This is a reprint of an article a wrote for the Newsletter of the Woods & Wetlands Group of the Sierra Club.
In a constant quest to be ever-greener, (sorry I couldn't resist the pun), I was wondering whether it was better to get an artificial Christmas tree or a real one. Unabashed tree hugger that I am, I have never been able to bring myself to cut down a real tree to decorate my home for a few weeks despite the fresh pine aroma and beautiful appearance. However, I have recently questioned the wisdom of importing an artificial tree from China and was doing a mental life cycle analysis when I came across this article entitled, "Which is Greener a Real or Fake Christmas Tree" by Brian Howard from the Good Housekeeping "Consumer's Guide to Green" which answered the question to my satisfaction:
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/christmas-trees-picking-greenest-options-synd2?src=nl&mag=tdg&list=nl_dgr_got_hol_120111_greenest-xmas-tree-options&kw=ist
They also had a nice set of articles they call, "Everything You Need for Happy Green Holidays"
http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/green-christmas-holidays-2007-451120?click=main_sr
One of my personal favorite sites, "Practically Green" (www.practicallygreen.com) also has blog posts on "Gift Guide for a Practically Green Holiday", "Guide to Gift Wrap that's Eco-Friendly and Free", "Holiday Cards: Eco & Easy, Entertaining or Elegant - and Energy Saving", "12 Reasons to Shop Local - on Small Biz Saturday and Every Day!" & "Corporate Holiday Gifts" (http://blog.practicallygreen.com/category/green-celebrations/)
They also have a fantastic quiz you can take rating how green and sustainable you are living your life which ranks you on a scale from "barely green", "lightly green" through "impressively green", "wickedly green" to the ultimate "superbly green". The questions are pretty hard core including whether or not you reuse your greywater. No matter what level you score, they offer you suggestions as to the next steps you could take to live even more sustainably.
On Earth 911's web page entitled, "Green-Your-Holidays" you will find articles on "7 resolutions with a Green Twist", "2009 Holiday Gift Guide" which includes gifts made from recycled materials to fair trade practices and "Cleaning up Your Cooking" with eco-friendly and sustainable tips on buying, cooking and cleaning your food for the holidays and always.
http://earth911.com/seasonal/green-your-holidays/
The Sierra Club also has a great page they aptly call, "Green Holiday Tips" (http://www.sierraclub.org/tips/holidays.aspx) which includes a link to the "Sponsor a Wild Place" page where you can, not only find a cool and unique gift giving option, but have the satisfaction of knowing that your gift will help preserve America's wilds legacy. (and who can resist the Arctic Wildlife Refuge adorable stuffed polar bear?)
Lastly, consider giving the gift of an experience, volunteering or reusing a gift. Consider giving a friend or loved one the gift of your time, some help or perhaps that knickknack they have long admired which has outlived it's usefulness for you.
I'll share a reuse experience/experiment I did 2 years ago. My, then 6 year-old, daughter was mad about Barbies. I, like most parents, wanted to indulge her yearning but was also confronting my own rampant consumerism. In the spirit of reuse, I decided to purchase 1 new Barbie so that she'd have something new and contracted to purchase several used Barbies from a few of my students. The students were glad to resell the Barbies they had outgrown and get a little extra money for their own gift giving. By Christmas Day, I had about 14 Barbies total, 11 of which had all of their limbs all for about $10. The students were so excited about the deal that they threw in various extra items of clothing, a few cars and a small Barbie house. I put the Barbies with the missing parts in a bag and set them aside and gave her the remaining collection.
She was beside herself with excitement when she saw them and showed absolutely no preference for the new Barbie over the used ones. Several days later she found the bag with what we now refer to as the "physically challenged" Barbies and was a little miffed that I had been holding out on her. She taught me a valuable lesson that Christmas. Instead of the usual m.o. of overindulging our children in consumerism, maybe we can have Christmas be a teachable moment?"
