Is the Planet on Your Holiday Gift List This Year? Eco-expert Kim Carlson Offers Tips on How to Give Back
Of course you'll be thinking about presents, parties and unwanted pounds but be sure to take some time to ponder the planet - and what you can do to help. Eco-savvy entrepreneur, green business author and eco-chic lifestyle expert, Kim Carlson shows you how.
Decoration Exploration
The EPA reports that approximately 33 million live Christmas trees are sold in North America every year and the total power consumption from Christmas lights is five times the entire energy output of the sun since the beginning of time. Kim Carlson's advice:
• Look for ways to recycle your tree post-Holidays instead of sending it to a landfill. Check with your community solid waste department and find out if they collect and mulch trees. The chippings from mulched trees can be used for hiking trails and beachfront erosion barriers. Also, consider buying a potted tree and planting it when the festivities have come to an end.
• Try beeswax candles instead of synthetic ones.
• Replace conventional holiday light strings with LEDs - at least two billion kilowatt-hours of electricity could be saved in a month which would be enough to power 200,000 homes for a year. (Rockefeller Center switched to LED in 2007)
• Turn off or unplug holiday lights during the day. Leaving them on 24 hours a day will quadruple your energy costs - and create four times the pollution.
Trash Talk
Americans throw away 25 percent more trash during the Thanksgiving to New Years holiday period than any other time of year. The extra waste amounts to 25 million tons of garbage or 1 million extra tons per week.
Kim Carlson's advice:
• We all have too many things in our lives so give a dining or cultural experience in the form of a restaurant gift certificate or tickets to a concert, play or museum. Gift cards for gas, groceries and other necessities are great options as well. All of these require little to no wrapping.
• When you must wrap, save trees and fuel used in the production of holiday paper by wrapping with recycled or reusable materials. Use pretty pictures from your old magazines to cover gift boxes and cut up scrap paper for gift tags.
• Send electronic greeting cards and recycle any paper cards you receive.
• Call ahead to a shelter or food bank to arrange for a pick up of leftover food.
Gift Green About 40 percent of all battery sales occur during the holiday season. Most of that is for plastic toys. It takes 50 80 years for a small plastic toy to decompose.
Kim Carlson's advice:
• Try to buy gifts made from natural materials. Look for toys made from sustainably forested wood, a bathmat made from bamboo or a bathrobe made from soft organic cotton. Make sure you're also keeping a look-out for organic, recycled content and fair trade labels.
• Opt for locally made gifts to cut down on fuel used and toxic emissions.
• Buy rechargeable batteries to accompany your electronic gifts, and consider giving a battery charger as well. Rechargeable batteries reduce the amount of potentially harmful materials thrown away, and can save money in the long run.
• Consider the durability of a product before you buy it as a gift. Cheaper, less durable items often wear out quickly, creating waste and costing you money.
Wishing you a wonderful holiday season knowing that it IS easy being green.
For more information or tips from Kim Carlson please contact Courtney O'Neill or Catherine Pope of AAM at 212.661.1336.