Dear Deborah
I want to have a “green” holiday season, as in I want to be very conscientious about what I buy and of course how much I spend! Can you help me make better decisions and keep within a tight budget?
Courtney from Big Sur.
Dear Courtney,
Good timing.... holiday shopping has begun and I think many people are wondering the same thing. Greening the holidays or creating “ environmentally sustainable” holidays literally translates to lowering your ecological footprint during the holidays… and still having an excellent time.
Ecological footprint
We’ve talked about our ecological footprint in the blog dated July 24th, 2008, but basically it’s the amount of natural resources used to support our lifestyle. This includes land, water, timber, minerals, etc. With the Earth sagging under the pressures of so many people... the less we use, the less it has to provide. You can go here to measure your footprint.
During the holidays we’re eating/drinking/gift giving/ decorating/ traveling…. Just like we’re doing the rest of the year but we’re escalating all of those activities, and as a result our ecological footprint is also escalated….
So slow it down... but by how much?
How much you put the breaks on these activities would depend on your own personal convictions….
100% would mean a very lean holiday, possibly the better choice at this moment in our ecological history, but not very fun….
0% would be pointless and probably not of interest to anyone reading this blog…. You’re reading this because you want to make a change.
I suggest somewhere in the middle. This gives you alot of wiggle room to make changes as best as you can….the more you can do the better, but even little changes count.
A system to help make good green decisions
I have developed a system to help you make best choices for stepping a little lighter and lowering your holiday footprint. The system is actually an acronym which you can carry in your mind and have it with you when you’re shopping and making purchasing choices….
TIPTOES (as in walking softly through the holidays)
T = Territory
I = In Season
P = Plastic Free / Packaging free
T = Talent and Trade
O = Organic
E = Endowments
S = Simple, savings, self sufficient
But what does it mean?
Territory
Where does the product or service come from? Always choose from your local territory first, then look to the surrounding area, then your region, then state, then country and then globe. Think in concentric circles around your house. Shop in zone 1 first, that’s your direct neighborhood, zone 2 is your town, zone 3 your region, zone 4 state, zone 5 country, zone 6 world. The more you shop in zone 1, the better off you are. As a side note, if you're into permaculture, you'll see similarities in philosophy, if you're not check it out!
Example 1. Buying flowers for the hostess of a party your attending?
First try to buy them from the farmers market, if not get them from a local flower shop, if not from a local, independent retailer, use a service like FTD florists last.
Example 2. What about a high tech item? A new Wii for the kids? Find a business who’s with in walking distance of your house who sells them. I know my local Blockbuster does. They’re not an independent business, but they hire local people and pay local taxes. I would choose them over driving to a store 30 miles from my house, where the money I spend gets filtered out of my community completely.
In Season
This applies to food purchasing... shop for foods that are in season around your home. If a recipe calls for pineapples, try to substitute for pomegranates... they’re in season around the holidays so they’re easy to find and haven’t traveled very far to get here. Pineapples have to be shipped to us from regions down south.... that’s lots of oil and lots of CO2 emissions. In season will be fresh, more nutritious and taste better.
Plastic Free/Packaging Free
Plastics are being linked to breast cancer, and play a major roll in the garbage dumps in the worlds oceans....and most can’t be recycled.... look over my blog dated August 24th.
Example 1: If you’re going for a toy for your little cousin... like a set of blocks, get wooden ones.
Example 2: What about a set of picnic goblets for your neighbors back yard party? Glass. Definitely. Maybe even cool retro ones from a vintage store.
And packing is a huge problem in landfills, our garbage increases by 25% during the winter holidays. Why do we need a pair of scissors to be double wrapped in a plastic container that we can’t even open unless we have a pair of scissors? Be bold and leave the packaging at the store and tell them to pay the garbage bill.
Talent and Trade
Use local talent, as in local artists. A healthy community supports it’s artists. Looking for a picture frame for grandma? Pop into an artist co-op and see if they have one in your budget range. It has life in it, it has craftsmanship, it has good juju. Maybe you’ll even find a great pair of earrings for your sister.
As for trade, what I mean by that is Fair Trade. Say your boss loves coffee and you decide to get her a bag of beans from your local coffee shop... great! Ask them if the coffee has been fair trade certified, meaning the growers have been paid a living wage for their work. It’s important... we all want to be fairly paid for our efforts. that’s social justice which sits right next to ecological justice.
Organic
No matter what you’re buying, the less pesticides it uses; the better. We have dead zones in the oceans and unprecedented levels of cancer in our bodies... as much as we can buy organic, the better. It helps with habitat restoration, it helps raise healthy farm animals and it helps beneficial insects like honey bees. We can buy organic sheets, organic towels and even organic clothes, as well as the usual suspects like organic veggies and fruits.. look for them, see if they fit the budget and go there, if you can. If you can only buy one organic item this holiday, it’s better then none.
PS. Farmers markets have good prices and organic from China isn’t saving the planet much.... the carbon emissions from all that travel cancel out any perceived benefit.
Endowments
It’s a bit of a stretch, but it means shop and support charities when making purchases.
Are the local school kids raising money for a field trip and selling holiday cards? Buy them.
Is the Animal Shelter selling calendars or umbrellas? Buy them.
How about organizations like Heifer International? Make a donation to them in the name of your Great Aunt who doesn’t need any gift cause she already owns two of everything, and some family somewhere in the world gets a much needed gift instead.
Simple, Saving, Self Sufficient
Easy...Simple.... the lower down on the production complexity level the better... less resources in creating it. Such as a photo album versus an electronic photo display.
Saving... don’t go into hawk to buy stuff... with the all the economic stresses we have right now, it’s best to stay in the green. This holiday think “I’m going to be... debt-free!”
Self-sufficient... I’m actually going to write more about this next week... but think about gifts that give your friends some level of self sufficiency.
Examples: a fishing rod, a hand-crank ice cream maker, a worm compost, an electric bike (that’s for that really special friend... yourself!).
Got some good ideas now? Hopefully you can make greener shopping choices by “Tiptoeing” this winter; ultimately stepping more lightly on the planet and creating sustainable holidays. And most importantly... remember to have a fantastic time!
Cheers!
deb
