Celebrate with the Earth this Holiday Season!
It’s once again the most wonderful time of the year, which means we get to enjoy the holidays with our loved ones, tasty holiday dishes, and amazing presents. Regeneration is probably not one of your top priorities, given how busy you are. To rectify that, we are here.
Even though the holidays are joyful, some of our cherished customs can be wasteful. The holiday season can be particularly harmful to the environment due to food waste, gift-wrap waste, and transport emissions. Fortunately, there are several straightforward approaches to responsibly celebrating the holidays and carrying on your cherished traditions.
Let’s begin with the centerpiece -The Christmas Tree
Faux Trees
Purchase a used artificial tree. For your tree this season, consider exploring your neighborhood thrift shops or local neighborhood apps and Craigslist. A great site to find a new-to-you tree is also Facebook Marketplace.
Live Trees
If you can find one, consider visiting a coppice tree farm to select a live Christmas tree. You will be able to enjoy the enchantment of stumbling through a grove of tangled evergreens to find the tree that cries out to you, springing from a stump like a Phoenix reborn while also supporting a sustainable method of agriculture that has been practiced for thousands of years.
Renting is another sustainable tree choice. Some farms will let you hire a potted tree for the holiday season, which you can then bring back in January for replanting.
DIY Trees
Last but not least, think about additional festive possibilities like a rosemary plant in a container, a ladder tree, or a DIY tree fashioned out of books, driftwood, or other items lying around the house. These are cheery, reusable, and environmentally friendly choices.
And the festival season is incomplete without great lighting!
Part of having an almost zero-waste holiday season is minimizing energy consumption. Holiday lights use a lot of energy, so turning them off before bed will help.
Set up an automatic timer to turn the lights down at a certain hour if you forget to turn them off. You may rest comfortably knowing you’re conserving energy and securing your house in this way. Using less energy throughout Christmas is one way to have nearly no waste. Turning off holiday lights before night will save energy because they consume much of it.
Here are some DIY low-waste ornaments
A distinctive and environmentally friendly option for decorating your home for the holidays is handmade, do-it-yourself ornaments. Natural options like cranberry and popcorn garlands, dried citrus ornaments, and durable salt dough keepsakes are among our favorites.
Even outdoor decorations for native fauna are possible. Pinecones collected while foraging should be covered with peanut butter, rolled in birdseed, and hung outside for the birds and squirrels. You may also make baked birdseed ornaments, which look especially lovely if you use cookie cutters with seasonal designs.
We all love gift exchanges, but how to save on the heaps of wrapping paper?
Making the switch to more environmentally-friendly wrapping paper is among the simplest ways to make a sustainable decision this holiday season. Other simple gift-wrapping options:
- Reusable textile material
- Paper left over from the previous year (save paper every year for reuse!
- a wrap made from post-consumer recycled materials
- from magazines or newspapers
- Mason jars or baskets make very interesting containers.
And most importantly, Buy Locally.
There are many benefits to shopping from local businesses—so spend your money locally, so your gifts don’t have to travel far. Your contribution will help reduce carbon emissions released by shipping Christmas gifts yearly.
Let us know how you reduced waste this holiday season!
We hope you will find our low-waste tips and tricks inspiring and have a jolly, eco-friendly holiday season.
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