It’s almost that time of year again and this year is going to be hard. With the economy on a downward spiral, many of us out of work and the cost of goods rising daily, it does not seem to be a joyful time of year. But there are good ideas on how to get useful stuff for friends and family, keeping it green and save money at the same time. In fact, going green saves money no matter how you look at it. It’s our overly commercial, plasticized and technology driven lifestyle that costs a lot to maintain and robs the planet at the same time.
So let’s see if going green is feasible and affordable. I have done a previous post on how to give green gifts that will help you with the gifting choices. But a lot more goes into Christmas than just the presents. There is, of course, the tree and the decorations that go on it. There is the packaging for all those gifts; a pile of plastic store packages wrapped in gift wrap, all of which gets torn to shreds and tossed in the trash. Ouch. According to an article I saw on Associated Content, over 4.4 million tons of holiday gift wrap, shopping bags, and holiday catalogs are sent straight to the landfills each year. And then to all of this you have to add the gas you spend scooting through bumper to bumper traffic from store to store and mall to mall, searching for the right item at the right price. And don’t forget the extraneous stuff like the extra electricity it takes to power all those decorations, especially Rudolph and the Elves on the front lawn surrounded by 400 feet of flashing colored lights. So how do you stop spending and wasting? How do you do the planet the favor and go green? Here are some ideas.
Harmony Green 