Christmas trees – how green can you get?

Today's guest blogger, Sue Hartman, shares her thoughts and ideas on where your Christmas tree choices fall on the green meter.

Evergreen in Snow by David Wagner



Christmas Trees
How Green can you Get?

1. Least Green
Buy a plastic or metal tree that goes into a landfill when you are done with it and stays there for however many hundreds of year. Making it also takes up valuable resources. Some twisted metal trees can be recycled – check with your local recycling center. If it is still in good shape, but you want to switch to a live tree, consider donating it to a Goodwill or local community center.

2. Good
Buy a live tree, use it, and set it out for the trash (not in a big plastic bag or you are back to the landfill issue as in number 1.

3. Better
Buy a live tree, use it, then chip or mulch it yourself, donate it to be chipped/mulched or put it somewhere on your property to break down organically and enrich your soil. You can use Earth911 to locate your nearest Christmas tree recycling program.

4. Even Better
Buy a live tree from a Christmas tree farm that will immediately plant one in its place, and then follow the disposal directions above.

5. Best -- Most Green
Buy a live tree with the root ball from a Christmas tree farm or a nursery. Put it in a washbasin or large bucket of some type and keep it watered. Use it for the holidays and then plant it on your property afterwards.

Based on the experience of some who have done this, here is some advice on what to consider before you choose this option:

• Buy a slightly smaller tree than you might otherwise, as you will be trying to move it in its root ball in and out of your house and into its planting hole after Christmas.
• Look up. As the tree grows, is it going to hit power lines or other obstacles? Find out how high the tree is expected to grow.
• Look down and around. Remember that the roots will grown out from the tree at approximately the same length as the tree is in height. The growing roots can lift up sidewalks and driveways if planted too close to them. Avoid planting trees near house foundations or underground services.
• Realize that pine trees make your soil more acidic and will kill any surrounding grass.
• Plant the tree away from the house. Dropped needles are very slippery. Do not plant your tree where the needles will fall onto steps, sidewalks or driveways as the tree grows.
• Either dig a large and deep planting hole early in December. Digging through frozen ground in January can be challenging.
• Buy a small potted tree and simply decorate that. The small pines, such as a Norfolk, can be reused and repotted year after year.
• After Christmas, if you don’t have the space or ability to plant the tree on your own property, donate your potted tree to a local park, church, school or friend.

Sharing someone else's thoughts on just another way to go green this Christmas,

Hana

Keeping it Green at Christmas Part Six: Wrapping it up

For those of you who follow my blog, you'll know I've been doing a series on creating a more sustainable Christmas. Well, today we're wrapping it up with some suggestions on minimizing the waste created by wrapping paper and packaging.

Here are my suggestions:

• Reuse. Remove paper carefully from gifts and neatly fold for next year. There are a few benefits to be gleaned from this practice. The first two are the obvious environmental and cost benefits. The other one is a simple concept of slowing down. Christmas morning so often involves a group of people tearing into a pile of presents without so much as a pause to say 'thank you.' When the chaos subsides, all that's left is a huge pile of paper, bows, tags and questions as to who gave whom what. Sound familiar? Taking time to fold paper eliminates a bit of this hectic pace from your Christmas morning celebration.
• Wrap gifts in something practical, such as dish towels, pillowcases, drawstring bags, fabric, leftover foil, coloring book pages, magazine ads, baskets, metal cans/canisters and reusable decorative boxes.
• Instead of packing boxes for shipping with styrofoam peanuts, use recycled PaperNuts (http://www.papernuts.com/) or protect your packaged gifts with shredded catalogs. Bird lovers can use unbuttered popcorn as an eco-friendly alternative to Styrofoam. Include a note to the recipient asking them to toss the popcorn outside as a Christmas treat for their feathered friends.
• Use, and reuse, gift bags.
• Ask for paper instead of plastic when shopping and wrap gifts in the bags decorated with markers, rubber stamps and/or stickers.
• Tie gifts with old shoelaces, ribbon or yarn. If you are using wrapping paper, avoid using stick-on bows, as they can rip the paper and ruin it for reuse.
• Buy recycled wrapping paper and tissue.
• Give gifts that don't require wrapping, such as plants, gift cards, tickets to shows, etc.

Where's the fun in a green Christmas? It's where it's always been...in the family gatherings, the home-cooked meals, the exchange of gifts, the holiday greetings, the worship services, the cookie exchanges, the charitable giving...it's still there; although this year, it's not buried under a mountain of trash.

Keeping it green,

Hana

Keeping it green at Christmas Part 5: O Christmas tree

There's a lot of debate over which way to go when it comes to Christmas trees. Do you cut down a fresh tree, in the prime of its life, for your own decorative pleasures? Do you purchase an artificial tree, made up of chemicals and plastics that are harmful to the environment during the manufacturing process? Let's face it -- there are pluses and minuses whichever way you go. The greenest solution is to buy a balled tree which can be replanted at the end of the season.

If you opt for a freshly cut tree, find a local farm that raises pesticide-free trees and make sure you arrange for recycling your tree. Some communities use the trees for sand and soil erosion barriers, fish feeders, bird feeders, mulch and more. Contact your local recycling company for more information.

If you already have an artificial tree and decide you no longer want it, donate it to a local thrift store or check with area community theater groups or schools to see if they have a need for one.

Whichever choice you make, let me make one suggestion. Don't buy into the 'politically correct' hype. It's a CHRISTMAS tree. Period. And you don't have to apologize to anyone for calling it what it is.

