12/7/06

Did you know that more than 25% more waste is generated during the holiday season than at any other
time during the year? Interested in having a lower impact on the environment this holiday season? There’s lots of things you may want to consider doing differently. Here’s a few ideas:

• Give up the gift wrap! Instead, invest in colorful cloth gift bags in a variety of sizes (Busy Fingers sells these, for example) for use within your family, to be used over and over again.
• Or wrap gifts using recycled materials only. The Sunday comics and magazines make great wrapping paper, so does old topo maps (Acterra sells these for $8.50 for a roll of ten maps, if interested, contact ellenw@acterra.org) or even recycle old wrapping paper—if you are careful to salvage it from being torn apart and taped up--by turning it inside out and letting your kids color pictures on them.
• Replace your old incandescent tree lights with LED holiday lights instead, available at most hardware stores. LED holiday lights burn up to 95% more efficiently than the old lights and, a big bonus, when one bulb goes out the remaining lights will remain lit! It’s best to replace all your old lights than mix up the two types. To recycle old lights, take them to Green Citizen at 4500 El Camino (near San Antonio) for a fee of $.50/lb
• Buy your Christmas tree from a local tree farm. Tree lots often sell trees shipped here from out of state, and while many of those farms do good in their communities, why not support tree farms in our own backyard instead? Why not a fake tree? Read an interesting article from the San Mateo County Times on all the benefits of buying natural trees locally at: http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_4768303
• Give the gift of a special experience, instead of items your loved ones really don’t need. Tickets to a show, coupons to cool new exhibits or restaurants, or consider some cool, environmentally-friendly gift ideas, for adults and kids alike: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/12/green_gift_guid_1.php
  

(Ellen Wilkinson, ellenw@acterra.org, 50-962-9786 x306