Eco-Friendly Gifts for New Graduates

Your son or daughter, grandchild or other relative is about to graduate. Maybe they're just getting finished with high school, and are about to go off to college and live in the college dorms. Perhaps the child is about to graduate from college, and just received a new job offer. Maybe your son or daughter has finally finished graduate school, and wants to take a year to tour Europe before stepping into a career. You want to buy your child or relative a great gift, but you want it also to be a good one. You are conscious of the environment and how much damage humans cause to it each year. You realize that many of the traditional gift ideas can cause more harm to the environment than good. This year, you want to choose a gift that is environmentally friendly You want a gift that will actually do some good for the environment. This article will explore five eco-friendly gift ideas for the new graduate.

1. Buy the new graduate a new hybrid car. One hybrid car you can choose would be the Toyota Prius. The Toyota Prius has sold more than the other hybrid cars available on the market. Hybrid cars use a combination of gas and electrical power to make them run. The hybrid cars are environmentally friendly because they use less gas, which is better for the environment. The new third generation Toyota Prius which will come out in model year 2009 or 2010 will boast an MPG of up to 50 miles per gallon. The Toyota Prius will cost you a little over $20,000 for your gift to the new college graduate.

2. Give the new graduate a tree to plant. This is a very environmentally friendly gift. I know that when I was in kindergarten, everyone got a baby pine tree to plant in their own yard. If it survived the first year, it eventually grew to big a huge pine tree. The one in my backyard now is probably at least 40 feet tall or more. A gift of a tree is environmentally friendly in a few different ways. First, the tree will provide shade to someone's yard, and if placed next to the house, will keep out hot sunlight during the day. This will save the electricity of using the air conditioner. Also, trees provide a good source of oxygen and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air.

3. Give the new graduate a recycled gift. Maybe you have an expensive purse that was hardly ever used, or a pair of jeans that never really fit you well. This way, you aren't encouraging new items to be made that would use resources. Recycled paper gifts are extremely useful. You could give the new graduate stationary on recycled paper to print out resumes to get a new job. You save trees having to be cut down to make the paper.

4. Give the graduate a new computer. You may wonder why this is an eco-friendly gift. The more work the graduate does on the computer, the less work will be done on paper. This will save trees being cut down just as using recycled paper would.

5. Instead of purchasing an item to give as a gift to the new graduate, give the graduate an experience. You'll want to find an experience that is eco-friendly. This would mean you should avoid giving a trip overseas where the graduate will fly and the plane will use gasoline. Avoid experiences that use cars also. One example of an environmentally friendly experience would be a sailing adventure or a hot air balloon ride. Neither of these uses gas, so helps save oil and the environment.