I was going to write a post on how to have an eco-friendly Thanksgiving this year, but a quick Google search showed that this has been done many times over. So instead, with Black Friday and the holiday shopping season quickly approaching, here are some ways to reduce your environmental impact while gift-giving.

1. Skip the mall. Although Destiny USA in Syracuse has achieved gold level LEED certification, this addresses only some components of sustainability, including recycling programs, building materials, energy efficiency, and water use. Malls take up huge areas of land, creating large areas of impermeable surfaces and destroying wildlife habitats and corridors. Impermeable surface areas, including both the building itself and the parking lots, prevent rain from infiltrating into the soil and causes runoff of both the water and any contaminants it carries into the sewer system or nearby water bodies (in the case of Destiny, Onondaga Lake). Malls also consume large amounts of energy for lighting and cooling, as well as the indirect energy consumed by the cars bringing shoppers from around the city and beyond. Many of the goods sold in the mall have traveled from around the world to reach the shelves.

2. Buy from local craftsmen and women. Buying from local producers keeps money in the local economy and reduces the energy consumed in transporting goods. Additionally, local producers may use local materials, further reducing the embodied energy (all of the energy used in producing and transporting the goods) in the goods.

3. Buy gifts that are made to last. Planned obsolescence means that an item is meant to last for a limited number of years and is meant to keep demand for that item up over time as people will need to replace it. This is why appliances made more recently tend to not last as long as appliances made twenty or more years ago. This results both in increased consumption and increased wastes in landfills. Even if the items are recycled, energy is required to make the materials usable again.

4. Consider an environmental gift for the people in your life who are difficult to shop for. The Nature Conservancy sells carbon offsets, clean water offsets (to fund water projects in developing countries), hummingbird habitat, and wild area protection in east Africa, Australia, Brazil, Costa Rica, the US, and coral reefs. Heifer International allows you to buy an animal for a family in a developing country, help fund the start up of a small business, or provide stoves for a village (among other gifts).

 

Happy Thanksgiving and happy shopping!