As you can tell from the title of this post, it is all about Christmas- as an environmentalist. Hopefully, if you are reading this, you consider yourself an environmentalist; but if not, now is the time to start. Anyway, it is obvious that Christmas has an effect on the environment, and it is not necessarily positive.
The huge amount of waste that comes from wrapping paper, unwanted gifts and other packaging- not to mention Christmas dinner- is immense. But don't worry, I'm not saying give up Christmas for good; I'm just suggesting a few little tweaks to reduce your carbon footprint.
First of all, let's start with food- basically Christmas dinner. I know that Christmas will be different this year, but there will still probably be a lot of Christmas dinners happening. So, let's think... there is probably a lot of waste going to happen, and what can YOU do about it? This might sound obvious, but only buy what you need. Don't buy a giant turkey for three people! And, if you do buy too much, does it really need to get thrown away? The extras of the meat can be boiled down in to stock, which makes a great starting point for soups(by the way, I am pescatarian, but only since September 2019). In my family, we are having pies full of leftovers until February!
Next, the big one: presents. This isn't a call to suddenly decide you never want a present again, but I'm gonna give a few suggestions. First things first, how many presents do you really need? Maybe ask for one particular thing and then maybe a couple of books or that jumper that you really need. Then, when buying presents for family members, try to buy second hand or from environmentally-certified brands. Even better make them yourself! This year, I have made all my presents: a notebook covered in pressed flowers for my Mum, some home-made truffles for my Dad, and lavender pillows for my Granny.
I hope you found this useful, and remember: even if you don't celebrate Christmas, are there any other festivals you could apply this too? Also, if you have any other suggestions, comment in the box below. Merry Christmas! 👋
We sometimes re-use wrapping paper and envelopes. Also, if you're going shopping for presents, bring your own bag!don't use a plastic one from the shop, or if you have to, use it again the next time.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this great advice! Good idea about re-using envelopes- I'm going to try that. In my family, we keep the fronts of all our Xmas cards to use as tags the next year. We have a whole bag of them from when I was little.
ReplyDeleteAlso, just so you know, I can't see who has posted a comment. It's fine if you want to keep it anonymous, only if you would like me to know who it was then you need to put it in the comment otherwise it just comes up as 'me'. Thanks!
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