The most celebrated festival of all time- Christmas occupies a special place in our hearts. People all over the world celebrate Christmas with pomp and gaiety. Presents, decorations, lighting and a big embellished Christmas tree are all part of Christmas celebrations.
An eco-friendly Christmas is the way to go if you want to contribute positively towards the environment while having fun at the same time.
To keep the spirit of Christmas intact while putting a thought for our environment, we have come up with some interesting tips to help you have a green Christmas this year.
Let us start with the Christmas tree. There is no harm in getting a Christmas tree for your living room since they come from sustainable tree farms and are hence not hurting the environment in any way. But the only problem is the carbon footprint of the tree. The amount of fossil fuel and water wasted to tend to the tree and bring it to your house from the farm is a cause for concern. Even if the tree is organically grown without any pesticides, it still would take some fuel to be transported to your house thereby increasing your carbon footprint. What you can do is buy from local farms as close to your house as possible.
When it comes to faux trees, people generally think that they are bad for the environment dismissing them totally. But that may not be right. If kept in good condition, faux trees can last many years. So instead of buying a real tree every year and increasing your carbon footprint, a onetime purchase of a faux tree may turn out to be better for the environment. But you have to make sure that the faux tree is used for at least a decade. Moreover, try to buy faux trees made from biodegradable or recycled plastic. After using it for many years when you are finally done with it, don’t throw them away and let them end up in a landfill. Instead put them in composting and recycling facilities.
Now that we are done with the debate of fake and real Christmas trees, we can move on to the lights. We all know that Christmas is not the same without lights but keeping them switched on all hours of the day is not wise at all. Some people keep their Christmas lights on even at 2 A.M in the night. That is really not necessary. First of all, do away with incandescent lights and use LED lights instead that consume less electricity. LED lights can save up to 40-50% power when compared to ordinary lights. Also, don’t keep the lights turned on all the time. A few hours in the evening are fine. Switch off the decoration lights in the porch by midnight- no one is going to see those lights at 2 A.M in the morning anyway! Besides, you don’t need to put so many lights around the house at all. Try to use fewer lights from now on. Instead of putting up lights a week away from Christmas, put them up a day before Christmas.
The decorations and presents are also a part of the Christmas experience. You would be surprised to find so much variety in online shops when it comes to buying recycled Christmas tree decorations. From recycled glass balls to recycled stars made of brass- the choices are endless. Deck your Christmas tree with amazing recycled and biodegradable items that you can find in stores nowadays. To decorate your house, use streamers made from recycled paper. Recycled paper lanterns also look beautiful around the house. Another way of brightening your house is to light up eco-friendly soy candles. Candles can be great substitutes to electric lights.
If you think that eco-friendly gifts are difficult to find then think again. Recycled wooden toys, potted plants, paper mash bowls and clay vases are some interesting gifting ideas. If you want to gift clothes, then only buy clothes made from organic materials like soy or hemp. The same rule goes for shoes, bags and accessories. When it comes to gifting home décor items, they can also be found in eco-friendly varieties. Remember to buy things that are made sustainably, bio degradable and not harmful in any way. Even beauty products made from completely natural extracts have become popular with the ladies. Whatever be your gift, make it a point to wrap them in recycled wrapping paper. You can make the wrapping paper at home by yourself. It is also advisable to use old gift boxes instead of buying new ones.
Finally, don’t forget to put a thought to your Christmas dinner. Enjoy dinner with family made from locally grown organic produce to bring a satisfying end to your eco-friendly endeavours. It is not enough to have an eco-friendly Christmas once in your life- make an effort to have a green Christmas for years to come.
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