The holidays are a great way to celebrate, but it is important to realize the impact that you may have on the environment. During the holidays, there are tons of extra waste produced, million of trees chopped down and megawatts of flashing lights that require lots of energy. According to the National Geographic article Green Christmas: Tips for an Eco-Friendly Holiday, “Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s day, Americans throw away a million extra tons [900,000 metric tons] of garbage each week.” It is not necessary to give up the holidays, but there are plenty of opportunities to become greener. People over-consume and there are choices such as what to buy and where waste is disposed of that should be made to lessen the impact on the planet.
Here is a suggestion to celebrate an eco-holiday: recycle the ribbons on gifts. The ribbons can be untied and put away for the following year. Robert Lilienfeld is the co-author of the novel Use Less Stuff: Environmental Solutions for Who We Really Are, and he states that one holiday season’s worth of un-recycled ribbon could literally tie a bow around the earth. I found that fact stunning since a ribbon only represents a small part of the waste produced by people.
This shows we produce more waste than we could possibly think of since a gift usually consists of wrapping paper, packaging cards and other disposables. It is important to know what kind of gifts you plan on giving. Giving gifts that can be experienced, such as a ticket to a game or a theater production could help to minimize the wrapping and it could become recycled after. These gifts could offer more meaning and help the planet at the same time.
Instead of wrapping gifts with wrapping paper, try using recycled paper bags from the grocery store. The recycled paper could be decorated creatively and it could allow some family bonding. It could also give writing space to write the To: and From: so the labels would no longer be needed. When preparing a special meal, try not using Styrofoam or disposable cups, plates and silverware. It will require extra time in the clean up process but it looks more presentable for family and friends. After the holidays, recycling the fresh trees can help make a huge different in reducing holiday waste. Instead of filling up the landfills, the trees can be ground into wood chips that can be used to mulch garden or parks. These wood chips can also prevent erosion at a local watershed.
The last suggestion is to use low-energy lights. Lights made with light emitting diodes (LEDs) were introduced in 2001. LEDs use semiconducting material rather than incandescent filaments and are 90 percent more efficient than traditional Christmas lights. According to the U.S. Department of Energy study, “If everyone replaced their conventional holiday light strings with LEDs, at least two billion kilowatt-hours of electricity could be saved in a month.” That could be enough to power 200,000 homes for a year.
These are only a few suggestions to help celebrate the holidays while reducing your impact on the planet. I hope to see the holidays become greener and more appreciated!