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Giving back to the earth during the holiday season

There are practical ways to enjoy Christmas without causing harm to the planet.

By Cheryl E PrestonPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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Christmas tree farm.

My children and I have learned to decrease holiday excess during the past few years in two major ways. We no longer put up live Christmas trees and we have decreased our use of wrapping paper, tissue paper, gift bags and boxes. This is our contribution to a cleaner earth. We actually find that we have a lot of fun with being thoughtful and frugal. When you stop chopping down live trees this is a major way to protect our planet. Trees provide much needed oxygen and studies indicate that people who live near trees or wooded area live longer than those who don’t. Trees protect the earth from floods and also provide shade from direct sunlight which protects our eyes.

Live Christmas tree

We need the trees in the earth to give us oxygen to help us remain healthy and trees can observe toxins in the air that cause illness. Green artificial Christmas trees work just as well and they don’t have the risk of being a fire hazard. Every year there are stories in the news where homes have gone up in flames because of live trees. There are many types of artificial trees you can choose from and the best thing about it is that you can use them again year after year. Just look at the beauty and majesty of the trees in the cover photo and consider what we are losing.

According to date from the US Agrculture Drpartment, Americans cut down 15,094,678 Christmas trees in 2017. In order to grow and replace that many trees requires about close to 20 square miles of land. Think of this as you see discarded Christmas trees after the holiday. It’s true they can be turned into mulch but the trees serve us much better when they are left standing and can function in their original purpose.

Realistic artificial Christmas tree

For all of my life the day after Christmas would be filled with discarded wrapping paper, gift boxes, ribbons and bows along with the boxes that large toys were packaged in. This is such an extreme waste and it can be seen throughout many neighborhoods each year. What’s the use of going to all the trouble, spending the money and the time on wrapping gifts just to throw it all out the next day? This is so wasteful and my family has found a way to combat it. We are all old enough to not get caught up in the outer package and we appreciate what lies within. This is why we have alternate methods of giving our gifts to each other.

Sometimes we leave them in the bag with the name of the store where the present was purchased and we write the to and from on the outside of the bag. Instead of buying name tags, we cut up leftover gift paper and use that also to indicate who the present is for and who gave it. Whenever someone gives us a gift for Christmas, a birthday, or another occasion, we keep those boxes and gift bags and reuse them for the next time we give gifts or the following holiday season. Sometimes on rare occasions tissue paper can be salvaged as well. Recently I got take out at Olive Garden restaurant and they gave me my food in a mid-sized brown paper bag with a handle. I held on to it to use as a gift bag for a present this year. Anything that can be recycled is a plus for our earth.

There have been a few holidays where my husband and I just hand each other our gifts and set them underneath the tree on Christmas morning without wrapping them. This saves so much paper and time and keeps the trash can from overflowing. Just look at the gift bags in the above photo with tissue paper inside of each one. It makes a beautiful image but truthfully is very wasteful. Paper comes from trees so we feel good that we have come up with these two ways to preserve them. Christmas is the season of giving so consider giving back to the planet by decreasing the number of trees that are cut down.

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About the Creator

Cheryl E Preston

Cheryl is a widow who enjoys writing about current events, soap spoilers and baby boomer nostalgia. Tips are greatly appreciated.

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