Have Yourself A Merry, Sustainable Christmas

Many people across the globe agree with the popular phrase "Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year”, however, the environment does not share the same sentiment.  The December holiday season brings joy across the world, but as with all other major facets of society, the holidays create a large carbon footprint that needs to be addressed.

With Christmas fast approaching, there are many ways that each and every one of us can make slight changes to our annual routines that can help substantially reduce the negative environmental consequences of the holidays.  Profiled below are some common Christmastime traditions and how to make these traditions more sustainable for years to come.  

Gift Wrapping

One of the most exciting parts about Christmas is wrapping or unwrapping gifts with friends and loved ones.  When the excitement of gift giving and receiving passes, torn up wrapping paper is usually discarded in the trash.  Christmas wrapping paper across the world generates a profound amount of plastic waste.  The United Kingdom alone uses 227 million miles of wrapping paper each year, and a large portion of all wrapping paper is plastic that ends up either in landfills or the environment.  

Solution: Reuse wrapping paper or buy eco-friendly wrapping paper.

There are two easy ways to reduce your plastic wrapping paper waste during the holiday season.  One solution is to simply reuse wrapping paper from year to year.  According to Stanford University, if every American family wrapped just 3 presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.  Another alternative is to buy wrapping paper that is eco-friendly recyclable or wrapping paper that is made of materials purposely designed to be reused.  By investing in recyclable or reusable wrapping paper, you can eliminate plastic waste from your annual wrapping routine.  Click here for some examples of sustainable wrapping paper that can be purchased.

Christmas Trees

Nothing brings holiday cheer like a beautifully decorated Christmas tree.  For years, people have long debated whether to buy a real tree every year or invest in a fake tree for the holiday season.  Each type of tree has their own environmental footprint, and sometimes the decision on which type of tree to buy is not so clear.

Solution: Only buy a fake tree if you plan on using it for at least 15-20 years, otherwise use real trees and properly dispose of them.

On average, it takes about 40 kilograms (kg) of carbon dioxide to produce a fake tree, while a natural tree, when disposed correctly (burnt or woodchipped) generates only 3.5 kg of carbon dioxide. Another major difference is that a natural tree has to be purchased every year, while a fake tree is a one time purchase.  So, if you plan on reusing an artificial Christmas tree for at least 12 years, that is the more sustainable option than buying a real tree every year.  However, if you are unwilling to make a 12+ year investment in an artificial tree, buy a real Christmas tree for your home.  Additionally, real trees have some additional environmental benefits to consider , as farmers usually plant 1-3 new seeds per tree purchased.  

Overall, consider your long-term future when deciding on real or fake trees, but no matter what they will look beautiful with festive ornaments or energy efficient LED lights on them!

Holiday Shopping

Before any gift can be wrapped and stored under a Christmas tree, the gift giver needs to purchase the item from somewhere.  Nowadays, a considerable portion of holiday shopping is done online, which means the gift must be shipped to your home, usually from far away.  In 2019 alone, the United States Postal Service was prepared to deliver over 800 million packages between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.  Buying and shipping gifts generates lots of greenhouse gas emissions, as the planes, trains, and automobiles that transport your package hundreds or even thousands of miles are emitting massive quantities of carbon dioxide.  The transportation sector was the largest greenhouse gas emitting sector in the United States in 2018, and the holiday season definitely contributes to those transportation emissions.   

Solution: Shop for gifts at local small businesses (or if that is not possible, purchase from domestic retailers) to significantly cut carbon emissions from transporting your gift.  

Purchasing gifts at local small businesses significantly reduces the environmental impact of your purchase, since the gift does not need to be transported from far away, therefore drastically reducing your holiday gift buying carbon footprint.  Shopping at small businesses also has the additional benefit of financially supporting your local community.  If you cannot purchase something locally, look to purchase the gift from a domestic supplier, since international shipping generates way more carbon emissions due to the farther distance that the package needs to travel. Alternatively, making homemade gifts is a fun and creative way to mitigate the carbon footprint of gift giving!

Christmas Dinner

One of the main staples of the holiday season is a Christmas dinner.  However, the elaborate spreads enjoyed as a holiday meal can lead to an inordinate amount of waste.  For example in the United Kingdom alone, it was estimated that 4.2 million Christmas dinners were all or partially wasted in 2014, and since all food production generates greenhouse gas emissions, unnecessary carbon dioxide is entering the atmosphere when food is wasted.  While this sounds bleak, there is a very simple solution to this problem that can drastically reduce the carbon footprint of a festive holiday dinner.

Solution: Turn uneaten portions of Christmas dinner into leftovers.

By simply saving uneaten portions of Christmas dinner for leftover meals, the amount of food waste generated over the holiday season can be substantially curtailed.  Not only are Christmas leftovers delicious, but they help reduce food waste; a true win-win situation!  To take sustainable Christmas dinner a step further, consider substituting a red meat dish (ex. Steak, ham, ribs) for chicken, fish, or pasta.  By making this simple substitution, you can cut the carbon footprint of your plate in half.  

Conclusion

Christmastime is a joyous time of year for so many people, but the negative environmental impacts are usually an afterthought.  However, as demonstrated above, there are many easy changes that anyone can implement to have a Merry Christmas AND a more environmentally sustainable holiday season.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Bibliography

“Carbon Footprint: Natural vs Plastic Christmas Tree.” Sustainability for All, www.activesustainability.com/sustainable-life/carbon-footprint-natural-vs-plastic-christmas-tree/. 

“Frequently Asked Questions: Holiday Waste Prevention.” Frequently Asked Questions: Holiday Waste Prevention | Land, Buildings & Real Estate, lbre.stanford.edu/pssistanford-recycling/frequently-asked-questions/frequently-asked-questions-holiday-waste-prevention. 

“Real vs. Fake-Which Christmas Tree Is Better for the Environment?” The Nature Conservancy, 3 Dec. 2019, www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-priorities/protect-water-and-land/land-and-water-stories/real-vs-fake-christmas-tree/. 

Ross, Tim. “How Britain Bins 227,000 Miles of Christmas Paper.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 18 Dec. 2011, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8964837/How-Britain-bins-227000-miles-of-Christmas-paper.html. 

“Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 4 Dec. 2020, www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions. 

“This Year, Millions of Christmas Dinners Will Be Thrown in the Bin.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 7 Dec. 2015, www.independent.co.uk/life-style/christmas/food-drink/over-4-million-christmas-dinners-are-thrown-away-each-year-a6757211.html.