Want to Bring More Joy To The World? 27 Tips to Go Green for the Holidays!
Deck the Halls, and the Walls and the Tables….. 1. Decorate with bowls of nuts or fruits, colorful squash, pomegranates, whole pineapples and more can create a festive look , and other edibles you can enjoy later.
2. Reuse last year’s greeting cards as placecards, gift tags, or to decorate plain gift bags and more. You can also make a collage of the unusual and pretty greeting cards and hang them on your walls as holiday accents.
3. Use natural scents and oils to add fragrance to your home. Just a couple of drops of a natural, essential oil like rose or cedarwood on pinecones or dried flowers will fill the area with a beautiful natural fragrance that is environmentally friendly.
4. Instead of buying a cut tree this year, buy a “live” tree that you can plant outside when the holidays are over.
5. Donate your live tree to an organization in your community such as the Arbor Day Society or a local garden club or high school.
Guide us to Thy Perfect Light!
6. Use LED lights on your trees, wreaths and other décor that requires lights. LED lights use one tenth of the energy regular lights use and they can last up to ten times longer.
7. Put your lights on timers.
8. Use Beeswax and soy candles, they burn cleaner than paraffin.
9.Use solar power for your holiday lights. You can find a small modular system that can connect directly to your display.
10. Florescent light bulbs are more energy efficient and last longer than incandescent.
There'll be parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting and …
11. Entertaining this year? You can buy organic turkeys, fruit and even wine.
12. Instead of the usual paper or plastic disposable serveware, try disposable
bamboo a quickly renewing resource that is functional, beautiful and doesn’t add to the landfill.
Corn resin is also a good alternative.
13. Buy local – locally grown produce has fewer pesticides.
14. Comparing apples and oranges is like buying out of season. Buying in season,
you save money, the environment and it’s healthier for you
15. Recycle and encourage your family, friends and coworkers to do the same.
16. Eat vegetarian as often as possible. Vegan eating uses fewer raw materials,
fossil fuels and grains (source: GoveG.com)
17. Stop with the plastic! Instead of buying individual bottles of water, that add
to the landfill, get a filter for your kitchen sink. It will pay for itself in less than a year,
and will save a precious resource – WATER!
18. Want a drink? Buy glass instead of aluminum cans. Even though both can be
recycled, it takes less energy to produce glass than aluminum.
What fun it is to ride and sing…
19. Walk, ride a bike, carpool to those parties! If you plan to go solo or with friends, why not drive together and get a head start on the fun! whenever possible. I can’t promise you won’t get run over by a reindeer, but you will help save the planet!
20. Downloading music is better for the environment than buying CD’s because
when they become obsolete you don’t have to throw them in the landfill.
21. Same with movies, instead of buying them, rent them! Better yet, rent movies on
cable or satellite and you don’t have to return them!
Snow and mistletoe and presents on the tree…
22. Instead of (or in addition to) giving gifts to others Donate to an environmental
cause in their honor.
23. Send your gifts in baskets wrapped in colored cellophane and decorated with
pinecones, holiday greens and a pretty bow. The baskets can be reused over and over again.
24. Let your fingers do the walking… Use the Internet to search for your gifts and
then support local merchants by picking them up in the store.
25. Buy from earth-friendly companies.
The new old-fashioned way
26. Cleaning up after that party? Try vinegar and water for your windows, floors
and bathrooms (half vinegar, half water).
And you can make your own furniture polish with one cup of oil and half cup of
lemon juice.
27. Get back to basics! What happened to making cookies from scratch, stringing popcorn and cranberries for your tree or painting a picture for someone you love? Going green can truly make it the “most wonderful time of the year!
Like the song says:….”
“There’ll be much mistletoeing
and hearts will be glowing,
when loved ones are near.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.”
Some GREEN Resources and Events (2008) Watch the video “The Miniature Earth”
The Climate Change Summit 2008, Feb. 12 - 13, 2008, London,
Better Living Show, March 28 - 30, 2008, Portland,
Earth Day, April 22, 2008, Global
Washington, D.C., Green Festival, Nov. 8 - 9, 2008, Washington, D.C
For more GREEN Events, visit Green Living @ Suite 101
Happy New Year Heidi and all the marvelous and inovative women on and otherwise connected to this network.
Let’s all remember to recycle our Christmas tree. If you are discarding a real one, they can be chipped up and used as mulch around other trees or flower beds. Added to your regular composting material will greatly enrich the results.
The same goes for all the potted plants used as decorations, the lovely Poinsettia, PaperWhites, and Christmas Rose. Usually by this time we are a little burned out on seeing them, tending them (or not)
bottom line, just ready to clean house.
If you are an organic composter then know where the plants came from and how they were grown before you toss them into your compost.
I’m big on recycling the boxes, wrapping paper (if salvagable)ribbon and cards.
Christmas cards are great for cutting and making gift tags for the next year, and for using in scrapbooking projects.
If you don’t recycle and compost, consider getting aquainted with the process in 2008, it is a very loving thing to do for the earth and for future generations.
To you all, A Prosperous and Peaceful New Year!
Hi Bea,
You are so right about re-cycling. We’ve been using the same plastic tree for about 15 years. Once the decorations are on, it looks great and no needles on the floor, either.
A couple of years ago my husband bought me pointsettias for Christmas. I planted them outside, but they only lasted six months or so. He did buy me a miniature Norfolk pine and I planted it outside our dining room window. It’s about ten feet tall now and I keep cutting off the top so the roots don’t go into our septic tank.
I’m still trying to get the compost thing right. I bought a big black composter that stands about five feet tall. It seems to attract way too many insects and I’m not sure if I should just let them do their thing because then they’ll be in the soil when I plant…or will they?
All Best and Happy New Year.
Carolyn