The Perfect Gifts for the Green Soul

Last week I witnessed a noteworthy scene that made me reflect deeply on the nature of the Christmas gift giving tradition. Perhaps in our society what I saw may be considered every child's dream, but if this is what children's dreams have become, then we truly have to ask ourselves some overdue questions.

The scene involved my 2 and a half year old nephew and a neighbour dressed as Santa Claus bringing presents. It sounds in most people's imagination like a fun event. Santa came in the evening with a bagful of wrapped presents. Again, sounds like nothing's wrong. Santa started handing out the smallest one, a series of 15 toy cars, then another, then another, then another... to end with the biggest, a toy work bench with toy construction tools. I think he gave my nephew a total of 8 or 9 different wrapped up toys (maybe more, to be honest I lost count at the third present). My nephew didn't have time to open one that his attention was immediately diverted to the next and to the next and to the next... there was so much excitement in the air, he could hardly breath from it, dopamine levels were through the roof, and I'm not surprised he didn't fall asleep until after 1am that evening.

There is no judgment here, it's truly beautiful to assist a child being happy and excited, and as humans we have the freewill to choose to give however many presents to our children and whoever, however I couldn't help but wonder... what values are we sharing with this kid, this child who will contribute to creating the society of the future? I felt dismayed thinking back of that evening. My nephew and Godson was being taught that the most important thing about Christmas is a red-coat-dressed man bringing more toys than he has time to play with. But I am also grateful for being there, because this year, when choosing the gifts to give, I made sure to find things that would contribute to improving the world and soothe my green soul, so I would like to share my ideas, reflections and research with you all.

First of all, there is so much beauty in sharing a gift when it comes from the heart, but in the past month I noticed how programs on the radio and on TV, magazine articles, not to mention ads everywhere, seemed to emphasise the importance of Christmas gift exchange to the point of obsession. I've read articles on Christmas gift anxiety and on people getting loans to buy gifts... where have we come to? No, that's not ok. There is nothing wrong in saying, "this year I couldn't", "this year I wrote you a nice note" or "I will make you a meal/offer you a massage/sing you a song instead of giving you a gift". After all, for someone who loves you, your presence is the best present; and to paraphrase Maya Angelou's quote "people won't remember what you give them, but how you make them feel".

The stress of getting "anything at all as long as it's something" is implanted in our consumerist society and it's the cause of so many presents turning out to be so embarrassingly useless, other than a waste of money, resources, time. No. If you wish to make someone happy by sharing a gift with them, then remember that the most ethical gift is one that they will actually appreciate and use. Consequently, please follow these simple steps before purchasing:

1) Ask yourself how well you know this person. Take some time to get into their shoes. Investigate, spy if necessary, ask someone to ask them, or ask them directly, what are their taste in gifts, their interests in sports, books, art, clothes, jewellery, etc.; 2) brainstorm some things that they will love (it's not enough to like), then keep the most likely candidates; 3) focus on one of the things that made the top of the list: before purchasing, close your eyes and visualise the person seeing the present when they open it and then one month/one year from opening it - what emotion are they feeling about it? Are they still using it/excited about it/raving about it after one month? One year? If the answer is yes, then get it! If no, then try with the next item, or start again.

Now, a few ideas of presents that are great for the planet and for people who love our planet (forgive me if I assume that most people do).

1) Presents that plant trees. If life on Earth exists, it's because of the trees employing the magic of photosynthesis to create organic life as we know it and maintaining the perfect balance of gases in the atmosphere. One of the greatest problems of our time is the strikingly high rate of deforestation. For example, in the Amazon deforestation is at the highest level in 12 years; between July 2019 and August 2020, 11,008 square kilometres were deforested which marks an increase of almost 10% from the previous year. Planting trees offsets our carbon footprint, contributes to reducing pollution, helps restore oxygen levels and offers livelihood and food security to farmers and forest communities around the world.

I personally find it gorgeously romantic to plant a tree for someone somewhere around the world, who can then follow the growth of their very own tree, and maybe one day even go visit it. I was so pleasantly surprised to find so many tree planting gifts options online. They vary for types of trees available, location of planted trees, and ways of monitoring the trees' growth. The most advertised website is Treedom, with its fun graphics it allows for an easy and fun monitoring of the growing trees and for interaction among members. ZeroCO2 lets you choose from different types of trees from around the world, including endangered species in the Amazon, and sends a certificate. I think the best would be to find a reforestation project nearest to the person receiving the gift, so that they have the greatest chance to go visit the project. Some online shops also plant a tree for every product sold, such as One Tree Planted. Others literally send you a tree to plant, such as The Present Tree in the UK () (however, this is for real green thumbs only). BioFarm (https://www.biorfarm.com/en/) is an Italian initiative which lets you adopt a tree for a year and give it a name. Your adopted tree will send you its harvested produce and you have 20% off any future other organic fruit order from the website.

(I, too, had bought a toy for my nephew, but after the evening I mentioned above, I decided to give the toy to charity and instead named an adopted grapefruit tree in Sicily after him, and he will receive 5kg of grapefruit as a wish for his good health and energy. A 2 year-old may not understand this gift, but I heard his green soul thanking me).

