Twelve Days of a Green Christmas

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Twelve ways to have a green and environmentally friendly Christmas

How do you have a green Christmas? Here's twelve ways to have an ethical, eco-friendly and environmentally friendly Christmas.

The Twelve Days of Christmas to my family is simply a time of being together. When I was a child there was no such thing as "global warming" and vegetarians were very unusual. Naturally, as I have got older my awareness of the damage the human population is wreaking onto our beautiful planet has increased.

I love Christmas, and I have published another lens about our family Christmas but it also makes me feel more than a little uneasy when I see the waste that is generated and which then has to be disposed of. We recycle as much as we can. Anything that is not collected as part of the normal local authority recycling collection is carefully sorted and taken to our local waste disposal site.

No one person, government, country or continent can reverse the environmental damage being done to the world. It is up to every single one of us to take some responsibility. There's so many tips I could have included in this lens. These tips are not necessarily the ones that I think are the most important, some aren't even my favourites, they are just the ones I happened to choose.

Please take a look and make a promise to yourself that you will do just one of these things. If you already do some of them, then choose a new one. And let's all make another small step to changing those habits of a lifetime that need to be changed.

And while you are doing that, have a very, very Happy AND green Christmas!





01 December 2008

On the first day of a green Christmas my true love sent to me

A turkey in a pear tree

Wild Turkeys

Buy at AllPosters.com



A turkey in a pear tree? No, I hear you say, there's more chance of it snowing in August!

Did you know that when not forced to live in cruel, cramped, filthy conditions in factory farms, turkeys spend their days caring for their young, building nests, foraging for food, taking dustbaths, preening their feathers and roosting high in trees and it could even be a pear tree.

According to the British Turkey website 10 million units of turkey were sold over Christmas 2007 in the UK. Each year 300 million turkeys are slaughtered annually in the USA (source GoVeg.com).

What these statistics do not tell you is how the majority of these turkeys were reared. For factory farmed turkeys, for 5 - 6 months life consists of trying to exist in an area barely bigger than the roasting tin in which they will eventually be cooked.

Compassion in World Farming believes that no animal should be factory reared and scores UK supermarkets on their meat production policies. Check out their website to see how well your favourite supermarket is doing and where you can buy meat that has been farmed ethically and compassionately.

If you are going to have turkey at Christmas, or Thanksgiving, then buy one that is free range. Or you could always have a Vegetarian Christmas. Look at the alternative to turkey that Pamela Anderson was promoting in 2007 on behalf of GoVeg.com.

On the second day of a green Christmas my true love sent to me

Two Tote Bags

According to The World Watch Institute, between 5 and 6 TRILLION plastic bags were produced around the world in 2002. Plastic bags do horrendous damage to wildlife and the environment. But all over the world many stores still insist on handing them out. As shoppers, we have the power to put a stop to this by refusing to accept them.

So do the world a favour! If you don't have a tote bag, put it on your Christmas list. Then do the world a bigger favour and give them as gifts to your friends.

There is a fantastic selection of purses and tote bags at Ethical Superstore

Canvas shopping bags

Saving the planet one bag at a time

Plastic bags damage the environment by killing wildlife on land and sea. Do your bit to help stop this needless damage - give handy canvas tote bags to your friends and family this Christmas!

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On the third day of a green Christmas my true love sent to me

Three "Green" cards

A Christmas Card from a Watercolour


Buy at AllPosters.com


Green cards? No, no, no! Not work permits for the USA, recycled cards!

According to the Royal Mail, in the UK we send over 75,000,000 (yes seventy five million) Christmas cards each year. In the USA, according to a question asked on Yahoo, it is 1.9 billion. In 2008 the UK organisation the Woodland Trust launched an appeal to recycle 100 million cards, so that 24,000 trees could be planted.

You can do your bit by either buying recycled cards, or make new cards out of the cards you received last year. And if you don't fancy any arts and crafts, please make sure you put any unwanted cards in for recycling at your local waste disposal centre or at the shops that offer the facility.

In the UK you can buy ethically produced Christmas cards from

Recycled Christmas Cards at Amazon

Reduce your impact on the environment

In the UK it is estimated that up to 1 billion Christmas cards (17 for every man, woman and child) could end up in bins across the UK after Christmas. In the USA the figure is estimated at 1.9 billion!



UK visitors clink on this link for: Christmas cards made from recycled paper

Masterpiece Studios 7897 Heaven & Nature Green- 14 Cards & 14 Envelopes

Amazon Price: (as of 02/13/2012)Buy Now

The amount of waste we produce and our main methods of disposal are currently not sustainable. The production, treatment and disposal of waste can all harm the environment. This is not just because of the problems with landfill, incineration or other disposal options - it is also because we use new resources to replace ones we have thrown out.

