Mission (im)possible: an eco-friendly holiday season or how to save a Christmas tree
Corina Roobeck
This month I gave myself a practical values challenge:
Can I celebrate the holidays in a way that doesn’t cause more damage to the planet? Can I blend my values of kindness, creativity and joy with my love for nature and my family while participating in the biggest consumer spend and rubbish-producing season of the year?!?
Why did I take on this big challenge?
25% more trash is produced during the holiday season. The extra waste amounts to 25 million tons of garbage, or about 1 million extra tons per week!
An estimated 125,000 tons of plastic packaging and 83Km of wrapping paper is thrown away in December.
£700 million ( $900m) is spent on unwanted gifts (which end up in the trash)
One plate of food per household is wasted. In the UK, the amount of leftover brussel sprouts could power up a house for 3 years!
30 million Christmas trees in the USA and 7 million in the UK are cut down to only reappear in landfills 3-4 weeks later. These rotting trees emit 100,000 tons of greenhouse gases.
And only if...
If everyone wore a pre-loved outfit on Christmas day this year, the CO2 emissions saved would be equivalent to taking 56 million cars off the road for a day.
If every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet.
If every family wrapped just 3 presents in reused materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.
I was and still am shocked every time I read these numbers. How could I put my values into action and make a small difference?
My mission was clear: choose sustainable options wherever I can in the planning and delivery of the holiday season. Values in action, bringing joy to all!
“I’m dreaming of a green Christmas, just like the one that my grandma knew…, Where the treetops glistened, the people listened and reindeer still had all their homes….”
Here's where my journey has taken me so far and what I’ve learned along the way
And a note to anyone thinking - the most sustainable option is to opt out of the whole thing! I do agree that it is an option, and we did a version of this last year in lockdown. We stripped everything back to enjoying a home cooked meal, zoom calls with family, digital gifts to the children, purpose-and-values-aligned donations. But…
This year I am excited to participate in tradition, just not the shadow side of it. With my awareness of climate change urgency growing from the recent COP26 conference and the inspiring EarthShot Prize, I am no longer ok to knowingly trade tradition for tragedy. This year, Planet Earth can sit at my table and see the difference.
At first glance it may seem very basic. Substitute traditional elements with eco-friendly options and get the job done. However, dig a little deeper and a new world of mind-bending data points emerge. Of course you could choose to ignore it, but for me, curiosity is a value and down the research ‘rabbit hole’ I went.
And to help myself, I focused on one simple item (or so I thought): Wrapping Paper.
How long does wrapping paper last in your house? It looks lovely for the handover and then in my house - seconds later, depending on the age of the recipient, it is a ripped up mess on the floor. Having served its purpose, I assumed all went into recycling. Not so. It depends on our behavior - do we actually put it in the correct recycling container? And from a materials perspective - the fancier it gets (think glitter and foils), the less recyclable it becomes.
My goal was to go easy on the chemical production, big on recyclable, and even aim for compostable. In my search for an alternative, a whole new world of paper, vegetable inks, and beautiful, handcrafted, meaningful designs opened up. And, along with it -- a whole lot of other decision making points: the value of all of this vs. price; how many sheets of paper do you get, what delivery process do you choose?; does it really need to be here tomorrow?; artisan vs. mainstream business; is the production process carbon neutral?; are the eco credentials real or am I about to be green washed?
…and this is just for the paper!
In the end, I decided on unbleached brown wrapping paper and a beautiful compostable design paper along with ‘seed’ gift tags in fun shapes. This innovative solution has flower or grass seeds embedded into the handcrafted paper which activates when planted in your garden. Come spring, you see the magic. My family loves a garden so all values are aligned to me.
The downside of all of this was that I felt exhausted. One element covered and a list to go. Decision Fatigue had set in.
Decision fatigue is the idea that after making lots of decisions our brain gets tired, and our ability to make additional ‘good’ decisions declines. Recall your last trip to the mall, a supermarket, or reading a restaurant menu after back to back meetings - so many choices, what do I choose? And you feel exhausted. When we are running on empty we go for what is familiar, easy and energy-giving. We know this when we give in to the candy temptation at the check out, the 4pm snacking on forbidden foods despite being ‘good’ all day. We need sugar and our values-based decisions around health, or plastic-free packaging suddenly leaves us. This is where habits help us by reducing cognitive load. When we are on autopilot, the energy in our system is conserved. No decision required, we just do it.