2) Presents that save the bees. The 20,000 existing bee species pollinate our planet and support biodiversity which is essential to maintaining balanced ecosystems for a diverse and healthy environment. Humans rely on pollinator bees to sustain agricultural food production, so the declining bee population poses a serious threat to human life and to wild plant biodiversity. Climate change, pesticide poisoning and plant loss are the most likely causes of the increasing disappearance of bees.

Fortunately, Christmas gifts can be a great chance to support sustainable bee farming practices, ranging from simple sustainable honey businesses, to bee-themed products, from bee adoptions, to full-immersive bee-keeping workshops. Webster Honey has all of them, by following this link you can peak at the vouchers available and more. From the Save the Bees website, it's possible to purchase bee-themed jewellery and clothes, for those who would appreciate showing the world their support for the cause. The Bee Cause champions bee hotels, to host solitary bees in your garden, that you can build yourself or purchase on Etsy.

My personal friends and honey makers in Sardinia are ApinatH, Winners of the best Eucalyptus Honey in Italy 2019. Not only do they sell genuinely delicious honey, with their bees they also support wild flowering plants biodiversity in Oristano's countryside. I participated in their bee-keeping workshop a few years back, when I became aware first-hand of the amazing job bee-keepers do to protect their bees every year, despite all the challenges. ApinatH send packages of honey-based and other bee products all over the world, so don't be taken aback by the rustic website.

3) Presents that clean the ocean. The deep blue ocean is an infinite source of mystery and mysticism. It is perhaps the geographical part of this planet Earth that we know least about. To our dismay, our societal overuse of plastic has caused an alarming rise in plastic pollution levels in our beautiful oceans, which become the easiest dumping site, affecting a large part of the sea animal population. A November 2020 report from nonprofit Oceana exposed that approximately 1,800 animals from 40 different species were found either entangles in or eating ocean plastic, in American ocean waters, 88% of them were listed as endangered or threatened with extinction under the Endangers Species Act of 1973.

There are many simple gift ideas that support the ocean and its sea creatures and here are a few examples. Some marine charities offer endangered animal adoption packages, which are a great way to support their work. One of the best is offered by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, with humpback whale and orca adoptions. All packages include a personalised certificate, a photograph of the adopted animal and specific information about its life history, family tree, and migration path. Alternatively, you can gift the adoption of endangered Loggerhead turtles with the WorldWideFund.

If you know the receiver likes jewellery and the ocean you can take a look at the following three sea-themed collections: Clean Wave Jewellery, which donates to the Big Blue Ocean Cleanup with every purchase, Nobu's The Mermaid Glass which donate to Take 3's mission to clean up the ocean, or Devocean with its sea turtle charms or colorful series made of different materials like glass and hemp, donate 20% of net profits to Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Florida; they organise education programs with Florida Atlantic University and their research lab is actively involved in turtle conservation.

Some funky presents made of recycled plastic include skateboards by Bureo, made of recycled fishing nets, together with their Jenga Ocean game; other ocean-friendly toys include EcoBirdy's beautifully designed children's toys, chairs, tables and blankets all made from recycled material; recycled plastic swimwear include Odina's bikinis, Ogyre's shorts, who use 6 plastic bottles to make each one item and support ocean and beach cleanups.

4) Presents that support art. Art offers a form of spirituality in our secularised world, because the creative process is a living bridge between mind and spirit. Live art, and art that is alive, in its many forms, offers a mirror for the human condition, which, when we are willing to look closely, willing to openly engage in the flow of the art, gifts us with healing our emotional selves and with shifting some of our stuck perceptions.

Whether they are avid art lovers, or are unfamiliar with this dimension, inviting them to watch an opera, a musical, a play, ballet, a concert, a poetry recital, an art exhibition (be it photo, contemporary or 19th century art) will open their world to new possibilities. If it's something too new for them invite to be open, to ask questions, to make the best of the experience no matter what. For artic green souls, my best advice, if you are not convinced by the trees or by the honey bees, or if you've already given those as presents, is to find the local theatres, museums, concert halls and independent cinemas close to the lucky receiver, and make a year-long membership your Christmas gift to them. This is a gift that doesn't produce any waste, your highest carbon footprint is the journey to the art space (so you can always walking or cycle there), and you support people who have usually poured their heart and soul in the hard choice of pursuing their artistic expression. A gift of pure beauty.

I hope this article offers some inspiration for you to open the horizons of gift giving, try something different, and start making conscious gift choices. If in your gift exchanges this year you feel you may have slipped a little bit into the consumerist trap... worry not, decade-long conditionings are hard to drop. Remember that there are always upcoming birthdays and Christmases to keep this article in mind and feel motivated to do something different. We have one home, one planet, one Earth, not two, so it's time to be conscious in all our actions and evolve our gift giving traditions.

(N.B. If you wrap a present remember to use recycled gift wrapping paper or old newspapers, as well as recycled or plantable paper greeting cards :) )