Source: Wasteonline

More about recycling Christmas cards

Recycling lenses

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On the fourth day of a green Christmas my true love sent to me

Four soap nuts

Going "eco-friendly" often involves more expense but Soapnuts are very economical to use and a lot cheaper than normal detergents and fabric conditioners. I have seen estimates ranging from savings of between 50% - 75%.

Four soap nuts is usually enough to wash 3 family loads of coloured clothing. Buy a bag to try yourself, buy a bag to give to friends - they come in various sizes - the soapnuts, I mean, not your friends! Put a small bag in Christmas Stockings.

Go on, go nuts!

UK Suppliers

More information on Soapnuts

The environmentally friendly cleaner

Soap Nuts - The only soap that grows on trees and is truly eco-friendly! Ort buy your own ecosoap.

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Soapnuts on Amazon

The environmentally friendly soap and cleaner

On the fifth day of a green Christmas my true love sent to me

Five Gold Rings

According to Observer Magazine, some 140,000 tonnes of gold are stored in bank vaults worldwide, while just 2,500 tonnes of "new" gold is mined each year.

While old gold is hoarded or languishes unused in the bottom of countless jewellry boxes, mining this quantity of "new" gold causes a disproportionate amount of ecological chaos. The "carbon footprint", or should I say "gold footprint", of an average gold ring includes around 18 tonnes of waste and 5 tonnes of water. In drought ridden Honduras, a large gold mine will draw around 220 gallons of water per minute. As for the human cost, between 1990 and 1998 more than 30,000 people were displaced by gold mining.

In the USA Wal-Mart now sells more gold than anyone else. Once again the solution is in the hands of the consumer. As long as YOU keep buying it then Wal-Mart will keep selling it.

Greenkarat, not only sells ethically produced jewellry in the USA, they will make rings for you from gold donated by you, your friends and family - what a great way to recycle all those broken gold chains!

In the UK Fifi Bijoux say "We source the gold for our jewellery exclusively from fair trading, co-operative mines with eco-sustainabilty and environmental stewardship. We only purchase gold from small scale, artisanal mines."

Ethical gold jewellry from Fifi Bijoux is available from

If you need more convincing about buying ethical gold.....

........then read this lens about gold mining

This lens by Mortira about the true cost of gold mining to life and the environment is brilliant!

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Antique gold for ladies on ebay

Old gold and used jewellry is the ethical alternative

An average gold ring produces 18 tonnes of waste and uses 5 tons of water!

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Men's antique gold on ebay

Reduce your "gold" footprint

The human cost of gold production - between 1990 and 1998 more than 30,000 people were displaced by gold mining

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On the sixth day of a green Christmas my true love sent to me

Six nanny goats......

......or cows, or pigs or sheep. Even Llamas!

Heifer International believes that a holistic approach is necessary in order to build sustainable communities.

The Heifer International website says:

This year marks the 65th anniversary of Heifer's mission to end hunger and poverty. Everyone at Heifer proudly celebrates this milestone anniversary and the 12 million lives that have been changed because of the support of all of our donors, volunteers and staff around the globe.

Today, there are 800 projects in more than 50 countries. This amazing and inspiring accomplishment is made possible by a global commitment to give families a chance for self-reliance and hope.


Heifer projects around the world help families achieve self-reliance through the gift of livestock and training. Each recipient of an animal pledges to give back to their own community one of the offspring of each animal they receive to a neighbour in need and in this way whole communities can be transformed.


Tibetan Girl Holding Sheep in the Meadow, East Himalayas, Tibet, China

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Santa's Carbon Footprint

More stats to make you sit up and take notice

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What do you think?

Should we worry about the environmental impact of Christmas?

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Yes, we are concerned about the environment and will be trying to do our bit to reuse and recycle

crosscreations says:

Christmas can be just as joyful as ever or even more so with small changes toward being more eco-friendly.

goatlover_and_pescetarian says:

this is even more reason why the world needs more goats! it always does x

i will definitly be buying a tote bag - maybe with a goat on! (goat-tote hehe!)

Cheeeeeky says:

I've been thinking a lot about this too!

mimimyne says:

I use LED fairy tree lights, buy organic turkey and am going to stick to recycled wrapping paper this year!

blue22d says:

Yes, we recycle ribbon, paper and I have decorations that my son and I made over 30 years ago. I must admit I miss a "real" tree but it is nice to have my fiber optic tree and I know it is earth friendly. Great lens.

