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Holter Graham offers a behind-the-scenes look at Planet Green's Wasted and shares his eco adventures and advice.
Reduce packaging, protect yourself in the recession, reduce shipping emissions, and get back in touch with the spirit of the holidays, all in one step: A present-free Holiday! Give the only truly organic, 100% recyclable gift: love.
The economy is starting to look like the planet feels. There's a sad but instructive harmony there, and there is also an opportunity to change the way we live for the better. If the Obama victory speech, and the Abe Lincoln speech it harkened to , had anything to tell us, it is this: things are hard right now, but the American Way and the American Dream are deeply tied to hard work, self-scrifice, and self-improvement. If we give a little, we get a little, and if we give a lot, we get a lot.
The American Dream has been discounted and bought on credit a little too much in the past couple of generations, and has lost some of it's value and power. This economic and environmental downturn we're in can be the catalyst for the kind of great and far-reaching change we will all benefit from. And you can start it at home this holiday season, regardless of what you celebrate.
If this holiday season you refrain from buying expensive and/or useless gift items, and instead spend that time and a tiny bit of that money showing each other love, respect, affection, and trust, it will, in the long run, be the best holiday season ever. I promise.
Sure, we may all want the new game platform or vampire book or SUV or half-carat ring or designer outfit. But do we need it?
Each of the items listed above: costs money few of us have lying around these days; costs fuel to ship to your house, costs trees and landfill space to package and dispose of, and costs time spent in mall-mobs or online that could be spent with family.
Try this: before the holiday happens, before expectations can get out of control, speak to your family. Explain how tight money is for all of us, explain how every item purchased has an effect on the environment. Ask each family member what they are thankful for. Tell them you are thankful for them. Talk to each other about what really makes you happy.
Then spend Christmas, Diwali, Hanukah, Kwanzaa or just good ole' Wednesday together, as a family. Spend half an hour online looking for something interesting in your neighborhood, then all go for a walk and look at it together. Have a long conversation about your favorite foods, then spend the day cooking a meal that makes everyone happy--have you ever tried marshmallow pies and humus and pork chops all in one meal? Might be nice.
I know it goes against what the TV and the ads and the banners and the billboards and the internet and the radio tend to say all the time: buy! spend! ship! order now!
But I'm telling you; once you commit to realizing that family and togetherness are better, more valuable gifts, more precious and more renewable than anything else on earth, you just may have the happiest holiday ever. And the greenest, too.
And that is what I, and the planet, wish for you. Happy Holidays.
Related Posts:
The Anti-Gift List: 15 Things Everyone Gets and No One Needs
How and When to Re-Gift
How to Go Green: Kids' Toys
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