Green Your Holidays and Have Fun!

For many people a Green Holiday only means one thing, St. Patrick’s Day. Visions of lads and lasses with names like Rozinski and Stein wearing green hats and shamrock tattoos while drinking green beer are often the only green images we conjure up.

But there is a new green movement for this new Millennium and new Green Holidays. If you’re still in the dark about these other Green Feast Days, let me shed some light regarding other big greenies.

The first green I learned about should be important to most folks, money. Except for a handful of well-healed individuals, the age of extravagance ended two years ago. Nice to know there are gift options that are frugal without being cheap.

The other green involves the purchase and use of environmentally beneficial products.   Holiday meals that are served on plates you don’t throw away, with napkins you wash instead of toss, are small things that can lead to massive results for the good of our planet if we all get on board.

As the holidays come rapid fire, we hope that you find these ideas for greening your holidays helpful.

1.    Consider buying an artificial tree that can be used every year. If you prefer a real Christmas tree, keep in mind that 10 million trees end up in the landfills every year. You can recycle your tree by calling (800) cleanup to find out if your city has a recycle program near you. These programs will turn your tree into wood chips or mulch.
2.    For your Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, consider buying organic and local foods to support local farmers who grow sustainable produce and meat.
3.    For the family dinner table, instead of buying throw away products, pull out your real plates, glassware and silverware. Don’t forget those cloth napkins and tablecloths.
4.    To save money on your energy bills decorate with “LED” lights. They use 90% less energy than conventional lights.
5.    Cut back on store bought decorations and think about some homemade projects to do with the family to decorate with. Just remember to think renewable and reusable… you might just start a new family tradition.
6.    When it’s time to wrap all of those presents, consider alternative wrapping materials such as: newspaper, reusable bags, fabric scraps, plain boxes that you decorate yourself and can recycle, left over wallpaper or reuse old wrapping paper. Be creative and have fun.
7.    If you didn’t keep last years bows and ribbon to adorn your gifts with, look around your house for some reusable items to use such as: hair bows and ribbons, old holiday cards you can cut up and use for gift tags, dried or silk flowers or just skip the special adornments and write a holiday greeting right on the package.
8.    Think about the gifts you give. Give reusable, renewable and recyclable gifts… house plants, memberships to a museum or nonprofit organization, season tickets, gift baskets with organic food items, gifts for the garden like seeds and garden tools, or you can give the gift of your time by offering to baby sit or cook a great meal for someone. Consider products from a sustainable and renewable source such as: bamboo clothing, bamboo sheets or bamboo bath towels.
9.    Instead of making New Years resolutions that you won’t keep try and make some green resolutions you can keep for the year, like planting a tree, using less water, recycling or using less energy.
10.    Last of all, enjoy your holidays by feeling good about your greener choices to help impact our earth. What a great gift in and of itself. Happy holidays from all of us at Green Earth News!

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Tagged as: eco-friendly, green, holidays, ideas & tips