It’s Almost Christmas

Are you looking for unique ways to celebrate Christmas without enlarging your carbon footprint? There are green ways to celebrate Christmas, and they are for the most part as fun and festive as other, less ecologically sound practices.

Here are a few inexpensive green Christmas ideas to give the season a green makeover.

• Choose a greener Christmas tree. This means buying a live tree that ccn be planted after the holiday in your yard or at a local park or school. Trees provide our planet with both energy and oxygen, so allowing your Christmas to live a long and full life makes good sense. 
• Send ecards. There is no reason for the massive waste of paper and fuel spent making Christmas cards and then transporting them all around the globe. For family and friends with email, an ecard makes good ecological sense and has the exact same meaning.
• Use LED Christmas lights, and less of them. Christmas lights are a planetary disaster, but most Americans feel that it wouldn’t be a festive Christmas without them. There are ways cut back on the electricity wasted for that holiday sparkle, such as buying LED Christmas lights that use a small fraction of the energy of traditional Christmas lights. You can also use less lights, for example putting them around your front door instead of draping your entire house and yard with them.
• Used recycled wrapping paper. There are two ways of recycling in this case. You can either opt to use wrapping paper made from recycled paper–look for term ‘post consumer waste’–or you can reuse fabric, paper, and other items from around your house for creative wrappings. A stamped pattern on the unprinted inside of paper bags is just one way to make these homemade items look just as good as the storebought version. 
• Choose timeless decorations that can be used year after year. Instead of trendy holiday items that will end up in the New Year’s trash, choose nicer items made out of crystal and other high quality materials. You’ll spend less, have a nicer spread, and cut back on energy and waste spent making the cheaper counterparts.

Having a green Christmas and talking about your choices is a good way to introduce your children the joys of an ecologically sound lifestyle. With a variety of options, there is no reason that this time of year has to be synonymous with waste and overconsumption. Getting your family into the act will help create holiday traditions that have more than sentimental value.

Recommended from Amazon: Green Christmas: How to Have a Joyous, Eco-Friendly Holiday Season