Give me a break - it's Christmas for goodness sake!

JRSchroeder says:

I think just changing habits for Christmas will be too little for any saving of the earth. Christmas will probably always be a peak season.
We need to support drastic environmental policy changes and businesses that lead the way in changing our economy to a green, sustainable one.

 
view all 45 comments

Calculate your Carbon footprint

Have you ever calculated your Carbon Footprint?

Free to use Carbon footprint calculators

Carbonfootprint.com
Calculate your carbon footprint using our online calculator, learn how to reduce it and then offset your past emissions through one of our carbon offset projects.
Treehugger.com
In addition to metrics like ecological footprint, each of us (and each of the products and services we use and consume every day) has a carbon footprint; it's a way to measure the relative impact of our actions --
BP energy and carbon footprint calculator
This tool will help you to understand your energy profile and estimate your carbon footprint. It shows you how different choices can result in energy savings and a smaller carbon footprint.

On the seventh day of a green Christmas my true love sent to me

Seven roles of recycled Christmas wrapping paper

Wrapping Paper, Snowmen

Buy at AllPosters.com


Janey Lee Grace tells us in her excellent book Imperfectly Natural Home, in the UK alone we throw out 80 square kilometres of Christmas wrapping paper, which would cover an area half the size of Washington DC or the whole of the island of Guernsey! Other sources say that the USA uses enough Christmas wrapping paper to cover the whole of Washington DC!

So please buy recycled Christmas wrapping paper and then recycle it!

Ethical Superstore has a great range of recycled Christmas gift wrap

Janey Lee Grace

The Imperfectly Natural Woman

Janey Lee Grace on saving the planet, one step at a time!

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Janey Lee Grace - Eco-friendly Green Christmas Ideas

The UK's Green Queen

How to have a green Christmas - green Christmas ideas from the UK's Green Queen, Janey Lee Grace

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Imperfectly Natural Books by Janey Lee Grace

How to live life the natural way

My very personal recommendations - yes, I DO have these books!

They make great gifts for the wannabe natural and eco-friendly ladies in your life. But the fellas will like them too!

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Recycled gift wrap on ebay

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On the eighth day of a green Christmas my true love sent to me

Eight recycled glasses

Waste on line states that annually total glass use in the UK is estimated at around 3.6 million tonnes. The UK glass industry has the capacity to recycle over one million tonnes of glass each year and this coupled with glass' unique ability to be infinitely recycled without ruining the quality means there is just no excuse to not recycle glass.

Making recycled glass uses less energy because crushed recycled glass melts at a lower temperature than the original components of glass. In the USA about 20% of glass is recycled.

Fairtrade glasses

CRISIL: a family run fair trade business in Bolivia

About the Producer:
CRISIL is a glass-making factory situated in Cochabamba, central Boliva. It is a family-owned business begun by two brothers, Carlos and Walter Bustos, after one of them spent some years in the USA but wanted to return to his home country.

CRISIL currently employs around 100 people as well as providing employment for used-bottle collectors who supply the factory with glass for recycling. CRISIL has been involved in product development consultation and been given technical assistance in recent years to help the business develop.


These glasses are available from

Recycled Glasses

Find recycled glass on Amazon

Every ton of glass that is recycled saves more than a ton of the raw materials needed to create new glass, including: 1,300 pounds of sand; 410 pounds of soda ash; and 380 pounds of limestone.

Making new glass means heating sand and other substances to a temperature of 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit, which requires a lot of energy and creates a lot of industrial pollution. One of the first steps in glass recycling is to crush the glass and create a product called "cullet." Making recycled glass products from cullet consumes 40 percent less energy than making new glass from raw materials, because cullet melts at a much lower temperature.

Source: Environment.about.com



UK Visitors click HERE - link below goes to Amazon USA

On the ninth day of a green Christmas my true love sent to me

Nine wooden toys

Close-up of Wooden Toy Giraffes

Close-up of Wooden Toy Giraffes Photographic Print
Buy at AllPosters.com



Look for toys made from sustainably managed forests and be careful of toxic paint. Buy toys that are painted with plant based dyes or paints containing no toxic chemicals.

Wooden toys may not offer all of the same glitz and glamour that typical plastic toys have, but they also have less of the dangerous wrappings. All that plastic and paper packaging, the fuel used to transport the toys, and the pollution created by the factories making the toys quickly mounts up.

Many parents are now choosing to buy simple wooden toys, often hand created by local craftsmen (or women).

