Christmas is usually not what you think of when you think of Verde. This year we are going to green our vacations. There are many ways we can reduce our energy use and reduce waste during this time of year.
1. Switch from traditional Christmas lights to LED lights. They will greatly reduce your energy consumption, the average string of 50 lights uses 300 watts of energy, the same set of 50 LED lights only uses 4 watts of energy and lasts up to 100,000 hours.
Talk about savings! Not only are we saving a huge amount of energy, but we are also keeping precious dollars in our bank accounts.
2. Put all your lights on timers. By putting all of your lights on timers (indoor and outdoor), you’ll save energy by controlling the number of hours your lights are on.
I don’t know about you, but I have fallen asleep with the lights on many times!
3. Decorate using nature. Try to decorate your house with natural elements. Pineapples and fresh greens make a beautiful centerpiece for a table or mantle decoration. Adding pine cones or holly berries to your Christmas tree will give it an elegant and natural touch. White pine rope is made from tree trimming and is a great way to decorate the outside. It can also be mulched or composted after the season is over.
4. Try to buy gifts that will actually be used for more than a week or two. Books, movies, real toys like soccer balls or skates, toys that use the power of children. Buying all that plastic crap that kids see on TV is like throwing money down the drain and polluting our environment. Buy them art supplies that encourage their creativity or a musical instrument. Earthpoly [http://www.greennationgardens.com/Earthopoly-Eco-Friendly-Board-Game-p/eg-earthopoly.htm] is a fun board game that teaches about the environment and sustainability and is 100% ecological. We are so caught up in giving our children what the marketing companies tell us will make them happy. The toy of the month is not going to make them happy. It may satisfy them for a week or two, but not more than that.
Help them find their passion, something they will love and grow with.
5. Don’t waste food. The holidays are the most important eating time of the year. We cook more, we bake like crazy, we basically treat ourselves. This means that a lot of food is wasted. Make sure all food scraps go in the compost, not the trash can! Freeze or share what you can’t eat yourself. If you have a large amount of leftovers, take them to your local homeless shelter, a locked-in neighbor, or perhaps invite someone less fortunate over to share your meal. Cookies, cakes, and pies delivered to a shelter or nursing home will be greatly appreciated.
6. When setting your festive table, go ahead and use the good china! If you have them, cloth napkins are the way to go. It makes the table look beautiful, sophisticated and prevents waste from reaching our landfills. Paper napkins, plastic items, and plastic or paper plates are a huge tax on our landfills and require a lot of energy and trees to make. If you are going to use paper napkins and plates, don’t throw them away! Paper napkins and paper plates can be easily composted with kitchen scraps. This will make cleanup a breeze.
6. Use ecological packaging. Use recycled gift bags, Comics, decorate brown paper bags for wrapping paper. At least don’t throw the wrapping paper away! Gift wrap can be recycled like any other paper.
7. Make lists and condense your shopping trips as much as possible, or better yet, do your shopping online. This will save a lot of money on fuel and will also make your life simpler and less complicated.
These are easy tips anyone can implement to make their Christmas greener.