How does Decision Fatigue impact us in the holiday season?
Does this scenario sound familiar?
Q: “What do you want for the holidays?“
A: “I don’t know” or “Nothing” or the dreaded, “Surprise me”.
AHHH…!! Now I need to spend cognitive energy on this problem. Much easier to search for a specific item, click buy and have it turn up the next day, gift wrapping optional. Or repeat what I gave you last year. And in our time-poor economy, I get it. I, too, have done this.
My mission to go plastic free, as sustainable as I can, requires me to get creative in my problem solving and not default on previous patterns but to make new ones that are aligned with my purpose and values. This requires energy.
I get this energy from my commitment to purpose, my values activated in the flow channel with a subject area just outside my skill level activating micro flow states and neurochemistry rewards. It feels hard, then it feels great. Repeat.
And I want to know the new decisions I am making are solid. My ego doesn't want to be embarrassed with a green wash challenge for some holiday grinch. The International Consumer Protection Enforcement Network recently analyzed 500 websites and found that up to 40% of the environmental friendly claims might actually be misleading customers. This means more research, more energy expenditure and ultimately for me, more reward.
A couple of eco-friendly holiday solutions I have found in the process
Challenge: A gift for a teenager who loves makeup and doing nails. My mission - to present a human- and eco-friendly alternative to what is available on the High Street. Non-toxic, colorful, earth-friendly and Instagrammable? Solution: Ethical, human-kind beauty brands are out there. I added reusable nail polish remover pads made out of biodegradable bamboo rayon felt to replace the standard single-use cotton pad which goes to the landfill. Fun fact: one reusable pad replaces 208 single-use cotton pads. How about that trending on Instagram with the tweens!
Challenge: A request from a mid-30s family member for a big brand best-selling shoe. Solution: With a little research I found this brand’s eco collection. However, the bestseller is not part of this collection. Interesting. I offer the eco option and the request is for the bestseller. Maybe next year this big brand will help make this decision easier for sustainability-minded and fashion-forward customers. No trade off required.
Challenge: How to prevent 100,000 plus tons of carbon emissions to glorify a holiday symbol? Solution: Rent your Christmas tree. A traditional tree grows for 15 years and then is cut down to decorate our homes, offices, streets for 3-4 weeks until it is thrown away. According to the Carbon Trust , an average tree that rots in a landfill has a carbon footprint of 16K CO2e. Now multiply that by 37 million. And if that wasn't enough, it is estimated that the local removal of trees to landfills costs local councils an estimated 14 Million (GBP). Think about that on your budget line and how else you could spend it.
Renting is an innovative solution - you choose, you care for, you return and come back next year for the same tree. When a tree reaches retirement height, it takes its last journey to a forest, not to a landfill, and continues its valuable job of processing carbon. This was a new discovery for me and is on the list for next year. In the meantime, my reusable tree is on the job. And if you have a cut tree, see if your local council collects in January for clippings that they use in parks.
Where I find myself now
My challenge was to see if I could curate a plastic-free, sustainable holiday and have my values in action. More action, more time in the zone and a more integrated and happy life. The process required perseverance fueled by my values and commitment to the purpose.
If Planet Earth was going to give me a report card I think it would read, “Good effort. Good attitude. With continued focus and application she will do better next year.”
Will my more sustainable decisions have a positive ripple in our family? I hope so. At least I know my trash bins will be collecting the right materials, my garden will be flowering in the springtime and we will all be a little more aware of the simple things we can do to reduce the holiday trade offs between planet and tradition. It's not perfect, it's unfinished but I am happily spending more time in my zone.
Enough about me... What about you?
How are you living your values this holiday season? What challenge are you taking on to live your values more boldly?
If you would like to discover your values and learn how to bring them to life in an aligned way that has you energized, excited about life and in your zone, then join us here: Reboot - (re)design your future
References:
National Christmas Tree Association
Is Fashion Bad for the Environment? (Big Think)
Christmas Pollution: why is it important to have an eco-friendly Christmas? (Commercial Waste)
How to rent a Christmas tree: where to hire them and why it’s good for the planet (Good to Know)
Holiday Waste Prevention FAQ by Stanford University
Decision fatigue: Why it’s so hard to make up your mind these days, and how to make it easier (The Washington Post)
The Carbon Trust’s tips for a more sustainable Christmas (The Carbon Trust)