A green Christmas is just as magical, joyful and meaningful with the added warmth of knowing that you are making choices that respect our planet and all its beautiful inhabitants.
Christmas has evolved into a season of indulgence, lots of food, giving of gifts and a time to splurge whilst spending more time with family and friends. However, the fun festive season does not have to have a phenomenal footprint and a few tweaks to aspects of our consumption patterns at this time of year can make a real difference. More importantly, it can change our mindset and create more positive patterns throughout the coming year.
Christmas Decorations and Wrapping Paper
The season tends to start with decorating and present buying. Even for the most committed, it is almost impossible not to consume more at this time of year. However, there are a number of things we can do to both reduce and lower the impact of our purchases.
There are lots of alternatives to buying decorations that are made of harmful or difficult to dispose of materials such as plastics. Many items we can reuse to make decorations and have a creative fun few hours on your own with the children or at a crafting workshop:
- Using old Christmas cards to make great baubles
- Saving wine corks all year to create a herd of reindeer
- Collecting flowers, seed heads, some vegetation from the garden, adding a ribbon and using a bit of imagination are all you need to make a lovely garland
Christmas Trees
There is no debate about a tree, but plenty about what tree. It is not a time to virtue signal so its fine if you have an artificial tree that gets hauled out year after year but it’s useful when buying to check if the material can be recycled.
Chopping down real trees is harder to justify but a whole industry has grown up around them just like Irish poinsettias. You might be lucky to have space and an outdoor tree but nothing quite gives the Christmas ambience as a tree so an indoor potted tree that you can decorate might be a better option.
Collect pinecones and use dried orange slices, cinnamon sticks and sprigs of eucalyptus, holly or pine branches for natural rustic décor.
Gifts
The gift of time may be the most valued but Christmas is also a time for us to express our thoughtfulness and kindness with presents. When purchasing maybe have a few golden rules and avoid if possible harmful materials whether in toys, clothing or other equipment.
Shop local, support local stores, bookshops and local makers and make a point of visiting a few local Christmas markets. Purchase cruelty-free and vegan beauty products and brands that use compostable or recyclable packaging are a bonus.
Gift an experience which may be an opportunity to try a new positive activity in the new year e.g. a sound bath, a vegetarian cookery class, clothes swap. Make your own edible gifts or gift to a charity and purchase from social enterprises.
Next, the gift wrapping which may look lovely, can also be wasteful. For instance, the UK uses 227,000 miles of wrapping paper each year. Alternatives which can be a beautiful gift themselves include scarves, cloth or reusable gift bags instead of traditional wrapping paper.
Energy Use
The Christmas Season comes at the time of year when we are likely to need energy in our homes the most. The days are short, the nights are long and cold, and most of us are on holidays from work, school or college. It is the season for big meals, entertaining friends and family, and of course lighting up our homes. So how do we best go about celebrating and enjoying our time at home but avoid running up our energy bills and carbon emissions?
- Keeping warm and snug is essential at this time of year so if you have the Christmas jumper already, now is when you get to wear it!!
- Turn the thermostat down as you can reduce your heating bill by 10% by lowering your room temperature by just one degree.
- Only heat it when you need it! Radiators will continue to heat your home for some time after the heating is turned off. Try turning on your heating only 30 minutes before you need it. Then turn it off 30 minutes before you don’t need it anymore.
- Draught strips on doors and windows especially in older houses, cost little, prevent draughts and save energy.
- There is going to be a lot of cooking and washing up over the next few weeks, but the kettle doesn’t need to be switched on four times before you make the tea
- The oven is a big energy user so using an air fryer to cook meals is a great saver.
- Be sure to fill the dishwasher and washing machine fully before each use and try to use outside of peak times when you may have a cheaper rate.
- Unplug your appliances when they aren’t in use. Even in standby mode they are using 20% of the energy they would consume if they were on.
Lights
- There has never been a greater choice of Christmas lights so consider replacing your old inefficient light bulbs with low energy LED lights these are cheaper, last longer and are much safer.
- Start with the lamps in your living room or kitchen where you spend most of your time.
- Switch off outside lights when not needed.
- Use downlights outside to prevent nighttime light pollution that drives wildlife away.
Food
Christmas is a great time to enjoy meaningful family traditions. Food is a major part of these traditions and the various holiday gatherings, and creating festive, healthy and sustainable meals can be a beautiful experience!
When we cook at home the food is healthier, it’s usually much less processed and has fewer calories than when we eat out. Eating seasonally at any time of year is good and luckily some of our favourite Christmas staples such as potatoes, brussels sprouts, carrots, parsnips, red cabbage, onions, sage and thyme, are all in season throughout the winter months.
Opting for seasonal, ideally organic food means supporting Ireland’s nature-friendly farmers, who grow using fewer chemicals, so their farms can support more diverse wildlife and healthy, living soils.
The healthiest sweets and treats are also homemade. If you have time, you can bake delicious cookies, granola or spiced nuts – or make your own chocolate truffles or jams. It’s always good to cook and bake together and a great way for the children to learn.
Overbuying is a big temptation and can lead to overeating the wrong foods and food waste. Try buying only the food you need and storing it properly, reusing leftovers and freezing food. The golden rule is always to use a list.
Transport
Christmastime is a time for festivities, activities and using those gifted experiences whether visiting family and friends, going shopping, visiting markets or to the Panto or maybe having a go at ice-skating.
Transport is one of the highest contributors to Greenhouse Gas Emissions, so it matters what choices we make to get around. Petrol and diesel are scarce resources and when burned they have major environmental impacts. In Ireland, transport contributes over 20% of our total greenhouse gas emissions with the private car the largest contributor to that.
It’s all too easy in the dark cold weather to use the car for every journey even the very short distance ones. Many of us have a bit more time over the holidays and can therefore plan our journeys a bit better in advance to make them less impactful. Creating some new habits over the season can last into the New Year.
A good exercise is to list your regular car journeys whether to work, to the gym or pool, to meet friends or go to the cinema. Decide on a few you could walk, cycle or take public transport. Aim to substitute at least one car journey per week with active travel or public transport, start the habit over the holidays so you figure out the best option and route for you.
Walking, cycling, even the bus and train allows you to pay more attention to what is around you – to enjoy the natural beauty of the winter, the more stark shapes of the trees, the river and sea, the birds from far and near. It is dark so early on a cold dry day that you can also savour the beauty of Winter’s dramatic sunsets and the stars in the night sky.
A greener Christmas can be just as magical, joyful and meaningful with the added warmth of knowing that you are making choices that respect our planet and cause less harm to all the other wonderful life we share it with. Christmas shouldn’t cost the earth literally and giving more thought to how you celebrate it can make a real difference.
For more tips, click on the following links:
- Decorating and Gifting at Christmas
- Tips to Save Energy over the Yuletide
- Festive Food
- Getting around over Christmas
