Our latest issue of the Green American celebrates simple, meaningful holidays—and often, that can mean foregoing gifts or making your gifts to avoid crowded shopping centers, unnecessary spending, and resource waste. [...]
Link to original web page at blog.greenamerica.org
But if you are buying a few gifts this year, it could be an opportunity to introduce your loved ones to the joys of green living in a positive, uplifting way. (No getting all up in someone’s face required!) For example, you could consider giving a small solar gift to encourage your loved ones to take a step away from destructive coal-fired power.
“In many ways, the holiday season celebrates light” writes Green America online editor Andrew Korfhage. “The Winter Solstice marks the lengthening of daylight as the season passes from autumn into winter. Christmastime reminds us of the guiding light of the Star of Bethlehem. And Hanukkah celebrates the miraculous “renewable energy” of the oil lamps in the Jerusalem Temple that failed to run dry.”
Andrew’s Web and e-edition exclusive article details ten great options for solar gifts. My favorites on the list include a solar battery charger from greenbatteries.com (encourages reusable battery use), a solar cell phone charger from solargoose.com (encourages solar power over coal-fired power), and the cute little build-it-yourself solar-powered hopping frogs from fatbraintoys.com (teaches little ones about solar energy).
Looking for something a little more cutting edge that also encourages sustainable living? “Check out the new pedal-powered bike light from EcoXGear,” Andrew advises. “More expensive at $100, the EcoXGear system powers your front and back light, and simultaneously can charge a handheld electronic device, such as your GPS.”
If you want to follow our advice in the Green American to embrace an “alternative gift,” there are some available that encourage solar proliferation. Alternative gifts, if you haven’t gotten to that article yet, are simply charitable gifts made in honor of a loved one.
Andrew points out that via Alternative Gifts International (AGI), “you can purchase a share of a solar heating panel for a Native American family in South Dakota ($22-$600). Lakota Solar Enterprises produces these innovative solar heating systems that save tribal families 20-30 percent on their energy bills while also offering renewable energy training to tribal youth.” AGI will send a gift card to you or to your loved one that includes an insert with information about the project, but does not list the donation amount.
Andrew’s ten solar gift ideas article is already in your issue of the Green American, if you have a digital subscription. If not, you can access it online here.
Another way I like to secretly encourage green living habits with my year-end gifts is to package my DIY presents in reusable shopping bags. I’m a big fan of ChicoBags, which collapse down to the size of two golf balls, so you can shove one in a purse or briefcase and never be caught without your bags at the store. While ChicoBag doesn’t have a winter holiday collection up just yet, it does have a variety of lovely patterns and colors to choose from, like this cute little penguin.