A More Sustainable Gifting Experience?
I don’t know about you, but around about this time of year, I become cynical and saddened by the commercialization of Christmas. This year, the Environmental Justice Team had an idea. How about giving folks some ideas for a meaningful & more sustainable holiday experience? Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Consider giving physical gifts only to the little ones, and even with this, try to pick something that they’ll really enjoy and use, rather than something that lasts for only a couple play sessions.
- Donate food as a gift, on someone’s behalf. A Well-Fed World is a nonprofit that offers plant-based solutions to world hunger and climate change. You can donate as a gift for someone to one of the many programs in the Plants 4 Hunger relief program or spread your donation among them (Plant-Based School Meals, Soy Microbusinesses, Food Trees, Seeds & Beans, Community Food Gardens, Food Shares, and Disaster Relief). Read about all these programs at: https://awellfedworld.org/gifts
- Donate to an environmental charity on someone’s behalf (Sierra Club or Nature Conservancy are a couple). Many charities, not just the environmental ones, allow you to donate on behalf of someone. I once donated to a farm sanctuary for a relative’s birthday, and they even sent a card to the person (it might have been an online card… I don’t remember).
- Think twice before you buy something that someone doesn’t really need nor want. Maybe give an experience, instead of a physical gift. Some ideas: a yoga class (here at Open Spirit or Roots & Wings or a massage (A Gentle Place here in Framingham does both yoga & massage).
- Create your own wrapping paper. I get tons of brown paper in the Chewy box with my cat food. Markers, crayons, colored pencils can turn that into a great gift wrap. Saves money and trees.
- Homemade gifts are great too. I used to make Christmas cookies for everyone. This one is an investment of your time, but people also get to know that you really cared enough to take that time to make them something special. (I have lots of vegan cookie recipes, if you need some, let me know.)
- If you have a special skill or gift, give someone your time. Just imagine if someone gave you the gift of weeding your vegetable garden or cleaning your bathroom (okay, maybe that’s too personal), but you get what I mean.
I hope this gets your creative juices flowing. Just by thinking out of the box, we can stem the flow of presents that end up in the landfill and remove some of the commercialism out of the Christmas season.
Submitted by Laura Beck