Greening Your Holidays

With Halloween upon us we are just a few short days away from the brunt of the holiday season! What are you doing this year to make your holidays greener?

Even Halloween can be made green. All those plastic baskets, the junk candy with all those yucky GMO's (genetically modified organisms), the "cheap" costumes, makeup and more can easily be replaced! A great guide for Halloween whether you use it this year or next can be found at http://www.greenhalloween.org/2011nongmoguide.pdf. They have great substitute ideas for non-gmo treats.  The main site http://greenhalloween.org/ has great info on decorations, costumes and so much more.

But this blog is centered on the next holidays; mainly Thanksgiving and Christmas. Why? Because these two holidays are the biggest hits when it comes to green holidays.

Let's start with Thanksgiving. This is the easy one. Many people already prefer to use locally farmed fruits and veggies with their Thanksgiving meals. A great idea is to visit your local farmers market for fresh ingredients for your holiday table. Why use canned pumpkin in your pumpkin pie when you can use fresh? It's easy to do and there are no "bad" things like processed sugars and preservatives. Buying pies for the holiday? Buy from local bakeries that use fresh ingredients. Those frozen pies not only have GMO's but all kinds of other junk you don't need in your body.

Let's talk turkey, shall we? Fresh turkeys are easy to find in the New England area. Why fresh? Same reason as the fruits and veggies. Know where your food is coming from. Instead of turkeys which have been fed chemicals to make them bigger and fatter faster (which you then ingest by eating them!), why not buy from a local farm? A free range turkey is much tastier anyway. Many farms in the area are breeding turkeys for Thanksgiving. Search online for a farm near you or visit the farmers markets.

Moving on to Christmas. This is by far the biggest non-green holiday of the year! Why? Energy expenses with all those lights, real tree or fake tree...that is a big question, toys toys and more toys ("Made in China?!?"), wrapping paper, cards, and so much more makes this holiday the absolute worst when it comes to green. 

But there is much you can do! And it's easy! 

Let’s start with all those outdoor lights. We certainly don't want the lights off! They are one of the biggest things we all love to look at during the holiday season. But you can look into LED lights that a bit more energy efficient. After all those presents that are being bought, isn't it nice to know you can save money somewhere this holiday season? Want to save even more? There are many outdoor lighting solar options. Why using your electricity at all when you can harness the power of the sun? These are available at many of the local stores. All you need to do is look!

Real or fake tree? When all is said and done at the end of the day, having a real tree is actually the preferred way to go. The tree trees are grown on sustainable tree farms. Each year when they cut down that year’s lot, the trees are replaced by new ones. Ever go to a tree farm to cut down a tree? You will see all different stages of tree growth because the farmers are replacing the trees that are cut. Fake trees are not only costly to create but include many chemicals in and on them. Fake trees do not have a continuous life cycle as real trees do. When you finally discard that old fake tree, it may stay in the landfill for hundreds of years. A real tree, if properly disposed of, will be chopped down into mulch to help the new trees grow.

Onto all those wonderful holiday gifts! What do you want this year?  Ask!  Why give presents that someone does not want or need.  There are so many things everyone wants.  Get them something you know they will use.  If you do get things that end up in the “Land of Misfit Toys” bin, donate them to a hospital or school.  There is nothing worse than unused gifts that eventually are thrown out. Is re-gifting really a bad thing?  I don’t think so.  Not if someone will actually use the item.  There are so many who go without, spread the love!

With all the electronic toys and items out there, it is hard to say “buy green presents.” However, be conscious of toys with plastics.  Remember the lead issue a few years back?  Know your kids are playing with eco-friendly toys. Especially the young ones who insist on putting everything in their mouths!  These eco friendly toys can be found right next to the other toys.  Check labels when shopping!  The manufacturers are more than happy to stress the greenness of their products! 

Pretty paper, pretty ribbons, and pretty cards….RECYCLE!  Face it, we are going to use them, let’s just use them and the dispose of them properly!  If you want to go all green, get creative with wrapping by using cloth, paper bags or other reusable, repurposed materials. By cards made from 100% recycled stock.

Christmas dinner?  Christmas treats?  Again, just like with Thanksgiving, you can easily substitute healthier food.  Whether you prefer turkey or roast beast on Christmas local farms have what you need and you know it is good for you! Candy?  That too can be bought locally and without all the preservatives, chemicals and other bad stuff. There are local chocolatiers who make some decadent treats that everyone will enjoy! 

This year start a new tradition – healthy holidays!  Help you and your family live to enjoy even more by keeping everyone healthy, happy and safe during the holiday season!