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Saturday, December 1, 2018

Eco-Friendly Moves to Green the Holidays






You can play a key role in "greening" this holiday season. Green is associated with health, harmony, well-being, and the environment and a perfect color to signify eco-friendly actions.

Post updated 11/10/2022

When you adopt and follow through with the green ideas I share below, you can do your share to increase personal and world well-being all year long.

Tips save time, energy, natural resources, and suggest ways you can make the planet a healthier place to live.


Eco-Friendly Moves to Green the Holidays


1. When your holiday custom includes having a Christmas tree, select a live potted one. 

Decorate your tree with popcorn and other edible decorations that have zero waste and will not eventually wind up in a landfill. 

After the holiday is over, plant the tree in the ground.

Trees help us in many ways. They provide shade and insulation and therefore cut down both on heating and cooling costs.

Trees replenish the air with oxygen, increases soil stability, and adds beauty to our landscapes. Trees are happy homes for birds and wildlife as well.

2. Support markets or stores where they make an effort to be sustainable. Carry and use a reusable shopping bag. 

One example of sustainable progress is Natural Grocers (this is not a paid endorsement, just my honest opinion). Three ways this market is safeguarding the environment are listed below:

Natural Grocers sells only 100% organic produce and 100% non-gmo bulk foods (buying food in bulk is usually less expensive, cuts down on unnecessary packaging, and saves time and energy).

NG has eliminated plastic bags for checkouts. Since ditching disposable plastic grocery bags in 2009, they estimate that they've prevented more than 300 million plastic bags from being dumped in a landfill.

Natural Grocers upcycles most of the cardboard used to ship products to their stores. Boxes are used to pack up your order, if you forget to bring your own shopping bag.

If your market isn't taking steps to safeguard the environment, contact store management to voice your opinion. If they don't listen, write to the headquarters. If nothing changes boycott the store.

Another example of a store that is being environmentally aware is the one in this picture.


3. Consume less, and recycle, upcycle, and craft hand-make gifts, toys, and decorations. When you do buy something new, make sure it's high quality.

Thrift stores, rummage sales, and resale or repurpose outlets offer affordable gifts and packaging material supplies. 

In fact, see cost-saving, eco-friendly holiday present ideas, décor, and conservation ideas (shop local or online and cut back on fossil fuel use and time).  

a. Mary at the Boondocks Blog offers tips to repurpose old décor to make Bright Christmas Vignettes.

b. Katie Welles, the Wellness Mama suggests you give experiences rather than gifts. As she wrote, "Many studies show that material possessions do not equal happiness and that experiences are much more intrinsically fulfilling than things." 

c. If you plan to travel during the holidays see 8 Green Travel Tips from an Obsessive Environmentalist by Yessenia Soto from www.rainforest.alliance.org.

d. Lea Stewart from inhabitant.com shows you how to make a beautiful upcycled fabric wreath.

e. For a neat DIY gift for Hanukkah and tips about this holiday see Hanukkah, a mini guide.





4. Visualize a soothing shade of green to help you maintain self-care routines and sail through the holidays with less stress and more happiness. 


Each small eco-friendly move you take adds up. 🌲 Creating a greener lifestyle can do much to improve the quality of your life and the planet's health as well.


I'd love to hear from you about this post, and learn how you live a green lifestyle. 

Use the space provided below (don't put links in your comment, as I won't be able to publish it that way).

Has this post motivated you to add an eco-friendly move to your holiday and yearlong routine? Please share that info too. 

Thanks for the visit and have a marvelous holiday season, one that's green, serene, and safe. 💗

For your info: more green reading


This post has been shared at Décor-ideas-on-wonderful-Wednesday-blog hop

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This post has been shared at dishing-it-digging-it-link-party-229 #DIDI, spot # 207

This post has been shared at over-moon-linky-party #15

This post has been shared at Friendship Friday #125


26 comments:

  1. We are always replacing trees on our property for future generations. Like how you listed other bloggers we can visit and read their ideas.

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    1. Thanks so much for the visit and comment. Glad you mentioned replacing trees for future generations. So important to prevent global warming.Happy Holidays!

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    2. I love the idea of giving experiences as opposed to giving presents. Thanks for all the good tips Nan

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    3. Thanks Beth. I agree. Giving experiences as a gift would be so welcome in my house, as I'm trying to live with sustainability in mind. Happy Holidays and best wishes for health, peace, and joy in the New Year.

