10 tips for green gifts
By Glenn Scherer, Blue Ridge PressEconomic hard times, two wars, the environment in trouble. It's enough to make you feel like the Grinch - as if celebrating is unaffordable, even inappropriate. But it's not. This holiday season you can give presents perfectly suited to this tough yuletide: gifts that are easy on the giver's wallet, earth-friendly and fun - and that help the receiver make ends meet. Here are a host of green gift possibilities.
1. Give a green turkey: Local meats, vegetables and fruits, purchased from a nearby farm or farmers' market, make a thoughtful, fresh, tasty gift. And local honey, jams andspecialty foods are great stocking stuffers. Or how about buying your loved ones a share in a CSA? Community-supported agriculture will feed family or friends for months on farm-fresh groceries. Buying local also keeps dollars in your community's economy while minimizing fossil fuel used to transport food from field to table.
2. Be a knit wit: Turning down the thermostat reduces energy costs and energy use. But to stay comfortable in cooler households, people need to rethink their indoor wardrobe. Knitted wool sweaters, knitted slippers or wool caps all make a cooler home feel cozy (something our Victorian ancestors knew and we forgot). Can't knit? Find a local knitter who you can commission for personalized indoor garb.
3. Be travel-wise: Most adults remember their first bike but haven't ridden in years. But outside the U.S., people regularly use bikes for shopping, business and pleasure. Give an adult you love a bike, and remind them that it's a great way to get places and stay healthy while treading lightly on the earth. If a bike is the wrong gift, consider a bus or rail pass to make commuting easier on the wallet and save auto expenses.
4. Give low-tech toys: Kids have come to expect electronic gadgets as gifts. But you can change that expectation by giving old-fashioned wooden toys, dolls, board games and other non-electronic choices. Often made locally and requiring no batteries or wall plugs - and mercifully silent - hand-made toys are amazingly durable. With a little imagination, they can be as much fun as a Gameboy (though kids may debate that!).
5. Give the gift of health: Americans are working harder than ever, but many still can't afford a gym membership. The solution is only minutes away. Most communities boast pedestrian trails - rail-trails, nature trails and bike paths - a way to burn calories and enjoy nature. Neighborhood bookstores or libraries typically stock local hiking-biking guides. Check municipal, county and state Web sites or offices to find free trail maps and brochures. Download, print out, copy, collect and turn these materials into a personalized neighborhood hike-bike guide for someone you care about.
6. Pull the plug on energy waste: Here's a gift that's low on glamour but high on savings. Give the head of household a 2009 energy-saving kit, including compact fluorescent light bulbs and power strips. Compact bulbs are far more efficient than their incandescent ancestors. The power strips - with on-off switches - are placed in circuit with TVs, DVD players, computers and other vampire electronics that suck up electricity, whether in use or not.
7. Give a sustainable home: There are many great books to help you trim home energy use and save money. This holiday give "The Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings." Or how about, "The Home Energy Diet: How to Save Money by Making Your House Energy-Smart." Or my favorite by actor Ed Begley Jr., "Living Like Ed: A Guide to the Eco-Friendly Life." This gift needn't end with the giving; it provides a chance for families to team up on energy-saving do-it-yourself projects.
8. Save a species: Want a child to learn to love the natural world? Give them a chance to help save it. Go online to the Caribbean Conservation Corporation and adopt a sea turtle in the child's name, or to the World Wildlife Fund, Defenders of Wildlife or other conservation group and adopt a snow leopard, polar bear or other animal.
9. Reuse last year's holiday cards: Get clever with last year's cards, scissors, glue and construction paper. Make a one-of-a-kind card that shows you cared enough to spend time creating it.
10. Wrap it up: Your newspaper continues to be a best buy for holiday wrapping paper. The comic section adds character to any package, as do old posters, maps or scrap paper dyed with food color. It's a great way to personalize a gift while reusing resources.
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Blue Ridge Press editor Glenn Scherer enjoys the holidays from Montpelier, Vt.
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concerned
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12-21-09 7:47 PM
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i shop in the big box stores and am not going to appologise for it.i earn my money and i can be seen in walmart or sams regularly
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TruLiberShultz
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12-21-09 7:41 PM
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11. Do not bresthe. The CO2 you exhale is is killing the galaxy...er..cuddly polar bears too!
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rockydog
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12-21-09 9:50 AM
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You are right designer. More people are saying Merry Christmas. I even heard it on NPR and even NCPR.
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designer5
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12-19-09 11:13 PM
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And have you noticed, more people are saying "MERRY CHRISTMAS" than have said it for years. People are sick to death of being told it is politically incorrect to mention their religious holidays. If the 18% of non-christians in this country are offended, they are going to have to learn to deal with it.
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DW12983
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12-19-09 2:35 PM
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6. Buy American! Keep what jobs we have left, Obama’s stimulus isn’t creating jobs here. It’s just spending on pork projects and buying materials from China. 7. Stop the man made Global Warming myth. How can we afford to give millions to “developing nations” when we can’t pay our own National Debt? 8. Stay home! If you do need to travel drive yourself! Even at four dollars a gallon it’s still cheaper than flying or a bus. 9. Stop this healthcare madness! You and your kids will pay for this Obamanation! And finally, 10. Donate through your Church, Synagogue or Mosque to help make this winter’s record low temperature a little warmer for those without jobs. Don’t trust the United Way or any non-religious organization. You won’t be saving green but, you’ll feel warmer inside!
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DW12983
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12-19-09 2:23 PM
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I have ten more ways to save green (Greenbacks that is!): 1. Buy online and save money so you can afford to pay your new taxes Obama has and will charge us. 2. Buy in bulk from warehouse stores to save money. Besides, there is less waste in bulk packaging. 3. Bypass Main Street shopping. Maybe then they'll lower prices to affordable levels. 4. If you’re buying Christmas gifts shop where they advertise Christmas gifts. Keep Christ in Christmas. 5. Don't buy into the Organic Farming myth. It costs more and you never know what is in the manure! (Unless you want to be colored green.)
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SamSpade
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12-19-09 11:41 AM
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This confirms how nuts these guys are. And it doesn't say much for the editor of this paper either, who publishes such tripe.
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