| By Brita Belli, January 27, 2009 |
 Earth-friendly gifts made from recycled materials are available at Fairfield's Kul Shuz. Photo Courtesy of Kul Shuz |
As environmental author and activist Bill McKibben said in an essay on green blog Grist.org about a low-stress Christmas: ‚...the things that please us most are almost always counterintuitive. We need to be out in the cold air, we need to think about others, we need to serve.‚
McKibben‚s book Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for a More Joyful Christmas (Simon & Schuster) is about whittling down our holiday ‚needs‚ into a recognition of the traditions that bring us closer together and make us happier. They have little to do with buying and receiving more ‚stuff.‚ Fairfield resident Jim Motavalli, the former long-time editor of E/The Environmental Maga‚zine (where the author is the current editor) says, ‚I really like the idea of the $100 Christmas. It forces you to not be seduced by thoughtless, wasteful consumerism and to really put thought behind your gifts. And I love making Christmas tree ornaments with the kids. Again, it helps them get involved more than if they‚re buying expensive ornaments with credit cards.‚
Real Tree, Fake Tree
Those of us with a decidedly old-school New England spirit are hard-pressed to even consider an artificial tree. They may be easy to assemble and require no maneuvering through traffic jams on icy back roads, but they‚re also so symmetrically‚predictable. They don‚t drop their wistful needles across the carpet, turning each push of the vacuum into a burst of pine needle heaven (even long after the tree is removed). And there‚s no squeezing them through the door and wrestling them into the stand, and the sense of accomplishment that comes when the tree is finally standing up straight. From anenvironmental perspective, real pine trees are, thankfully, the preferable choice. Particularly pine trees from a local grower.
Fake trees are made with chemicals like polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a petroleum-based plastic, and will sit forever in landfills when they‚re eventually chucked (somewhere between five and ten years after purchase). What‚s more, groups like the Children‚s Health Environmental Coalition warn that these trees, most of which come from China, may ‚shed lead-laced dust, which may cover branches or shower gifts and the floor below the tree.‚ Not only will vacuuming under the fake tree not spread a fresh pine scent, it may actually release lead particles into the air.‚
While Christmas tree farms may use pesticides to grow their trees, not all do, and these farms are often located in otherwise barren areas. Tree farms continually replace their crops, too‚up to three new trees are planted to replace each one that‚s cut. And after a tree has livened up the holiday living room, it can be turned into usable mulch. For an even ‚greener‚ option, consider decorating a living, potted pine and later moving it outside. But be prepared to baby it. Live fir trees don‚t do well indoors for long (the recommended time indoors is one to two weeks, maximum), they don‚t like heat, they should be spritzed with water daily, and even kept cool with ice cubes and wet towels on top of the root ball. Since you‚ll have to keep your live tree well-hydrated, it‚s best to skip those electric lights altogether in keeping with your whole organic look‚strings of popcorn and cranberries would make perfect old-fashioned decorations.
To find your perfect tree, consider packing up the family and paying a visit to one of three local tree farms in Easton‚Everett‚s Corner Tree Farm, Gordon‚s Tree Farm, and Maple Row Tree Farm‚where you can really get into the old-fashioned feel by picking up a saw and cutting down your own. And Ganim‚s Garden Center in Fairfield can set you up with the potted variety.
Everett‚s Corner Tree Farm, Route 59 at Sherwood Road, Easton, 203-268-2508, everettscorner.com; Ganim‚s Garden Center, 320 Kings Highway Cut Off, Fairfield, 203-333-5662, ganimsgardencenter.com; Gordon‚s Tree Farm, 488 Sport Hill Road, Easton, 203-261-TREE; Maple Row Tree Farm, 538 North Park Avenue, Easton, 203-261-9577, mrfarm.com.
Let There Be Light
The subject of lighting the family home and tree is a somewhat contentious one, as is evidenced by much online bickering over the somewhat dimmer eco-friendly LED (Light-Emitting Diode) bulbs versus their incandescent counterparts. At the holidays, people like bright, steady-burning lights; ones that ‚twinkle,‚ but don‚t‚as LEDs are prone to‚‚flicker.‚ But the truth is that LED holiday lights have been steadily improving, and the immense energy savings they offer, as well as their long life expectancy, make them a vast improvement from an environmental (and money saving) perspective. Last Christmas, the towering tree in New York City‚s Rockefeller Center went ‚green‚ with 30,000 LED lights instead of the old-fashioned bulbs, saving as much energy as a typical family would use in a month in a 2,000-square-foot home. They powered the lights with Manhattan‚s largest private solar energy roof atop Rockefeller Center.‚‚
 Photo Courtesy of Kul Shuz |
LED bulbs use just 10 percent of the electricity of traditional bulbs and are 90 percent more energy-efficient. What‚s more, these bulbs remain cool to the touch, and so are safer for kids, pets, and fire prevention‚and manufacturers claim that the LED bulbs last up to 100,000 hours. Unlike those cheap, pesky strings of lights bought in bulk at the local shopping center, when one of the LED lights burns out, it doesn‚t take the whole string down with it. Conserving electricity, in other words, doesn‚t mean your home has to look any less bright. LEDs (which are comparable in cost to regular bulbs) come in every color, including a warm white that imitates the glow of incandescents, and traditional light varieties, from icicles to snowflakes. Wrap them around outdoor trees, chimneys, walkways, and fences without worrying about having a major blackout reminiscent of National Lampoon‚s Christmas Vacation.‚‚‚
Environmental Lights, 888-880-1880, environmentallights.com.
Wrap It Up
If you‚re not already saving wrapping paper, gift bags, and holiday ribbons and bows from Christmas presents past, consider starting this year. There‚s so much easy-to-reuse packaging that can be folded and repurposed, especially for smaller gifts. When shopping for gifts, decline the extra boxes and tissue paper offered with your purchases and consider wrapping them in something that won‚t be thrown out. Fabric can serve as wonderful wrapping paper, and can later be reused, especially for children‚s crafts. Reusable grocery and tote bags are available in tons of styles from Whole Foods and Trader Joe‚s to department and health stores. Reusable bags are a great way to steer away from plastic, and the heavy-duty canvas and cotton varieties make terrific gifts in their own right.‚ For the crafty-minded, particularly the crafty-minded with kids, making homemade wrapping paper with a big roll of recyclable paper and lots of crayons, markers, paint, and sponges, will lead to memorable, personal gifts and a new holiday tradition. And edible decorations like candy canes are a tasty alternative to store-bought bows.‚
Choosing the environmental route leads to holidays that are more personal than their commercial counterparts. Jessica Rae Patton, a Fairfield writer and mom, says, ‚I have a tradition of making pralines using a recipe from my grandmother, who passed away a few years ago. We were really close, so making candy evokes her memory for me, and people always love receiving something homemade. I ‚giftwrap‚ them in reusable, BPA-free plastic containers topped with bows I recycle from holidays past.‚