The tradition of decorating and venerating an evergreen tree during the darkest days of the winter is a custom that goes back thousands of years to the practices of Norse and Germanic tribes who held special.
A living tree is carbon neutral, a wildlife habitat and a naturally renewable resource.
Visit the Green Christmas Trees hub here, where you'll find out everything you need to know about all kinds of real, cut, uncut, organic, artificial, rented and recycled Christmas trees!
Green Christmas Lights - for a Green Environmentally Friendly
Do you live in an area where the house with the most lights is the 'best'. Shame on you! The cost of electricity goes way beyond your post-Christms holiday utility bill. Electricity drains natural resources and costs the planet dearly. I'm not advocating Scrooge-like displays (but candles are an idea...) just think about your lights.
In general lighting accounts for 15% of household electricity, and Christmas tree lights left on for 10 hours a day over the 12 days of Christmas produce enough carbon dioxide to inflate 12 balloons!
LED's (light-emitting diodes) instead of incandescent bulbs may be more expensive, but they last much longer and use 80% to 90% less power than conventional mini bulbs. They pay for themselves very quickly.
Visit the Green Christmas Lights hub, to find out how to have eco-friendly lights this year!
NOTE
People all over the world are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint when it comes to lighting their home through the Holiday Season. Many people are surprised to learn just how much power even a...
Give Only (or mostly) Green Christmas Gifts
Do the folks on your list really need more stuff? If not, skip the store-bought presents and give Green Gifts instead this Christnmas. Ecofriendly Christmas gifts are easily obtained, and make great an often unusual ideas.
Look for locally made gifts. Consider also Gifts from recycled materials, 'battery-free' gifts, 're-gifting' - for a complete guide to environmentally friendly Green Christmas Gift choices (and some great links for shopping) visit the Green Christmas Gifts
Note
The amount of money and waste that is associated with the Christmas holidays in both the EU and North America is truly staggering. In the North America, nearly 2 billion Christmas Cards are sent each year;...
Green Christmas Wrapping
Half of the paper America consumes each year is used for wrapping and decorating consumer products. (Source: The Recycler's Handbook, 1990) In the US, we produce over 4 million tons of trash from gift wrap and shopping bags EVERY YEAR. In Canada, it's about 545,00 tons.
WAKE UP PEOPLE! If everyone wrapped just three gifts in reused paper or fabric you would save it would save enough paper to cover a small country!
For a complete guide to Environmentally friendly wrapping choices and helpful links, how to videos etc for this Green Christmas, visit the Green Christmas wrapping hub.
Green Christmas Decorations
Green Christmas decorations doesn't mean festooning your house in green! Inventive options such as homemade decorations, biodegradable decorations, and a whole range of exofriendly Christmas decorations are on offer.
Consider natural decorations - after all this is where the decorating tradition started, with good old red berries, green leaves and white mistletoe, apples, oranges and nuts!
Edible items are good looking too, just visit the Green Christmas decorations hub for videos and ideas on how to have Green Christmas decorations in your home. It's fun making them, and if you prefer to buy you'll find plenty of useful links.
Green Christmas Dinners
Green Christmas dinners doesn't mean only easting sprouts and peas! There are ways to be greener with what you eat this holiday other than the colour.
Consider that the average food in the US travels 1500 miles to get to your table. That means your Christmas turkey could have chalked up a LOT of air miles!
Visit the Green Christmas dinners hub for ideas about how small choices can add your bit to an environmentally better Christmas holiday. Not a sprout in sight, I promise!
Green Christmas Candles
A great way to conserve energy and electricity: burn candles. And it's atmospheric! But toss out any old candles—they may still have lead wicks, which are toxic when burned and were banned in the U.S. only as recently as October 2003 (cpsc.gov has information). Have you tried soy, vegetable wax or beeswax? All are renewable and biodegradable materials and better for the environment than paraffin wax candles, which are petroleum based.
Visit the Green Christmas Candles hub for the full story on ecologically friendly candles this Christmas.
