Dec

5 Ways to “Green” Up Your Holiday Season

The holidays are just around the corner. Between decorating, shopping, travel and giant meals, there’s nothing like the holiday season to increase our use of natural resources. This year, we’ve compiled a list of 5 ways you can help “green” up the season and incorporate the three “R’s” into your plans. Time to reduce, reuse and recycle!

1. Light it up – Let’s face it. The neighborhood lights this time of year are memorizing! We won’t ask you to eliminate these festive illuminators, but there are ways to improve by turning them off at night and replacing those burnt out bulbs with energy sipping LED lights.

2. Get your hands dirty – With the internet at our fingertips, there’s not much we can’t learn to make. Try swapping hand-made gifts with your loved ones. These gifts not only help the environment, they also capture the true essence of the holiday season!

3. Shop local – If crafting isn’t quite up your alley, shopping at local stores is a great alternative. Seek out locally-produced items to reduce the use of energy in materials and transportation. Plus, you can display your home-town pride.

4. Eat local – Plan the perfect holiday menu by keeping the ingredients local. Look for locally- produced ingredients such as honey, eggs, and vegetables to add that home-grown taste to your meal.

5. That’s a wrap! – Why spend money on wrapping paper when you can simply use what’s delivered to your doorstep? Newspaper doubles as a sturdy wrapping paper. Or, if you want to eliminate wrapping all together, collect and reuse gift bags for years to come.Don’t forget to save those bows and ribbons, too!

Now get out there and enjoy your new and improved holiday season. The earth will thank you!