Make it a Green Christmas and Stockpile Love not Landfill this Year
A mountain of Christmas gifts and goods make their way from stores and into homes each Christmas season. Unfortunately, not long after the festivities subside, nearly all of those often well-meaning gifts move on to mounds of landfill.
Slowing the migration is as easy as setting your family the Green Christmas Challenge to send as little as possible to landfill this Christmas. Inspired by the target of a more or less empty wheelie bin, you will all make decisions that generate less waste.
Many actions help with celebrating a green Christmas, like locally-grown foods to reduce food miles, switching to LED eco Christmas lights and donating gifts to charities. The massive amount of food, plastic and non-recyclable waste is the primary environmental problem, but it is a simple one for households to take on.
Sit the team down before Christmas and discuss ways to reuse, reduce and recycle. Here’s some ideas to get you started…
Good for the environment plastic-free picnics
Disposable plastic plates and cups are made from petrochemicals, so pollution is created in their manufacture and when thrown-away they sit in landfill forever. reusable plates that you wash up or use palm leaf plates, a stylish plant alternative. They add a chic eco friendly style to your festive table and can be put onto your garden as mulch, instead of in the bin.
Trim a living tree
When Santa arrives in his carbon-neutral sleigh, surprise him with a live Australian Wollemi pine tree. This recently discovered old-fashioned tree is now obtainable in nurseries. A potted Wollemi can grow with your family to be trimmed year after year. Or, why not make it a tradition to find a lovely Eucalyptus branch that can be composted when the Christmas festivities are over.
Wrap it again
A good way to stretch the budget and save piles of waste is to wrap presents in newspaper, magazines and even junk mail. For children use the comics, for car lovers use the motoring pages. Instead of wrapping, place gifts inside reusable shopping bags, or sew cloth bags from festive Christmas material that your family can re-tie with ribbon yearly. For an extra special Green Christmas touch, Earth Greetings make stunning post consumer waste wrapping paper with Australian Christmas designs printed with vegetable inks.
Detour past the bin
, is this Christmas gift prone to end up in the bin within a couple of weeks? If yes, select something else. The old saying quality not quantity is a good friend of the planet. Even the cheapest items use the planet’s limited resources, energy and water to manufacture. Rather than buy a risky gift, think about a gift voucher or make a donation to a charity on behalf of the person. Should you receive an unsuitable gift, pass it straight on to a charity such as the Salvos.
A green Christmas gift for your garden
Food scraps make up a huge portion of rubbish and once in landfill they generate methane, a concentrated greenhouse gas. Compost at home instead and turn leftovers into fertiliser for your garden. The Bokashi composting bin is a popular system that sits conveniently in your kitchen.
Packaging-free paradise
Picture a paradise where Christmas morning is clear of mounds of discarded plastic packaging. It just takes a little bit more thought and effort. Locally made and hand-made Christmas gifts are less likely to be over-packaged. A trip to the local Farmer’s Markets will also you stock up on fresh festive food with minimal packaging.
Rather than talking rubbish; this Christmas, your family will soon be asking is this for landfill, recycling or composting? And the joy of accomplishing your challenge will bring good tidings to all.
Biome Eco Stores is a chic retail outlet with a conscience. Firmly committed to eco friendly principles, Biome offers a unique and meaningful green Christmas collection for gifts and decoration.
Sphere: Related ContentNew Guinea - Island Paradise
New Guinea is the world’s second largest island, and is was well one of the world’s last, vast and remote wildernesses. With a complex political history, this great island is divided. The western half, is now known as Papua, a region of Indonesia, while the eastern half, Papua New Guinea or PNG, has been some an independent country since 1975.
New Guinea is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, and endures sporadic volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and occasional tsunamis. A mountain range rises across the length of New Guinea and deep rainforest is all enveloping.
The island contains an astonishing wealth of natural features, some protected by National Parks and UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserves, but huge swathes of it are unmapped and virtually unreachable. The principle cities of both countries are, naturally, on the coast, but there is little in the way of roads or infrastructure. Travel is mainly by boat. Rivers criss-cross the whole region or you can travel on foot, or by plane
New Guinea is inhabited by about 1,000 different tribes, speaking a corresponding number of languages. Tourists are few, mainly visiting the extraordinary Dani culture, in Papua’s enjoyable Baliem Valley. Despite being nominally Christians, the Dani live traditionally.
Men wear penis sheaths, ladies wear short skirts, made of orchid fibres, worn beneath the backside. This high valley, surrounded by mountain peaks, is a vision of incredibly fertile cultivated fields. The Baliem River provides fish, and pigs are essential, being consumed at every ceremony.
In PNG the major attraction is the tribal hunter-gatherers who live along the banks of the island’s longest river, the Sepik. This culture is intrinsically entwined with crocodiles, and the men’s large scarification reflects the animal’s scales.
Living in communal longhouses, Sepik River people are famous for their wood-carvings. Varying in style from village to village, most of these find their way into the great museums of the world.
If you’re looking for cheap flights and cheap airfares to plan your family holidays, make sure you talk to Flight Centre.
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