Gifts for a Green Holiday

By: Rachel Tanis

Before you head out to finish up your holiday shopping this year, keep in mind that you can make eco-friendly choices in this consumer-driven season. Before buying a gift consider how it will impact the environment. This is often easier than you might think. Take, for instance, one of the hottest buys this year: a digital camera. Digital cameras are great for the environment. Remember the old 35mm’s? You know, the kind were you actually had to get the filmed developed before you could see the picture that you’d taken? Think about all of the waste that created! Now, you can click away and only keep the pictures that you want. What’s even better are some of the accessories that go along with it, such as rechargeable batteries and digital photo frames (which means no printing at all!). Thinking these sorts of things through can help you to make better buying decisions. In case you are short of ideas, here’s a few that are on my holiday shopping list this year:

1. SIGG Bottle: Okay, these are so hot that they can be difficult to find, and may even be backordered, but you don’t have to have this brand to have the same impact. This reusable water bottle is not a new concept. I have seen similar items for sale at Wal-Mart and Kohl’s for under $10! The idea here is that the user will stop purchasing and then throwing away plastic waterbottles and will instead use this dishwasher-safe model again and again.
2. Bulbs: Energy-efficient lightbulbs are great, but they're not the type of bulbs I am talking about here. For my garden-loving friends, and those that are aspiring green-thumbs, I plan on buying inexpensive bulbs to be planted in the spring. Now that’s instant green!
3. Bamboo Cutting Board: Bamboo is a green-lover’s dream. It is easy and cheap to grow. It is also very easily replenished. Buy the foodie in your family a bamboo cutting board and tell them to quit buying the plastic ones!
4. Virtual Magazine Subscriptions: Just about every mainstream magazine these days has an electronic version available for purchase. The same goes for newspapers. If someone on your list wants a gift subscription, call or email to inquire about virtual ones.
5. Cloth Shopping Bags – Okay, it might not be the perfect gift for everyone, but it might just be the perfect way to wrap everyone’s gifts. Fabric, reusable shopping bags can be purchased from nearly every retailer these days from Target to Home Depot.

Happy Shopping!