Keeping Green this Christmas

[hedge*]

I just wanted to point out something which might be obvious to a lot of people but also not quite so obvious to many people.

When buying for xmas are you aware of the environmental issues involved?

Do you like to have a real Tree for instance?
Do you know there are certain organisations that sell sustainable xmas Trees? And that you can get your Tree picked up by the local council after xmas to have it re-cycled?!
Or how about buying a Tree that is still growing. Pine Trees are relatively easy to grow, just pop it outside in a big enough container after crimbo and you will have a reusable real Tree year after year.

We send 1.7 billion Christmas cards each year. That's the equivalent of 200,000 Trees and use a further 50,000 Trees worth of wrapping paper. Altogether, it all mounts up to create around 3 million tonnes of rubbish over the festive season. Try and cut down the amount of rubbish by sending virtual christmas cards, wrapping presents in recycled or reused paper. Sticky tape doesn't degrade so use string, ribbon or wool instead. Stockings or gift bags are also environmentally practical as they can easily be reused.
I have a friend who wraps their gifts up in newspaper, the first time they gave me a gift wrapped in newspaper they apologised about it! I told them it was the most thoughtful thing ever and nothing to apologise about.

How many times have you recieved a gift that you just chucked in the back of the wardrobe and let sit there for years and years?
Take it to the charity shop instead. One man's trash is another man's treasure
And why not make your own gifts! It needn't be time consuming though of course if you have time they can be as elaborate as you want.
Recipes in jars are a great idea and so personal. How about giving Plants as gifts? Everyone loves these. I allways sow extra Seeds in the spring and summer solely for this purpose. Cuttings can be easily propagated as well. Christmas Cacti and African Violets are especially great for this as they are so easy to do. You could even paint the pots they're in yourself.
Or why not bake a gift? Xmas cake, xmas puddings, mince pies, yule log they allways go down well and certainly won't get chucked in the back of the wardrobe!
Sweets are a nice gift to make as well. Toffee, fudge ( drooool!) marzipan fruits, truffles...they won't last long trust me, and you could decorate a little box to put them in too.

Make your xmas decorations. Salt dough is a wonderful thing and so very versatile, you can make almost anything with it and if you give it a good coat of varnish will last years and years. get some Pine Cones and decorate them, with a glue gun attach a piece of string or ribbon and voila! Pretty, unique natural decorations. The same can be said of gluing small pieces of sticks together to make stars ( though I know they're pentagrams ) And how about baking some cookies to hang on the Tree. The ideas are endless and I hope you will add your own ideas for a greener xmas.

I'm not trying to be a party pooper, I just wanted to try and make people stop and think about the unnecessary waste that goes on at this special time of year and the damage it can do to our precious Earth at a time when we should be taking care of her - when She's sleeping.

©2006, hedgewitch, All Rights Reserved.

[Storm]

Some great advice there - thanks!

I never send xmas cards. We have a growing tree. I continually haul bags of crap to the charity shop that I just don't want/need anymore.

But there is still a tonne more than I could do to be a 'greener' person.

[hedge*]

It's true that I could do more too but anything/something is better than nothing.

[lilady_love]

hehe you sound like me...
any gifts i recieve in boxes bags what have you i save to send stuff out in the following year..
my pretrend tree is probably older then me
we have newspaper add printing company close by i use the ends of there rolls (witch are huge) to wrap... i stamp them or colour them whatever
my brother has c.p. so i donate things to them
just lots of little things that i hope will help

[Sobek]

i loathe christmas cards. and to be honest i've never known anyone to use a real tree, everyone where i come from uses plastic. i dont bother wrapping gifts, it's only an extra few seconds before they find out what it is so why bother.
as for buying/making, i like to do both. right now i am attempting to crochet a table cloth.

[hedge*]

Ok - I posted this exact same post on a few different forums and one of them is my local area "community" forum.
This is one of the responses I got (my user name's treehugger on quite a few boards)


I think I agree with treehugger..

Don't buy a tree.. it's like killing children.. poor little saplings..

....and sending cards.. all the waste... land fill, dead trees, awful,..
and what about turkeys??.. lets pack all that in... who wants to eat dead birds??.. and what about the sweat shops that produce the Christmas Crackers?.. all paid about 10 cents a day??... and the extra electric we spend on the Christmas lights?? and the heating??.. what's all that about?... ruining the planet or what!!..

No I think treehugger is right, we should all sit quietly in our rooms, no heat of course, no TV.. obviously.... have our Christmas lunch.. consisting of a grass sandwich, maybe a glass of water (if it doesn't upset the water table).

YES!! .. <<It's CHRISTMAS!!>>>, Lets Party and go GREEN!!

[Sobek]

that person was being sarcastic right? that seems a little over the top and far away

[Sercee]

I sure hope he wasn't serious. That would make me pretty sad, I think.

[Jeanne84]

Wow! Sarcastic people are such a pain in the rump. I mean if you've got something to say, just say it, don't play those kinds of games.

[Sobek]

i love sarcasm, its one of the most useful speaking tools ive come across, but in text its usually hard to tell. but as for that guy, when it comes to those die hard green earthy types you can never tell if they are exaggerating grotesquely or being dead serious.

[Jeanne84]

Yeah, I know, I use sarcasm to confuse the people who irritate me on a daily basis and most of the time i'm not being nice.

I just didn't like this persons use of it in reply to hedgewitch and her information. Or maybe my bad mood is getting the better of me.

[hedge*]

Yes the bloke was being sarcastic - it was his arrogance that pee'd me off though, not his sarcasm.

[[Enlightenment]]

Ok - I posted this exact same post on a few different forums and one of them is my local area "community" forum.
This is one of the responses I got (my user name's treehugger on quite a few boards)


I think I agree with treehugger..

Don't buy a tree.. it's like killing children.. poor little saplings..

....and sending cards.. all the waste... land fill, dead trees, awful,..
and what about turkeys??.. lets pack all that in... who wants to eat dead birds??.. and what about the sweat shops that produce the Christmas Crackers?.. all paid about 10 cents a day??... and the extra electric we spend on the Christmas lights?? and the heating??.. what's all that about?... ruining the planet or what!!..

No I think treehugger is right, we should all sit quietly in our rooms, no heat of course, no TV.. obviously.... have our Christmas lunch.. consisting of a grass sandwich, maybe a glass of water (if it doesn't upset the water table).

YES!! .. <<It's CHRISTMAS!!>>>, Lets Party and go GREEN!!

Don't ya just love self-centred, sarcastic people I can imagine now, sitting in a darkend room on Xmas day Sorry, now I'm being sarcastic.