Eco Christmas

Last year we wrote about being green at Christmas. As last year has shown us yet again, we’ll need to adjust our lifestyle in order to save energy consumption and natural sources, if we want our planet to survive. 

However it’s still not easy to have an eco-friendly Christmas, given that this festival has come to represent self-indulgence and excess consumption of food & drink. How can we be joyful when worried about every detail of what we do, use and buy?

Firstly, don’t over do it. As the cliché says every little bit helps…
Here are a few useful tips that are simple yet saves materials, energy and money..

• Don’t buy too much food and try to make use of left-overs for other meals. If you can’t reuse the leftovers think about taking the food to a nearby farm to feed animals.
• Make your own Christmas decorations by recycling objects & materials. This can be a very creative and therapeutic process – very exciting for kids. Collect cones, acorns, berries, nuts, twigs, grasses and leaves from the woods. Make garlands, wreaths and displays out of them.
• Make edible ornaments for your Christmas tree – make cookies & biscuits in the shape of stars,  Father Christmas, angels, bells etc.  Combine these with flakes made of cranberries; baubles made of chocolate; snowmen made of ginger-bread. Use icing for decoration.
• Recycle all the Christmas cards you were given. Try to rescue wrapping paper for later use. As to your own Christmas cards, make your own ones printed on recycled paper and send customised e-cards to those who are online.
• Make sure you get a tree from a sustainable source. Try to buy a potted tree which you can put in your garden after Christmas. If you can’t, dispose of the tree carefully – find out about a local service that collects finished Christmas trees to produce garden mulch.
• During the Christmas period we use more lighting than usual. Try to be sensible – don’t light every room in your home. Don’t leave the lights on overnight – use a timer to regulate them. Use LED lights instead of the traditional string lights with mini bulbs. LED lights use significantly less energy, because the voltage is turned into light rather than heat. You can now buy color-changing LED fairy lights – although they cost more that conventional lights. For a cheaper option use candles – made of beeswax or soy oil (but do be careful – never put them near the tree or anywhere that could catch fire!)
• Finally, don’t overdo the presents – less is more. Don’t buy anything jut because it takes your fancy – think of who it’s meant for! Actually, instead of buying stuff, why don’t you make customised Christmas gifts? Here are a few ideas for DIY Christmas gifts.

Anyway, don’t stress out over saving the world. Just try to be as green as YOU possible can. If all of us did that – it would greatly benefit our lovely planet.