Going green for Christmas
As we approach Christmas, the “most wonderful time of the year”, I am thinking of a green Christmas. This is in a context of a double crisis time, sanitary and climate, however hoping to celebrate it surrounded by friends and family and remembering the good times. Though willing to go back to the good times, I would like a different type of Christmas, not a sober one, but a more responsible one. For this year, and the future ones.
The first thing that comes into my mind is about consumption. There is no time of the year when the consumption is more nudged than during Christmas time. Shops, media, advertisements, all invite us to buy, no matter what or how, just buy. It starts with the presents we chose for our loved ones; it continues with what we chose for our special dinner and with the Christmas tree. This year I rather think of experiences to offer to my dear ones; either something done with my own hands or sourced locally from a creative designer. But above all, I will skip the idea of buying something that is just for fun, is not needed or is to be disposed after just a few times being used. I am sure you all experience cases when you receive as gift things that you do not need, you do not know what to do with, you do not necessarily like but must keep them, as memory from someone dear. This time all these things will go for a good cause, to someone in need of them. But, even so, I have the feeling of contributing to the unnecessary extraction of natural resources.
And I would love to have a Christmas tree that after bringing us joy during the celebration time to be planted in a garden. Or a tree that I could rent and send it back once the holiday season is over. And it is not only about the tree itself, but about the decorations, too. This year the decorations I would like to be natural, reusable, recyclable, and at the same time innovative. I would go for something old, something new but, something green. As I will have to dig into the trunk with all the decorations gathered in the last years, I might find it is better to share part of them with others in need.
Each year we use to host a party with close friends and neighbors. It is the time of the year when we celebrate our friendship, and we gather for enjoying good time together. To this is added the Christmas dinner, which is as for many of you I suppose a family reunion. Both makes me think of another topic, the wasted food we remain with after each such dinner. It is a custom in our country that for this specific dinner to be prepared more than it is needed, all sorts of traditional dishes, cookies and goodies, as a sign of abundance. I ignore this time the risks of accumulating weight and getting sick, even though they are not neglectable, but I refer just to the waste of resources, unnecessarily again. And to avoid this, I plan a switch from a traditional festive dinner to a lighter one, with ingredients that do not travel seas and territories to arrive on our plate, but local ones and which have a low ecological footprint. This will bring less calories and an opportunity to explore new tastes and new recipes while leaving us the possibility to get out of the routine we have experienced in the last years.
Christmas for a while meant time dedicated to travel, just for spending a few days outside of the country, to immerse ourselves in the spirit of the holly season. This time we think to spend more time home and to experience what the local communities have to offer.
I hope this green Christmas spirit will become our new way of celebrating it and will bring along with traditions also new ways of spending time together, we will be more focused on the ones around us, on the valuable moments shared and more mindful as to be less harmful to our mother Earth.
