The Virtuous Consumer
The Twelve (Green) Days of Christmas
By Leslie Garrett

Not only do I find the song – The Twelve Days of Christmas – incredibly annoying, it’s also highly impractical. Woe to the gift-giver who offers me a partridge in a pear tree or anyone drumming, piping, leaping or dancing. I’d prefer a pair of warm gloves, please.
To deter those who take their cue from the excess of the season, I offer up my annual guide to the 12 Green Days of Christmas – gifts that are a pleasure to give…and to receive. And gifts that won’t make Mother Nature blanche.

1st day: A programmable thermostat. You can save two percent on your heating bill for every 1°C (2°F) you lower the thermostat. Look for a thermostat with the Energy Star logo.

2nd day: A low-flow showerhead for you that will restrict water output to no more than 2.5 gallons per minute. You’ll use 25 to 60 percent less water and 50 percent less energy than with a conventional unit. And at only $10 to $20 per showerhead, it’s the perfect gift for someone you’d like to shower with.

3rd day: LEGO – Kids aged three and up love these tried-and-truly non-toxic (no PVC, no lead!). The past few years have seen more recalls in kids’ toys than ever before. LEGO remains a toybox staple.

4th day: Give the gift of no junk mail by registering the person on your Christmas list with 41 Pounds. It’s estimated that the average adult receives 41 pounds (19 kg) of junk mail every year. 41 Pounds will rid you of 80 – 95 percent of this, saving millions of trees in the process. www.41pounds.org

5th day: A membership in Community Supported Agriculture. Your membership fee – which will provide you farm-fresh produce for about five months – allows local family farmers to stay in business, while offering up their generally organic goodies. Find one by asking at your local farmer’s market or visiting www.localharvest.org

6th day: Buy your six-year-old some sweatshop-free play clothes from American Apparel. All clothes are made in LA in a factory that pays workers a fair wage. You can even buy organic cotton t-shirts, leggings and more. Prices are reasonable and the clothes are made to last. Visit www.americanapparel.net

7th day: A week’s worth of earth-saving undies! Green Knickers is a UK-based company that offers panties in organic and fair-trade cotton, hemp, silk and bamboo. They’re beautiful and ethical and come in a gorgeous, hand-made gift box made of recycled materials from a worker’s cooperative in Nepal. Visit www.greenknickers.org

8th day: Buy a “green” book. There are, increasingly, books printed on recycled paper, FSC-certified paper…including my own! www.amazon.com

9th day: Offer up gifts for everyone on your Christmas list in a great-looking reusable bag. While there are plenty available right in your own neighborhood, you can also find them online (my favorite is LyziWraps, created by a child for a school project): www.lyziwraps.com

10th day: Buy your ten-year-old some beauty products that ensure her health – inside and out. As the body’s largest organ, our skin is at least as susceptible to toxins as any other. tweenBEAUTY was created to offer tweens products that are free of parabens, phthalates and other chemicals we don’t want in our tweens. Find out more at www.tweenbeauty.com

11th day: A case (minus one for taste-testing by the gift-buyer) of organic or locally brewed beer. There are more micro-breweries popping up every day – offering up local and frequently organic beer. Ask at your local Beer Store.

12th day: A year’s worth of green power. While an extravagant gift, offering up the gift of green power is one with incredible dividends to the planet. Green power essentially means purchasing the equivalent amount of power a household uses from “green” sources, such as wind, solar or low-impact hydroelectric. In Ontario, the only “green” power source is through Bullfrog Power at www.bullfrogpower.com

It’s a day that tends to celebrate “too much”. Gifts. In-laws. Food. While I can’t control the onslaught of relatives, I can help you take back your plan for a greener holiday. Let’s start with:

The Food
It’s easy to green your holiday meal and, in fact, changing what’s on our plates can be a highly impactful (not to mention tasty) way to make that connection to Mother Earth.
Whether your family salivates at the prospect of turkey, roast beef or ham for the holiday meal, consider a few key factors before digging in.
For starters, what was the animal fed? Cows that are grass-fed are not only better for you (lower in fat, higher in Omega 3s, for starters), they’re also healthier, happier and better for the planet. How? Because they’re eating what their digestive systems are designed to eat, they release far less methane from burps and…ummm…flatulence. And before you roll your eyes, all that cow gas creates more greenhouse gas emissions globally than all forms of transport combined. So eating grass-fed goes a long way toward shrinking your carbon footprint. Look also for grass-fed lambs.
If you plan to put pork on your fork, look for pasture-raised pigs. It means they’ve eaten what nature intended and are healthier and happier piggies as a result.
If you’re a turkey lover, you’ll want to avoid those supermarket birds in favor of a heritage and/or organic bird. The difference isn’t only that the latter tastes far better, but that the cruelty inflicted on these caged and speed-fattened turkeys is unimaginable. And aren’t the holidays about goodwill toward hens (and turkeys and…you get the idea).
Don’t forget to surround your meat with lots of organic, locally grown goodies, such as all those root vegetables that you can still find close by, whatever your climate. Organic produce means you’re not giving pesticides and fertilizers a free ride on your plate

The Tree:
The endless fir debate… Frankly, this is one of those “on the one hand…but on the other…” issues. Let’s break it down:
If you already have a fake fir, stick with it. Unless you can still smell it off-gassing (which is possible), lavish it with lovely decorations and use it until it’s a Charlie Brown-esque twig. If you simply can’t bring yourself to have a fake tree any longer, donate it. The environmental damage has been down. Better to keep it out of landfill and let it live on in someone else’s living room.
However, if you want to go live, short of cutting down an old-growth pine, you can’t really go wrong. Most Christmas trees are grown for the express purpose of being chopped. If you want to go REALLY green, try a “live” Christmas tree. This is a tree that you keep in a pot (which, of course, limits its size – no soaring Christmas trees for you this year!), then, when you’re done with it, you simply store it somewhere warmish…and plant it in your garden next spring. In the meantime, it’s busy doing what trees do best – absorbing our CO2 and, in true Christmas spirit, giving off life-sustaining oxygen.

The Decorations:
I’ve yet to see a made-in-China decoration that rivals anything Mother Nature can offer up. Pinecones, dogwood branches, acorns, chestnuts, pine boughs… Add some LED lights and you’ve got a home filled with warmth, beauty…and no toxic chemicals leaching into the bodies of your loved ones.