Eco-Friendly Holidays: Buy Less Stuff
There are lots of things we can do to “green” our holidays: from using LED holiday lights to reusing and recycling gift wrap. But these little things won’t add up to much if we ignore the bigger challenge: our buying habits. Our penchant for shopping has a profound impact on the environment (to learn the ways in and extent to which consumerism harms the earth, click here and here). And at no time do we buy more than between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.
If you want to green your holidays, start by asking yourself: “What can I give my loved ones other than more stuff?” We don’t really need all that “new stuff” anyway. It may be less convenient and take more time to give each other non-stuff but it may also provide more and longer-lasting satisfaction (this has actually been studied; click here for a link to a 2002 article published in The Journal of Happiness Studies). In other words, buying fewer expendable consumer goods isn’t just good for the planet. It may make us happier.
(to see more green holiday tips click here)
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