It’s time to buy the planet a gift this Christmas

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From travelling, to wrapping paper, from the carbon footprint of the presents we give, to the meals we consume, it can all add-up quickly. It might be the holiday season but the planet isn’t getting a break.

We should all be transforming the way we live and consume, so we start to reduce our carbon footprints. How we celebrate the holiday season is a good place to start and could be an opportunity for us to develop new habits.

A typical household in the UK spends on average almost £740 extra in December, 29% more than in a typical month, according to the Bank of England. Nearly everything that the increased expenditure is spent on will have a carbon footprint, so having a sustainable Christmas can make a big difference if we do this collectively, and it can also help to save us money.

Whatever kind of Christmas tree you get, it’ll have a carbon footprint. A study by Ellipsos which compared artificial trees with real ones found artificial trees led to emissions of 8kg of carbon dioxide, comparable to driving a car 200 miles, while the real tree emitted 3.1kg of carbon dioxide, equivalent to driving 77 miles. Hiring a real tree instead of buying one could be a more sustainable option, as could be buying a live tree which you then plant in your garden.

Do you even need to get a tree? Putting up trees in our homes for Christmas is a relatively modern trend which we might want to start reconsidering. There are plenty of other ways we can decorate our homes and get into the holiday spirit.

Instead of putting up tinsel or buying non-sustainable plastic decorations, why not consider unleashing your inner artist and making your own decorations. You could recycle things which are just lying around your home or you could even go foraging in your local park or forest for pine cones or holly. Decomposable decorations made from dried fruit or plants can look great and they have much less impact on the planet than a bauble flown in from China.

When you’re thinking about what to give as presents, do you really need to buy things which are brand new? Second-hand presents are gifts that keep on giving and can cost less than buying the latest version of something. If you’re buying someone books as a gift, you could try finding rare out-of-print books in second-hand bookstores. Giving preloved gifts can significantly reduce your carbon footprint, particularly if they don’t need to be flown into the country.

Supply chains for Christmas gifts spread across the planet, as some toys will be made with parts which come from different ends of the planet, which are then assembled somewhere else, before being shipped or flown to the countries where they are sold.

How you wrap your presents can also have a big impact on the planet. Making wrapping paper uses 1.3kg of coal to produce 1kg of paper, with the manufacturing process emitting 3.5 kg of carbon dioxide, according to Greenpeace. That doesn’t even include the footprint of distributing the finished paper to shops across the country. Instead of using paper, you could embrace the art of Japanese cloth wrapping ‘Furoshiki’. Your recycling bin will also thank you the day after and you might even find the cloth wrapping the gifts you receive next year.

The typical British Christmas meal generates the equivalent of 20 kg of carbon dioxide emissions according to research by academics, with 60% of the emissions being related to the life cycle of the turkey. While some Spainards enjoy ‘pavo trufado de Navidad’ (Christmas Turkey stuffed with mushroom truffles), other types of meat production are no better for the environment, with methane and nitrous oxide also being emitted. Having a meat-free feast could halve the emissions of your dinner.

Instead of just giving presents to our loved ones this Christmas, how about we include the planet on the Christmas present list and give it a gift by being more sustainable this holiday season? Although it’s important to remember that looking after the planet isn’t just for Christmas, it’s something we all need to be doing for the rest of our lives.

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