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December 8, 2005

I’m dreaming of a green Christmas

I don’t know about you, but I stayed as far away from shopping malls as I possibly could the day after Thanksgiving. The whole idea of shopping on a day retailers call Black Friday just seemed so…creepy. Though hyped as much as any New Year’s Eve bash or Super Bowl game, to me Black Friday sounded more like the occasion for a funeral than a shopping spree.

For some people, it almost was. Did you see the news reports? Black Friday turned into Attack Friday for dozens of people who got trampled just trying to get into their favorite store. And for what? So they could spend their hard-earned money on the toys, TiVos and electronic thing-a-ma-jigs being marketed as this year’s “must have” stocking stuffers? Evidently, retailers were trying to earn a profit for the first time all year. But according to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., which tracks total sales at more than 45,000 retail outlets, sales were actually down .5 percent compared to a year ago. I don’t know if any funerals took place after Black Friday’s results were tallied, but I bet a few sales managers’ heads rolled.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the holidays. My kids and I have already started baking cookies, the Christmas decorations are going up, and I’m looking forward to the annual Christmas Eve celebration we host for family, friends and neighbors.

It’s the shopping spectrum of the holiday color wheel that doesn’t shine very brightly in our house. Think about it. In order for retailers to edge their way into the black, they need you and me to deplete our checkbooks until we seep into the red, which will make us very blue when we realize what hefty bills we’ve racked up buying a lot of stuff people don’t really need. It’s enough to make even the whitest angel turn purple with rage.

But purple isn’t much of a holiday color, is it? Personally, I prefer green, a hue that both matches my Christmas tree and coordinates perfectly with my desire to lead a more environmentally satisfying lifestyle. For example:

I’m simplifying the holiday frenzy as much as possible. I’ve gotten a lot of great ideas from the Center for a New American Dream, whose slogan “More Fun, Less Stuff,” resonates particularly strongly at this time of year. Instead of shopping on Black Friday, our family tried a new restaurant, went to a classic cars exhibit, then took in one of the new holiday movies. It was fun and relaxing, and no one got trampled!

My husband, kids and I are focusing on traditions of our own design – not those dreamed up by commercial enterprises trying to make a buck off our holiday needs. For example, for years, we’ve bought our Christmas tree from a guy in our neighborhood who happens to grow organic pines and firs a couple of hours away in Pennsylvania. We decorate the tree with ornaments and knick-knacks we’ve collected from our various travels and vacation spots. There’s a story behind almost every ornament; we retell them all as we decorate our tree.

Rather than spend hours slogging through shopping malls, we’re searching out the gifts we need to buy at alternative gift fairs in our area or online at interesting and useful eco websites like www.treehugger.com. We’re also giving family and friends memberships to organizations that do work we wish we could do ourselves but just don’t have time for. And as much as possible, we’re supporting local craftspeople by buying their creations as gifts. Where I live in suburban Washington, DC, I can buy beautiful ceramics from local potters and glass makers; honey from local beekeepers; handmade scarves knitted by talented neighborhood craftswomen. The joy of giving an artisanal gift doubles when you see the smile on the face of the maker who happily hands it over.

It’s easy to see how these activities make for a less stressful holiday, but how do they make for a greener one? Each of them saves energy by virtue of keeping me close to home, rather than driving around a crowded shopping mall, looking for a place to park I’m buying less, but what I buy has more value – both to me, and to my gift’s recipient. And the framed photographs, homemade honey, locally designed glasswork, tickets to local theater performances, and organizational memberships I’m giving this year ring up few environmental manufacturing costs compared to the pricier, flashier gifts I would have found at the mall.

We have as much power to change the world based on what we don’t spend our money on as what we do. This year, try spending ten percent less on things you might get trampled over. Instead, direct ten percent more towards goods, services or activities that make for a greener holiday. You’ll be taking an important step towards achieving a less stressful, greener world overall. More, you just might tap into the kind of holiday spirit that lasts the whole year long.

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