Christmas is fast approaching! What was once a religious holiday to celebrate sharing, where time was mainly spent with family and friends. Today, for many people, it has become synonymous with stress, overconsumption and guilt.
Certainly, Christmas is for many people always a magical time. The opportunity to meet up with your loved ones to please and to please yourself. However, how can we remain insensitive to the amount of waste generated? Is it always possible to celebrate an ethical and fair Christmas?
To answer these questions, I decided this year to do some research. To help those like me who have decided to have an eco-friendly Christmas!
Ideas that I hope will help you spend Christmas in harmony with both the environment and your family.
The Reusable Advent calendar
To start your journey for an eco-friendly Christmas. The Advent calendar will help you wait until Christmas while teaching your children about the importance of small actions for the Planet.
You can choose to make your Advent calendar with your children and share a good time with them.
If you are not a handyman, consider buying a reusable Advent calendar. This is an Advent calendar to fill, made of cardboard. You can choose what type of content you want to put in the 24 boxes that compose it. So no plastic toys, no chocolates with palm oil, it's up to you to choose what you want to put in them. Another advantage is that on December 25 you can store it again in its tube until the following year.
Eco-friendly Travel
If for you the festive period is an opportunity to go on holiday. Note that the impact of tourism on the environment is undeniable, according to a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, it represents 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions! Quite frightening when you consider that tourism is a growing industry.
However, today it is quite possible to travel in a "responsible" way. For example, by limiting our travel by plane as soon as possible, by staying in eco-resorts or by making attractions that help to finance the protection of endangered animals.
Offer ethical presents
In order to celebrate an eco-friendly Christmas. While keeping the spirit of exchanging and sharing gifts. Why not offer ethical gifts to your loved ones?
For example, offer a homemade gift or an intangible gift such as a concert ticket or a play. You can also choose to buy from local artisans instead. And thus contribute to the local economy by preventing your gifts from travelling too far.
Why not offer a gift to the planet at the same time? By offering a tree on Reforest'Action you will offer your loved ones an original, symbolic and sustainable gift!
Introduce your loved ones to Zero Waste
Take advantage of Christmas and New Year holidays to introduce your loved ones to zero waste! You can indeed offer them useful items such as alternatives to plastic bottles.
For example, an insulated bottle or a soda machine can help your loved ones throw away 150 fewer plastic bottles in a year!
⇨ See my article about filter water bottles
Offer used gifts
Every year hundreds of millions of electronic devices that are still in working order are thrown away or forgotten in a drawer. The production of these electronic devices results in CO2 emissions and therefore sustainable environmental damage. The purchase of refurbished or second-hand equipment is a real alternative to planned obsolescence and the mass production of new equipment.
Similarly, the garment industry is the second most polluting industry in the world. It is responsible for 2% of greenhouse gas emissions. While for 34% of the French for example, offering a second-hand gift is no problem. And receiving one is not a concern for 53% of them either.
Eat local and seasonal food
In the United States alone, 40 percent of food gets tossed every year. But it is during the Christmas and New Year that food waste culminates.
Moreover, when you buy a product that is not in season, it will necessarily travel thousands of kilometres. It should be noted that a commodity imported by air requires 10 to 20 times more oil than a locally produced fruit!
This is why consuming local and seasonal food benefits the environment. Purchasing locally grown food helps to support local farms and maintain agricultural land and open spaces in your community.
In addition, seasonal foods are also fresher, tastier and more nutritious than foods consumed out of season. So why deprive yourself of it?