle?
What about old newspapers?
If you do purchase wrapping paper purchase one that isn't season specific. This enables people to reuse the paper at a later stage for birthdays or next season.
So encourage people to unwrap carefully and don't overuse the tape.

There are plenty ways to reduce your impact on the environment. What tree are you using? What are you going to do with it afterwards? Your leftovers? Perhaps drive out and share them with poor people in your communities.

Or perhaps you have left your Christmas shopping late.

What about gifts or items that you never use? Why don't you fix them up add a chocolate/nuts and give that as a gift?

Try www.kiva.org (I have) for adults.

Kiva is a organization that educates internet users such as you and me how to invest in entrepreneurs of underprivileged communities. I have used Kiva to purchase Christmas and birthday presents for all my family and friends. There is nothing they really really need so instead of me wasting money on something they may or may not use wrapped in excessive recyclable and non-recyclable packaging/wrapping I thought I should give my gifts electronically.

So my gifts this year have

minimal impact on the environment,
help someone raise the standard of health and wellness in their community
raise awareness for social investment
increase understanding outside of ourselves to the less fortunate

Even if they don't use the voucher you can choose the option of donating the money to kiva. Works either way!

So have a great Christmas, its more about giving than receiving. Be sure to increase everyones awareness as to the impact of their waste on the environment. Every little bit counts.

Please comment and share your ideas on how to make it a green Christmas and how to improve the livelihood of our local and global communities that are less fortunate than ourselves.

references and resources

http://www.whotv.com/news/story-who-green-gifts-121509,0,3366326.story
http://naturalwise.co.za/cart/christmas-gifts-c-60.html

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/green-living/5-ways-to-reduce-christmas-waste/642
http://www.thedailygreen.com/going-green/tips/recycled-paper-gift-wrap-461207?src=rss

http://greenliving.suite101.com/article.cfm/recycling_christmas_waste_and_unwanted_gifts
http://www.recyclingconsortium.org.uk/schools/christmas_waste.htm
http://www.recycleworks.org/resident/holiday_facts.html
http://www.wasteonline.org.uk/resources/InformationSheets/ChristmasRecycling.htm

THIS WAS A PAPER FREE POST!

because you care

sponsored by somama

I'm dreaming of a green Christmas

Sharing is caring

Blog Archive

Followers

Contributors

Sponsored by somama:

Blog Archive

AddThis