How to Have an Eco-Friendly Holiday

by Heather Kerrison

The holidays are my favourite time of year. The holidays fill people with joy, and deep down we all know that we love giving more than getting, and that is a wonderful thing!

Here are four things to consider when planning your holiday celebrations:

1. Buy Local: buying local spreads the seasonal joy to shop owners and helps them also have a happy holiday. Many local businesses source their materials locally, and you are entirely cutting out the process of shipping (and carbon emissions) associated with big brands. Choosing to shop local is a win for everyone, especially in a year that has brought financial hardship to many businesses. Even gift cards to local restaurants (hello, future date night!) is a great way to gift your time and support a local business.

2. Choose the Right Wrapping Paper: wrapping paper that has non-recyclables in it such as foil, plastic, and glitter results in a lot of waste. Try to make sure the paper you choose can be recycled. Better yet, use already recycled paper such as brown paper. If you are crafty or looking for a Pinterest worthy holiday, you can do this with brown paper! Over the years I have made brown paper wrapping into reindeer gifts, which are brown paper styled with pom-poms, spare tree branches, and a black Sharpie. You can also use photos as name tags that people can keep afterwards.

Right photo: An example of eco-friendly wrapping I’ve done in the past.

3. Eat Mindfully: again, shopping local is always better. Sourcing as much as you can from local farms and markets greatly reduces the carbon footprint of the food you are buying. You are also supporting local farmers and families! Bring your own bags and grab some veggies that were grown locally. For alcohol, there is no shortage of local breweries and wineries to stock your fridges with! After the meal happens, it is also important to remember to reduce food waste. Food production can be a strain on our environment, and it makes a huge difference to plan appropriately and have all food be consumed or repurposed into leftover dishes. Get creative and make hearty soups that can be frozen and eaten over the winter.
 
4. Re-purpose your tree: If you typically get a real tree for the season, there are so many ways to re-purpose it after use, so avoid just dragging it out to the curb for pick up! You can easily turn a tree into an animal sanctuary by removing all decorations and placing it outside. You can then even make wildlife-friendly garland out of cranberries, dried cherries and apple slices. Alternatively, you can lay the tree down in the corner of your yard and you’ll notice that wildlife will use it as shelter. There is plenty of opportunity to get creative, such as making wreaths and garland for decorations, or even make a DIY bird feeder out of pinecones.
 
No one is perfect, but if all of us make an attempt to "green" our holidays, the impact will be grand. And after all, this time of year is about spreading cheer.

​About the Author

Heather is passionate about environmental education and mitigating human-wildlife conflict. This is underpinned by a background in Zoology and a Masters of Environmental Studies, with experience working for non-profit organizations, wildlife rehabilitation centres and environmental education organizations. Through this work she has been able to be an environmental educator and to contribute widely to social media educational campaigns. In her spare time, she enjoys photographing birds and running in nature.