When holiday shopping, protect yourself from exposure to the virus by making purchases online from local businesses, sustainable gifts, or online free-trade food gifts. Cloth novelty masks, scented hand sanitizer, and UV disinfecting lights are popular virus-fighting gifts this year. To avoid spreading the virus, keep gatherings within your family bubble or move them outside, masked, and socially distanced.
Real vs. fake Christmas tree?The age-old question of which is better for the environment is easy to answer, according to The Nature Conservancy. They state that real trees are best because of these reasons: Christmas tree farms keep land open instead of being developed, real trees remove carbon out of the air while they grow, they are a renewable resource, and are completely recyclable.Most areas even gather real trees after the holidays and turn them into mulch. If you really want an artificial tree, find a used one at thrift store to minimize their impact on the earth, for example.
Use recycled content wrapping paper, butcher paper or reusable cloth or paper gift bags, and reuse tissue, bows and ribbons that are still in good condition. (Whenever possible, use and reuse gift bags rather than wrapping paper. While it might be fun to rip and tear into a wrapped present, the fancy paper itself is most likely to be laminated with plastic, foil, glitter or other non-paper materials that contaminate a recycle bin. The short fibers in tissue paper make it not recyclable too.) Have a paper bag or box ready Christmas morning to collect all the paper wrappings and cardboard for the recycling bin.
LED Christmas lights use 80% to 90% less energy than incandescent lights, so make the switch when it is time to buy new ones. Use timers on holiday lights so they turn off during the day and while you are sleeping to save energy.
Check out this video: https://youtu.be/QdXOd4AiM9g. The Florida United Methodist Creation Care Task Force and United Methodists around Florida shared ideas on how to have a green Christmas.
