Dreaming of a Greener Holiday
Steps to make better decortating choices
November/December 2007
By Misty McNally
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LED lights use 90 percent less energy than incandescents and last for thousands of hours.
Photo By Povy Kendal Atchison
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Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Winter Solstice, festivities brighten even the coldest, dreariest winter. Yet wasteful holiday consumption takes a toll on our natural resources. This year, why not give a little something back to the earth? You don’t have to sacrifice beloved traditions—small changes make a big difference. Select a living tree over an artificial one, use LED lights instead of incandescents or limit the use of paper goods. These and other eco-friendly options will keep your environmental impact low and holiday spirits high.
To get you started, we’ve come up with three simple changes that will make this holiday greener and more meaningful.
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1. Choose real trees to go ever-green
Artificial evergreen decorations and Christmas trees are mostly made from plastics—nonrenewable petroleum byproducts—and they can’t be recycled. Some contain PVC, a known health hazard. Most are imported from China, adding transportation and fossil fuel consumption to the already high environmental cost. A real tree, while it’s growing, provides habitat for critters and oxygen to the air we breathe. It also can be recycled back to the earth in the form of mulch. So instead of an artificial tree, try one of these options:
• Plant a living tree. Purchase a potted tree to replant later—it doesn’t have to be an evergreen. For a fee and if you live in the area, the Original Living Christmas Tree Company in Portland, Oregon (www.LivingChristmasTrees.org) and Friends of the Urban Forest in San Francisco (www.FUF.net) will deliver potted trees to your home. After the holidays, you can replant them in a park, around your neighborhood or even at a tree farm. The Original Living Christmas Tree company website includes information for franchising the business in your own city.
• Cut your own. Some national forests or public lands sell permits that allow you to select and cut your own tree with a handsaw. The forest thinning helps prevent disease or fire. To find out if trees are available for cutting or to obtain a permit, locate the Bureau of Land Management office nearest you (www.BLM.gov) or check out the U.S. Forest Service’s interactive maps: www.FS.fed.us/contactus/regions.shtml.