If your inbox is clogged with a slew of Cyber Monday sale emails insinuating that buying more stuff means experiencing more love, you’re not alone. As special as winter gathering and gift-giving traditions can be, their intense commercialization has some members of the George Washington University concerned about environmental impact during the holidays. But just as the best gifts aren’t always the most expensive, the best celebrations don’t have to be the most wasteful.
“The holidays are a great time to take stock of what is most important,” GW Office of Sustainability Director Josh Lasky says. “As we savor time with family, friends and loved ones, there are plenty of opportunities to be intentional about our actions and our impact as we give gifts, break bread and celebrate the season.”
Below, staff and students in the Office of Sustainability offer five tips for making your holiday season a little more planet friendly.
- Think outside the gift box. When possible, buy less. Consider gifting experiences rather than things, and try to focus on small and local businesses for physical gifts. Wherever you are, Stakeholder Engagement Associate Kimberly Williams recommends neighborhood shops as great places to find unique items.
If there’s an environmental cause your loved one cares about, a donation to a reputable organization makes a great gift, especially when paired with a heartfelt card. Some donations are kid-friendly, like virtual animal adoptions that offer an accompanying stuffed animal. You can also, of course, save money and resources by making your own homemade gifts and treats—few people will turn down a batch of fresh cookies or a goofy hand-drawn portrait by a loved one.
- Be conscious of packaging and waste. Lasky’s family is “comically notorious” for reusing holiday wrapping paper, some of which has been “in circulation” for over a decade and is still going strong. Consider joining the Laskys in reusing old wrapping paper and gift bags—if you’ve never done it before, start a storage box this year for reuse in 2023 and beyond.
Alternatively, opt for packaging that goes beyond the disposable to double as an extra gift (a reusable tote or a textile wrapping like Japanese furoshiki). Avoid gifts with lots of plastic packaging when another option exists.
- Cook and eat mindfully. If you aren’t beholden to a traditional family recipe, improvise something delicious with what's already in your pantry or fridge. When you do have to go shopping, try to purchase local and seasonal goods and consider vegetarian options for their lower environmental impact. To avoid waste, stick as carefully as you can to your shopping list and consider exactly how much needs to be made before buying. “If there's extra, set reminders about enjoying your leftovers,” sophomore sustainability minor Vidya Muthupillai suggests.
However carefully you shop, though, holiday meals inevitably produce scraps—from onion skins and carrot tops to turkey bones and eggshells. A lot of these can be reused to make delicious vegetable or poultry stock. (This writer freezes hers in an ice cube tray, making versatile small portions to use later.) Once you’ve wrung all the flavor out of these leftovers, Sustainability Specialist Colin O’Brien suggests using the holiday as an excuse to get into composting. Many local farmers markets offer food waste collection, and if you’re celebrating near GW's Foggy Bottom Campus, you can bring your organic waste to the Office of Sustainability's compost collection table in Kogan Plaza Mondays through Saturdays weekly.
- Hoard your power. If you're leaving home for a few days or more, remember to turn off lights and unplug appliances that don't need to remain on. Turn down your thermostat to save money and avoid heating your living space when you're not there. And consider lower-carbon forms of transportation like buses and trains if they fit your schedule, especially since these often are lower-cost.
- Talk and listen. If you can, find ways to respectfully and thoughtfully enter into dialogue with friends and loved ones about what climate change and sustainability mean to them. Office of Sustainability staff suggest asking questions, assuming good faith when possible, and—as difficult as it is to avoid the urge to persuade—seeking to understand before trying to be understood. The full family dinner table may not always be the right setting for big-picture conversations like this, so use one-on-one or smaller groups to engage if that feels right.