Keeping it green,

Hana

Keeping it green at Christmas Part 3: Through rain or snow or sleet or hail

Just consider for a moment, how much more mail you receive starting in November. Mailboxes are packed beyond their capacity with greeting cards, holiday sales flyers and catalogs...lots and lots of catalogs. What can you do to curb this onslaught of mail?

• Contact companies directly to be removed from their mailing lists. There is usually a phone number or address of the distribution company located near your mailing address.
• For catalogs, simply call their 800 number or visit their website and inform them you no longer want to receive their catalogs.
• Sign up for electronic billing and email advertisements.
• Go to http://www.privacyrights.org/ to learn more about getting off junk mail lists.

You can also reduce the amount of waste generated with your own greetings. I blogged about this on October 14th, but feel many of these things are worthy of repeating. I do go into more detail in my previous blog, so please check it out if you haven't read it.

Sending out postcards or eCards rather than traditional Christmas cards is not only kinder to the environment, but it's gentler on your budget as well. Postcards don't require envelopes and eCards don't even need stamps. With the rising cost of postage they're more attractive than ever!

At the end of the season, as decorations are being put away, don't just toss your basket of cards into the trash. Christmas cards can be reused and recycled in a variety of ways:

• Use them to make tags for next year's gifts. Simply cut out a design from the front of the card, punch a hole through it and tie with a ribbon.
• Make a decorative collage with the prettiest or most meaningful ones.
• Frame a few for a seasonal wall display that can be enjoyed year after year.
• Donate them to a local school, church or nursing home for crafts.
• Donate them to St. Jude Ranch for Children, headquartered in Boulder City, NV, where they recycle them and make new cards. The money earned is donated to help children who were victims of abuse, neglect and abandonment. Visit their website for more information: http://www.stjudesranch.org/.

When it comes to sending out cards, sit down with your family and discuss how to pare down your list. Is it really necessary to send cards to co-workers you see every day? What about those names on your list that you can no longer put a face to? Just because you've been sending cards to them for decades, doesn't mean you need to continue to do so. Just think, if you cross them off the list this year, they'll most likely cross you off their list next year and fewer cards will bog down your mail carrier.

Rather than mailing cards to neighbors, why not create a greener tradition of hand-delivering a greeting made up of a sprig of holly or a piece of pine with a pretty ribbon and tag tied on? These green greetings can be hung on your neighbors' doors and will be appreciated more than a store-bought card.

I'm challenging you to cut your mailing down by 1/3 this Christmas season. That means sending out only 40 cards if you normally send 60. Will that make a huge dent in the one million tons of holiday-generated trash? Not really. But if you do it, and I do it, and both of us influence someone else to do it, eventually the impact will be felt. Because, like I said yesterday...it only takes a spark.

Tomorrow, I'll address the problem surrounding holiday parties and offer some suggestions on environmentally-friendly alternatives to disposable dinnerware.

Keeping it green,

Hana

Greener greetings

I don’t like to think about it, but the fact is the holidays are just around the corner. It seems like I just packed away the Christmas decorations a few months ago and now my husband’s recommending we bring them down from the attic to sort through everything and rid ourselves of what we no longer find useful. The concept itself has merit, but the thought of unwrapping ornaments and having “discussions” over what to keep and what to donate is a bit unnerving. His idea is to display the items we don’t want on a table in the spare room so our kids can peruse and choose; leftovers will make their way to Goodwill, after documenting each and every piece for tax time deductions. And so it begins…

Since we’re already talking about Christmas, perhaps now is the time to think about the most environmentally-friendly way to send greetings. After all, holiday mail is a huge contributor to the growing problem in the landfills. So how can we do our part in reducing the waste?

First of all, pull out your Christmas card list, sit down with your family and a red pen and start crossing out names. After all, do you really need to continue to send cards to people you wouldn’t even go out for a drink with or have over for coffee? Be realistic about who you really want to wish happy holidays to.

My next suggestion focuses only on the people on your list who are also in your email address book. eCards have come a long way since their inception. With music and animation, your holiday greetings come to life via sites like http://www.hallmark.com/, http://www.americangreetings.com/, http://www.bluemountain.com/ and so many more. Not only are eCards the greenest way to exchange Christmas cards, but they’re also the cheapest way, with many choices available for free or with a small subscription fee.

Sending cards to people you will see over the holidays is something else that can be avoided. Hand-delivered cards are just as, if not more, meaningful. Here’s where you can stray a bit from the traditional boxed cards. Why not cut a sprig of holly from your garden and tie a pretty tag on with a ribbon? Tags can be easily made from the Christmas cards you received in previous years (and didn’t have the heart to throw away). Write a verse on the back and sign as you would a normal greeting. Or pick up some vintage postcards at an antique store and use them. Neighbors will appreciate the thoughtful gesture of a “nature” greeting hanging from their doorknob or mailbox.

If you’re set on mailing your greetings, consider holiday postcards. With postcards you eliminate envelopes and pay less for postage.

Finally, on my list of greener greetings is something that could develop into a fun tradition for your family and friends. You’ve no doubt heard of re-gifting. Well, this is re-carding. Send your standard Christmas cards out this year, but don’t sign them! Use Post-it® notes, write your greeting and sign. Stick the note where your signature would normally go and add a suggestion for the recipient to resend the card next year. Of course, a new envelope would be needed, but if your house is like ours, there are plenty to spare. Just think how much fun it will be to receive the card again, from someone you didn’t even send it to, a few years from now!

I hope I’ve given you some incentive to start thinking about a green Christmas. I’ll be sharing some more ideas as the magical day draws nearer. In the meantime, enjoy autumn in all of its glory.

Keeping it green,

Hana