4 Ways to Make it a Green Christmas This Year

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope this year you will have a Christmas filled with joy. This is the time of year when you decorate your house, buy gifts and invite your friends and family over for a Christmas dinner. The festival of Christmas is all about giving and sharing, no matter how little we have. The greatest gift you can give someone is the gift of happiness, and sustainability. You can really get creative and encourage others to become more environmentally conscious with green gifts. If we all could make this Christmas a Green Christmas, it would be the greatest gift we can give to the planet.

Every big effort starts with small steps, and although making our Christmas greener might seem like a small step, it could spiral into a big green movement if we all do our share of helping Mother Nature, by doing little things around the house that are eco-friendly. We could also influence others to walk on the eco-friendly path. Below are some ideas to make this Christmas a Green Christmas.

1. Buy Smart

Think eco-friendly when buying gifts. Buy items that are necessary, that fill practical needs. Buy smart and buy local. Gifts don’t have to be packaged with excessive wrapping paper to be a surprise. You will find several great green gift items that are useful, reduces wastage, and reduces environmental impact. A holiday trip, a reusable water bottle, or an energy saving appliance make excellent green gifts. Choose gifts made with recycled materials. Some companies will also make donations to conservation agencies or environmental funds if you purchase a gift from them. Find eco-friendly or organic alternatives to the gift items on your list.

2. Make your own gifts and decoration

Take some time and try to make some of your own Christmas decorations instead of buying them. Try reusing your old Christmas decoration materials, wrapping paper, calendars and gift bags. Making your own gifts makes it more personal and gives you a feeling of fulfillment. You are also able to use your imagination. Going green does not mean keeping the fun down. Use energy saving ideas such as LED lights to light up your house; they save up to 90% on energy consumption compared to conventional lights. Use natural, bio-degradable and eco-friendly items for decoration.

3. Recycle and reuse

The majority of all the Christmas trees bought during the Christmas holidays will end up in a landfill. Recycling trees instead of filling up landfill space would reduce a significant amount of environmental impact, and carbon emission associated with carrying and managing this waste. Buying a live Christmas tree in a planter will also allow you to plant it back after the holidays. Reuse packaging materials, cardboard boxes, wrapping paper, shopping bags and such as much as possible. Re-gifting or donating your old gifts to charities will also put your unwanted old items to good use. Find alternate ways to wrap gifts, such as using gift bags, instead of wrapping gifts with paper. Collect, separate and recycle all recyclable items from your house.

4. Connect with nature

Christmas is meant to be a family time and a wonderful time for giving back the gift of sustainability to Mother earth. This gives you an excellent opportunity to establish the ideas and values of sustainable living to your community, friends and family. Why not start a family tradition of an eco-friendly Christmas? Get out and connect with nature. Take your family on a trip in the wild. You can encourage outdoor activities with your children and in your community by engaging in activities such as nature hikes, planting trees, or other nature restoration activities.

The true holiday spirit is in giving and sharing. We have been using up resources from the planet for thousands of years. It’s time to give something back to Mother Nature. Be eco-friendly, reduce, reuse, and recycle and conserve in every way. Make this Christmas an opportunity for you to shift towards sustainability. Your Christmas can really be merry if you give the gift of sustainability to Mother Nature.