You can find wooden toys at

Eco-friendly wooden train set

Crafted from an eco-friendly renewable source

Melissa & Doug Deluxe Wooden Railway Set

Amazon Price: $73.44 (as of 02/13/2012)Buy Now

This trainset is made from Beechwood which comes from easily renewable sources, helping the environment.

More lovely wooden toys

Some to buy and some to make

Beautiful, handmade wooden toys

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On the tenth day of a green Christmas my true love sent to me

Ten acres of rainforest

Blue and Yellow Macaw, Family, Peruvian Amazon

Buy at AllPosters.com



The World Land Trust in the UK and in the USA works "with local partners to buy tropical rainforests and other threatened habitats to protect the most endangered species forever."

$100 or ÂŁ50 will buy an acre of rain forest in your name or someone you wish to gift it to. My certificate is on my office wall!

Current projects include focusing on land acquisition and management in four important areas, which have been identified as critical to preserving dwindling habitat for many threatened and endangered species. The areas are the Ecuadorian Andes and rainforests in Columbia, Brazil and Paraguay.

More about rainforests

More reasons to save the Rainforests

There's a rainforest walk, how to teach your children about rainforests and a lens with lots of great links!

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On the eleventh day of a green Christmas my true love sent to me

Eleven angel blessings....

Buy handmade decorations made from recycled or eco-friendly materials. If possible make sure it is Fair trade as well. Buying Fairtrade is a great way to support disadvantaged people all over the world.

While some of these crafts may not be from recycled materials they provide much needed income to people often living in poverty that we could not possibly imagine.

You can find Fair Trade or Recycled Christmas decorations in lots of online stores these days, including:

Fairtrade Angels

from Gifts with Humanity

Angels With Attitude from Gifts with Humanity, who say:

These 3 inch angels, made from recycled cold drink cans, are made by Zulu school children as an extra-mural activity. These students live in an area of Northern Zululand where the AIDS epidemic is very high, and are themselves orphans who have been left destitute.

The purchase of this item impacts the student directly, assisting them to feed, clothe and educate themselves and at the same time giving them a sense of pride and self-worth.

Each Angel is unique and sold individually. Please let Gifts with Humanity select one for you.

Squidoo Angels

Yes, Squidoo has Angels!

Reused? Recycled? Goodness knows but we love them!

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On the twelfth day of a green Christmas my true love sent to me

Twelve fairtrade chocolates

In October 2007, the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, whose archiepiscopal seat is in the same city as the confectioner Nestlé Rowntree, said that buying only Fairtrade chocolate would help to end the "21st-century iniquity" of child labour.

Citing research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, he said that although child labour was prohibited in Britain there was a connection with Britain's manufacturers because of the conditions under which cocoa was produced.

According to the Stop the Traffik campaign for an end to modern slavery, more than 12,000 trafficked children are working on Ivory Coast plantations to produce 43 per cent of the world's cocoa beans.

Extract from article published in The Times, on 31 October 2007. You can read the rest of the article here

Fairtrade Chocolate from Divine

Fairtrade cocoa farmers get a better deal!

About Divine Fair trade chocolate:

Choosing Divine for your chocolate gifts is an ethical way of playing your part in a more equitable trading partnership. Divine is the only Fairtrade chocolate company which is 45% owned by the farmers. While Fairtrade ensures farmers receive a better deal for their cocoa and additional income to invest in their community, company ownership gives farmers a share of Divine's profits and a stronger voice in the cocoa industry. That's ethical business!

Read more . . . .


These Fair trade chocolates are available from

Fair trade chocolate

More reasons to buy Fairtrade chocolate

The cocoa farmers live in small, remote villages, often without running water, electricity or healthcare, and most villages don't have a school or teachers. The Fairtrade premium the farmers receive on top of the Fairtrade price for their cocoa is invested by the community into projects to benefit them all.

Source: Fairtrade.org.uk



UK Visitors, use this link: Fair Trade Chocolate Mini Eggs

Theo Classic Organic (70% Cacao) Dark Chocolate, 3-Ounce Bars (Pack of 12)

Amazon Price: $40.46 (as of 02/13/2012)Buy Now

Amazon product description:

A rich 70% dark chocolate. Organic, fair trade chocolate made with the highest integrity, beautifully simple packaging, and outstanding taste. Vegan and soy free.

Act NOW for the environment

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10% off your Christmas shopping at Gifts with Humanity

Enter coupon code: Xmas

Gifts With Humanity is proud to be a member of The Fair Trade Federation and IFAT the World Fair Trade Organization.

Gifts With Humanity

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