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  2. Such good ideas and with luck the more of us who write posts like this and share them, the more people we can influence. Now our boys are older we have pared Christmas right back: some natural greenery for decoration, just a few gifts (and many will be home-made or experience type ones) ... and enough delicious home-made food shared with friends and family to spoil us a bit without total overindulgence.

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    1. Glad to know about how you support and encourage a cleaner, greener world and lifestyle. If you like what you see, please sign up for the Colors 4 Health News.I only post once a month so you're mailbox won't be flooded with stuff.Happy Holidays to you and thanks for the visit.

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  3. HI Nancy,
    I always enjoy your articles and know that you put a lot of heart into them. Thank for sharing my links - I hope that it is helpful to anyone that reads it. I would have a potted Christmas but I am allergic to the pine in my house so we go with a prelite LED lights tree that we use year after year. I make a lot of my decorations throughout the years. Another store that doesn't use bags and such is Costco and they sell quite a lot of organic in bulk and you either bring your own packages or use their boxes that they have got products which is a great way of recycling. Sharing on social media.

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    1. Thanks Marla for your visit and comment. Wishing you a beautiful holiday season and many blessings in the New Year.

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  4. Nice info, Nancy! We have a fake tree that we use every year. We almost never get a live one because, frankly, it's just messy! We also have lots of planted pine trees from past Christmases (not ours, but the guy who lived here before us), so a fake tree will probably be all we do from now on!

    I almost never purchase bags at the store, but one thing that is a bummer is that it's pretty much mandatory if you get your groceries delivered, like I do. I do try to use them another time or two before they get thrown out, like for emptying the litter box or something like that. I have a lot of pretty little handmade bags that I sewed years ago that I love to use, though.

    Thanks for the tips!

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    1. Thanks so much +Kristi Stone for your comment and visit. Wishing you a beautiful holiday season and many blessings in the New Year.

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  5. Thank you for this post. Great ideas here on living more green!

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    1. Thanks for your comment. Sending my wishes for a green holiday and greener New Year.

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  6. Nancy thanks for the shout out. I also like to keep the wrapping paper and reuse it for other crafts. Nothing goes to waste.

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    1. Thanks Mary for your comment and good idea to use re-use wrapping paper for other craft projects. I didn't put this in the article, but I do recycle cards that way. Be well and Happy, Healthy Holiday Wishes to You!

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  7. This is great! I love all of your suggestions. There are so many resources here.

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    1. Thanks so much. Wish you a wonderful Holiday Season and a Green New Year.

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  8. I love your posts because I love learning about the different colors and what they stand for and mean!

    I use natural decorations on my tree each year but unfortunately in Florida it is hard to get a live tree for a tiny house and one that I can plant afterwards.

    Great way to share the whole natural and green living concept! There needs to be more people with your mindset!

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    1. Thanks so much for your kind words and visit. Happy Holidays to You!

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  9. Great idea's on how to green up your Christmas and I really like that you add in so many links to other's site with outstanding examples of how to find the very things you were talking about.

    On a side note, if folks do get "live trees" that are not potted up, one of the things we have started doing locally is actively encourage folks to not use spray or tinsel on the tree's and then they collect and bring their tree's out to be dropped off at their local small farm for our goats and sheep flocks.

    We offer pumpkin drop off centers so they get eaten by the chickens, pigs and goats/sheep and we offer a way to recycle the tree's to the farm. The animals adore eating down the green/tips of the tree's and when they are done, we trim them off and use some as mulch and the rest as fire wood.

    Its not as perfect as planting live but its one little way to keep them out of the land fills.

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    1. Thanks for your thoughtful comment and the visit. Wish those who do cut a tree, do bring it for recycling like you suggest. Happy Holidays and lead a colorful life.

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  10. Great tips! Wishing you a green and happy holiday!

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    1. Thanks so much Carol. The same to you and wishes for a colorful life!

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  11. Great ideas! Those handmade bags are so pretty! I love reusable bags.

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    1. Thanks Joy Racicot for the visit and comment. Keep up the good green stuff you are doing and wishing you many blessings in the New Year.

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  12. I was happy to read your updated post as I always like reminders and new ideas to try to make the holidays "green". Thanks for the tips.

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    1. Thanks Carol and best wishes for a happy, healthy, and green holiday season.

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