Green Christmas Tips and Ideas

The holiday season can be taxing on the environment in more ways than one. Along with all the gift giving and yuletide cheer comes more trash, more travel and more use of our precious natural resources. There are many ways that you can minimize your environmental impact during the holidays. Following the guidelines below with help you make your Christmas season green in more ways than one.

Rocking Around the Christmas Tree
The debate over using fake Christmas trees instead of real Christmas trees has been going on for decades. What many would be surprised to know is that it is actually more environmentally friendly to use a real Christmas tree. This may leave many people scratching their heads in disbelief, but there is a really logical explanation behind this choice. Although many people find fake Christmas trees to be more convenient, the fact that they are made from PVC is not convenient to the plant at all. Not only is it difficult ,to impossible to recycle PVC, but the simple creation of it creates a wealth of pollution. The discovery that a real Christmas tree is better than a fake Christmas tree may lead one to believe that they should choose a live Christmas tree that they can replant. This is not necessarily true. Many factors come into play when choosing a live tree. First, you must figure out of if your location and current weather situation are conducive to replanting a tree. You must also be mindful of how long you keep the live Christmas tree inside your home. Most environmental groups agree, that your best option for an environmentally friendly Christmas tree is a farm cut tree. Farm cut Christmas trees are a renewable resource that can truly come full circle if you take your Christmas tree for mulching after the holiday.

Give the Gift of Green
Figuring out what to give some people on our gift list can be puzzling. Often we are left asking the question " What do give the person who has everything?". Well, giving the person who has everything a green Christmas gift, not only helps the environment, but it may spark a whole new interest in someone you love. There are many different types of green Christmas gifts. You can give something as basic as a plant or something as complex as a solar charged electronic gadget. Many women would enjoy a gift of organic bath and beauty products and believe it or there are many green toys the kids on your list will love. The Internet is a wealth of information when it comes to buying green Christmas gifts.

Deck your Halls Green
Wrapping paper, Christmas lights, all of these Christmas decorations can end up being an environmental burden. Obviously, lights are a burden because of the energy they use. There are however many ways to reduce your Christmas tree light burden. Reducing the amount of time that you have your lights on is essential. Keep your lights on no longer than three hours and preferably use them as little as possible. Going a step further and replacing your Christmas lights with garland is even better. We all wrap our Christmas gifts, so to say we shouldn't wrap our gifts to reduce waste is not practical. However, there is a few things that you can do to reduce your Christmas wrap waste. Using gift bags is a great way to save on waste. Gift bags are reusable and they still look great. Additionally, you can try saving any wrapping paper that you are given on gifts for reuse. You can even save your Christmas cards for crafting next holiday. Finally, when you decorate your Christmas tree, your home and your yard try being as organic as possible. Use the same decorations each year to reduce waste. Try decorating for Christmas with natural items like holly, cranberries, popcorn, fruit and seasonal plants.

Celebrating Christmas doesn't have to be wasteful. There are so many simple ways make your holiday more environmentally friendly and festive. Using theses suggestions will help you get started not only enjoying a green Christmas, but also with new family traditions that can last a lifetime.