Christmas Decorations

I, like many others in the world, love to decorate for the holiday season.  In recent years I have been thinking of how to do this in a way that helps the enviroment.  The first thing I decided to do was buy a fake tree. (Don't scream about PVC hazards just yet) This was back in college almost 7 years ago now, and finding a sustainable live tree was both impossible and my poor college kid salary couldn't afford it. So I searched for sales and got really lucky with a nice sized tree that didn't look to fake and was metal and plastic, but spefically did not contain PVC, for the cost of 2 real trees, at the corner lot. I have not been able to find any clear cut stats on whether a fake tree or a live one is more sustainable, most seem to split down the middle, but I have to go with fake, simply because the amount of reuse it provides seems to have to outway the impact of cultivating, cutting and transporting the live ones every year, not to mention the pesticides, ick. Then if you don't recycle that tree (the City of Chicago does by the way, click here) it ends up in a landfill and so on. However, the benefits of some carbon dioxide scrubbing might be useful, so if anyone finds any research that points one way or the other, please let me know!  I did see one suggestion for getting a tree with roots in tact that you could replant, but problems with that are A. I don't have a yard big enough and B. you only can keep it in the warm indoors for a week before you have to plant it. This just doesn't seem like a good alternative for me, so I'll stick to my fake tree.  The next step I took was last year when my lights gave out, I went for LED's and found a place that would recycle my old lights, click here.  I love the new LED's, they so much more vibrant then my old ones.  Well, those are the steps I have taken so far, below are my ideas for the rest of decorations, I'll keep adding as I come up with ideas:

• Lights - Replace and recycle standard lights with more efficient LED lights
  
• Cards - If sending holiday cards consider e-cards, if not make sure to buy only cards with recycled content
  
• Wrapping Paper - Either buy recycled content paper only or reuse paper scraps (I am an architect and our scrap drawings make for some nice wrapping paper, you can even spice it up a bit with stamps or markers and such.)
  
• Recycle - We can't always control what lands on our doorstep as gifts, so make sure in the frenzy of the day you remeber to get a bag out to put all the paper in for recycling.  If you decide to go for a live tree make sure it gets recycled.  When you take down the cards make sure to recycle those as well. 
• Food - All of the holidays seem to be surrounded with food. Make sure what you bring to the table is organic and/or locally grown/produced.  It is healthier for you and the environment that way'
• Ornament and Decorations - Sometimes too much, is too much. Keep things simple here, buy local handcrafted items rather then those made and shipped from overseas.  In general buy less, remember there are 3 R's, REDUCE, reuse and recycle. 
• Gifts - For the kids buy made in the US items (I have a couple sites listed on my links page) For the adults think sustainable, fair trade or organic if your giving food. Homemade treats are always a welcome present and if you make them yourselves reuse containers to give them in then you control how environmentally friendly your gifts are.  Locally crafted items are always a good way to go as well. 

Most Important Produce to Buy Organic

Since we can't all afford to buy only locally grown, in-season organic produce, here are the top items to purchase organic due to pesticide residue.  In addition to Organic, look for local, in-season produce to make that much more of an impact.  

Apples

Bell Peppers

Carrots

Celery

Cherries

Cucumbers

Imported Grapes

Green Beans

Hot Peppers

Nectarines

Lettuce

Peaches

Pears

Potatoes

Raspberries

Spinach

Strawberries

Sources:

http://www.foodnews.org/

http://www.coopamerica.org/

Turn off the lights

I have become obsessive about this one, not sure why, but it is good because it is just becoming a habit. I watched a Mythbusters episode where they busted the myth that leaving the lights on all day actually saves energy.  Not only did they bust it but they found that even being out of the room for a few seconds you save energy by turning off the light, so I have made it a habit to turn off the light of all rooms I am not using at that exact moment. I do this at home and my husband has started too as well. We used to leave the hall light on (4 downlights) on all evening so we could get around the house, now those stay off unless we are in the hall.  

I do this at work to an extent as well, I sit near the conference rooms and our materials library and I am constantly turning those lights off after people when I get up to go somewhere.  Another place would be the break room, copy room, mail room, server room, etc... 

Mythbusters - Lightbulbs On or Off

Use Marker Boards for your notes

We got these great 4" x 8" marker boards from a rep (Idea Paint) and I thought wow, this is great for greening up the office or near the phone in your house!  Just put this and a reusable non-toxic marker near your phone and take your days notes on that instead, you can then just erase your notes as you complete them and reuse, no wasted paper. I love it. Now obviously some notes have to go into project files, so my plan is here to either type the notes from the board into a word doc and save electronically or use my pad of recycled paper from the misprints bin in the copier room to take those notes that need to be filed.  You could also use chalk boards, but chalk scratching while on the phone may not be ideal for a work scenario, maybe better at home. 

Use reusable bags for your gifts

I noticed at Walgreen's today that they are now selling the smaller reusable bags, like the ones I keep in my purse from Target, the ones that zip into a nice small pouch, and it reminded me of a tip for gift giving.  This should be especially useful with the holidays coming up.  Instead of using recycled wrapping paper, bags, etc... buy these bags for just $0.99 and put the gift in the bag with some recycled tissue paper, newspaper or whatever you find around the house to reuse. Not only are these cheaper then buying bags or paper at the store the front pocket makes for a great place to put the card!  The bag itself is about the size of a regular plastic shopping bag, perfect for so many gifts and the receiver can keep on using it, so it is like the gift that keeps on giving.  Well I hope it helps, enjoy.

Consumer Reports: Greener Choices

Consumer Reports launched a new website called Greener choices.   It is basically just a bunch of links back to the main consumer reports site, but all the links are green tips and advice in a handy format. I hope they will expand this and give more lists of what is greenest for different types of items. There is a great area called eco-labels center that breaks down what all those labels out there mean and if they are viable, like USDA Organic, Free Range, Dolphin Safe, etc...  Well, enjoy, I hope it helps. 

http://www.greenerchoices.org/home.cfm