By Ethan Lee,
Staff Writer
Bright twinkling lights and Christmas decorations deck the halls as the holiday season arrives once more. According to Stanford University, Americans generate 25 million tons of extra garbage from Thanksgiving to New Years in the form of festive greeting cards, colorful ribbons and shiny wrapping paper. That’s enough plastic to kill every sea turtle on the planet 50 times over, enough trash to stack to the moon and back two and a half times and enough emissions to introduce 230,650,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year.
Everything from the climate summit in Glasgow to our own smoggy skies brings climate change to the forefront of our minds, and there is a widespread feeling that we are not doing enough. However, as our minds shift from the gloom of everyday life to the colorful lights of the holidays, I regret to inform you that our responsibility to our planet is greater than ever.
We often ignore the holiday excesses created by our gifting habits. First, let’s identify the major offenders.
Packaging is a big issue. The U.S. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development finds that Americans throw out 18 billion tons of wrapping paper and 38,000 miles of ribbon during the holidays. That’s not all, though. Over 180,000 tons of unwanted clothes, cosmetic items and other presents are tossed away, contributing to landfill waste and runoff.
According to Stanford University, that’s about 25 percent more waste during the holidays — so despite our efforts to cut excess outside the holiday season, if we don’t stay vigilant throughout this time, we’re losing so many of the gains we’ve made.
But what can we do? Are we supposed to give up our fun traditions and presents just to stay eco-friendly for only another ten percent of the year? Surely we can’t just get rid of everything that makes Christmas…well, Christmas, right? Well, we don’t need to! There are countless ways to be mindful of your environmental impact while celebrating the holiday season you love.
Eco-friendly gifts are an obvious solution, but what kinds? Try giving the ever-valuable gift of time — take your friends on a hike, go with them to a sports game, a concert or maybe a nice day at an amusement park! If they enjoy eco-friendly hobbies like gardening, cooking, baking or even binging TV at home you can support them with gardening tools, pots and pans, bakeware sets or a Netflix subscription. You can even take the time to get to know your friends better, giving them the perfect sentimental and eco-friendly gift that they’d never throw away!
Avoid throwing away gifts you might not want or need — instead, consider donating them, or giving them to someone who can use them. You can try using gift bags, old maps or newspapers instead of wrapping paper for gifts, and reuse old ribbon. Make sure that you don’t just give the right gifts, but also treat what you’ve been given well.
So, this holiday season, do your part and rest assured knowing that you are bringing joy and cheer in the form of mindful gifts and habits. As you celebrate with family and friends, be content knowing that the Christmas that you’ve come to love, and this world you’ve come to know, will be celebrated for years to come.