Green Xmas

Green Christmas

Yes it is nearly November and our thoughts turn our favourite time of the year - Christmas! Organise the perfect green Christmas this year and save money with our green guide, reduce your carbon footprint and have a more eco friendly and sustainable holiday season.

1. Serve local, healthy and seasonal December foods at your events and xmas parties. Choose vegetables that are in season and do not have to be flown in from abroad. Broccoli, cabbage and onions can all be grown without the aid of harsh chemicals so you can spend your organic pounds elsewhere. Buy loose vegetables rather than packaged from a farmers market. Click here for all foods that are in season.*** Ecotopia.co.uk have a great selection of Xmas fayre , food staples and world foods .

2. Decorating your house can be one of the most enjoyable parts of Xmas. Go for ethically made and traded decorations . Kids really enjoy making their own green decorations out of old scraps of material and leftovers. Try popcorn garlands – which are really fun and cheap to make and scour a woodland floor for fallen pinecones and twigs that are great for decorations!

3. E-mail party invites and Christmas cards rather than post them. There are loads of free Xmas themed party invite e-cards around or alternatively make your own out of scrap and recycled products. If you really want to send cards, choose charity ones or check out these really funky recycled ones . After the big day, make sure your Christmas cards don't go to waste – take them to a Woodland Trust recycling point.

4. Christmas heating and lighting bills can be huge! Save cash and protect the environment by using energy saving devices such as standby busters and radiator boosters . Don’t forget to turn off the tree lights or better still try these solar powered ones.

5. Use recycled paper, gift bags or even colorful cloth to wrap the Christmas presents and instead of tape, use colorful ribbon to tie up the gifts.

6. Make a green statement this Xmas! Send a message to the manufacturers of consumer goods by shopping for & buying only natural, non toxic, eco friendly, organic presents this year.
7. Which makes a better tree? Artificial or a real tree? Simply real ones are as they are great for the environment and can be replanted after use. If replanting isn’t an option, most local councils run Christmas tree recycling schemes. Contact yours or go to http://www.letsrecycle.com. If you need to use an artificial one avoid those made in China or Tawian which have transport costs associated with them. They also can be made with nasty chemicals, metals and plastics which can emit into our homes. Adorn with fair trade and ethical traded decorations or again make your own. Ecotopia.co.uk has a selection of seasonal trees in stock which make great gifts.

8. How do we give children what they desire but without poisoning our planet? Take electronic toys for instance. There are 900 million batteries used each year in the UK alone and many are in toys. But only 2% of batteries are currently recycled - the rest end up in landfill sites and are poisoning our planet! So what do you do? Choose an eco toy . Green and eco-friendly toys shouldn’t cost the earth so choose from a great selection here that don’t require batteries. Alternatively go for rechargeable batteries which will save you pounds throughout the year.

9. Recycle your unwanted presents. Unfortunately everyone receives at least one unwanted gift at Christmas. Many recycle their unwanted presents to charities. Local hospitals and hospices are often very pleased to receive unwanted smellies to give to patients. Or you could try www.freecycle.org and swap them for other people's unwanted gifts.

10. Don’t go overboard - reduce, reuse and recycle!
*** December Food In Season
VEGETABLES: Artichoke (Jerusalem) Brussels sprouts Broccoli (purple sprouting) Beetroot Cabbage (red) Celeriac Celery Carrots Cauliflower Chicory Chard Celeriac Cardoons Cabbages Endive Garlic Kale Kohlrabi Lamb’s Lettuce Leeks Onions Parsnips Potatoes Pumpkin Rocket Shallots Spinach Swede Turnips Watercress
FRUIT & NUTS: Apples Chestnuts Pears Pomegranate Quince Rhubarb
MEAT, POULTRY & GAME: Goose Grouse Hare Mallard Partridge Pheasant Rabbit Snipe Squirrel (grey) Turkey Venison Woodcock FISH: Bream (black) Herring Mussels Oysters (native) Scallops Turbot
CHEESE: Stilton Wensleydale, blue List courtesy of http://www.naturalmatters.net/

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