Features
How green is your Christmas?
Mid Winter used to be one of the biggest celebrations of the year; the sun coming up on mid Winter morning filled early woman and man with hope for the success of the planting and growing season ahead.
This festival has now become the biggest consumer event of the year - and the most environmentally destructive. Thousands of tons of paper are used for cards and wrapping; lots of unnecessary presents are bought, putting our beleaguered planet under even more pressure, speeding us ever more quickly along the road to environmental Armageddon. Every one of us has a part to play in this. Every penny we spend will help to destroy or to sustain Mother Earth; just as we are responsible for our traffic headaches so are we also responsible for environmental destruction.
Below are some suggestions as to how we might be a bit more responsible doing our Christmas shopping this year.
Abandon wrapping paper. Use coloured ribbons which can be re-used, and which look great; or use newspapers with coloured ribbons; or colour the newspapers with crayons.
Send e-cards; while my old granny might love to get real card, most of my friends would be happy with an electronic Christmas card.
Buy Fairly Traded goods; these are available in Oxfam shops and include teas, coffees, chocolates, dried fruit, and craft work from the third world; buying these goods supports farmers and small communities in the third world; crafted goods from Oxfam are often beautifully crafted and make unusual gifts.
Buy your Christmas wardrobe from a charity shop; you can be really lucky and pick up designer label clothes very cheaply. This supports the Charity (Cancer Research, Sheltered Workshops etc.).
Baking the cake and the pud can be a nice family event; using organic dried fruit also makes it a nice global event.
Real (i.e cloth) hankies, serviettes etc. are much more environmentally friendly than their paper counterparts (provided, of course, that they are washed in environmentally friendly detergents); the hankies are also much gentler on sore, cold affected Rudolf type noses!
Bring your own shopping bags; a really obvious one - a good environmental decision which we sometimes forget about.
If possible do only one trip (with a list!), car share, or use public transport.
Healthstores carry nice ranges of cosmetics – some of which come from companies for whom sustainability is an important factor.
Dishes, rather than disposable plates are also a good environmental choice, as is ‘topping up' glasses rather than replacing them. (No problem with that!) Use as little cutlery and crockery as possible thus reducing water and detergent use.
Remember - Repair, Reuse, Recycle; we'll enjoy Christmas much more knowing we haven't destroyed anything on the way there! Scientists predict that there is only another 40 years of oil left; if we want our children and grandchildren to enjoy happy future Christmases, we must cut back on planetary destruction NOW!
Gillian Westbrook has been appointed to the new position of
General Manager with IOFGA. Coming from a background in the regulatory area...
