I have a list of 50 or so people for whom I regularly buy or make holiday gifts. I know some people who have their doubts about the practice of giving objects to people, and I respect that. There are an awful lot of useless pieces of crap in this world whose short life cycles will end in garage sales, attics, and eventually landfills. That sucks. But I am a believer in symbols, and giving someone I care about a well-chosen gift, even if it's small, is a way of re-affirming my connection to and affection for them. I think that's worth doing on a yearly basis.
So in my ongoing quest to suck less, I've been thinking about how to do this in an ethical way, with minimal environmental impact and maximum social impact. You could knit everyone scarves out of recycled cotton grown without pesticides and then embroider "Pro-Family, Pro-Child, Pro-Choice" or "Count Every Vote" on them, but you probably don't have that kind of time, much less that kind of wrist stamina. I sure as hell don't. I do bake stuff for some people, but I realize that even that is usually a lot to ask of people during the busy holiday season.
So instead of NaNoWriMo'ing my brains out today, I've spent a few hours putting together some information I hope at least some of you will find helpful.
For people who don't like stuff:
- Make a donation in their names to causes they like. Example: we've got a vegetarian environmentalist friend in whose name we donate to The Heifer Project, which in turn gives bees to a family in the developing world, helping them become self-sufficient and also spreading pollen-y goodness. Bonus points to Heifer for their cute donation notification e-cards - no physical mail, minimal fossil fuels used.
*This year especially, please consider giving to a charity near you. Since the hurricanes have been so bad and gotten so much press recently, many folks have sent their spare cash to the Red Cross or similar relief organizations. That's great, and we did it, too, but it also means that charity dollars that might normally stay in local communities went elsewhere. That can leave local charities hurting for donations. So definitely check in with your local homeless shelter, family violence program, etc, and see if they're suffering from this phenomenon.
For guidelines on how to choose a charity that will choose your money wisely, check out what the fine folks at Charity Navigator have to say.
- Pay them a visit and make a carbon offset donation. The Better World Club and Carbonfund take your donations and do clever things with them to balance out the environmental costs of travel.
For people who do like stuff and plan to buy some:
- If you're doing paper cards, make sure they're on recycled paper. What the hell does that mean? So glad you asked. The good folks at Conservatree have made you a nice, handy chart that tells you what all that crap on the back of the card means. The short version: stuff that is chlorine-free and has a high percentage of post-consumer content sucks less. Also, please consider making a carbon offset donation to the Better World Club or Carbonfund to make up for transport costs.
- If you're sending flowers or a fruit basket, go organic. Organic Bouquet has a nice selection of beautiful arrangements you can feel good about sending. Be sure and take a look at their gorgeous organic chocolates. Mmmm. Also check out their holiday wreaths - isn't the peace wreath just the Austin-est thing you ever did see?
And if you normally drop a wad of cash at Harry and David on fruit baskets for people, think about going through Diamond Organics instead. Beautiful food, and you're supporting organic farms and in central California. They also have organic baked goods, bath stuff, and lovely cutting boards made from sustainably harvested bamboo.
- Buy things made from recycled, reused, or other environmentally friendly materials. People are doing some unbelievably cool things with found objects and crap we throw away. Check out Eco-Artware. Neat stuff. Co-op America has a directory of green businesses that you can search. In Austin, the hippiest place I know is Eco-Wise. I *love* that store.
- Buy locally. Go to a farmer's market and buy handmade things. There are a zillion craft fairs around this time of year. Check your local newspaper or your local weekly's website. Do food gifts bought locally. Example: for garlic-loving friends, I once bought locally grown garlic, organic olive oil, and a cheap but fun garlic cookbook and put it in a fair-trade basket with a raffia bow. It was a proud hippie moment for me.
If you live in Austin, go to First Thursday street fair, or check out the wondrous Parts and Labor, where scads of talented local peeps display their wares. And might I suggest that you purchase a fine quality piece of art from my dear friend Dylan? Surely you know someone who needs a Feeping Creature. More fun things are also available at his main website.
My rule of thumb: try to hand the money to the person who produced the object. If you can't do that, minimize middlemen, and deal with big business as little as possible.
- When buying mass-produced stuff, skip big box retailers. If you're buying a book for someone, skip Amazon and buy through Powell's or BookSense. Better yet, use the BookSense store locator to find an independent bookstore near you. In Austin, there is the mighty BookPeople, but there's also Monkeywrench, BookWoman, and Resistencia. If you're buying CDs, try to find an independent record store near you.
- Support small businesses, especially those owned by women, LGBT folk, and people of color. How might you find out who owns such businesses? Good question. Try searching for a women's, GLBT, African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic, etc, chamber of commerce near you. Bet they list their members. I like this trick.
Another recommendation: the very fine Bust magazine keeps a links page they call the Girl Wide Web. Nice.
Specific plugs: fun art by Kate Zarvis - now with more giraffes and extra banter! And I have a big nerdy net crush on the woman from Scraps of Paper, which was recently upgraded to a real-life nerd crush when I met her at a craft fair. I *yearn* for a notebook made from one of those ancient 8x8 floppy disks, but she says they're really hard to find.
- Shop online at the website of a nonprofit you like. Me, I'm thinking about buying my niece a "Future President" t-shirt from NOW. My mom bought me some beautiful table linens from The Feminist Majority Foundation, the proceeds from which went to their Campaign for Afghan Women and Girls. You get stuff, they get money they need to fight for what you feel passionate about. Dig it.
- Buy fair trade. If you want to promote corporate accountability and help out the developing world, vote with your dollars. Check out The Hunger Site's gift offerings. They have a section specifically devoted to fair trade, so they make it easy for you. The bonus here is that you can choose your cause - hunger, breast cancer, literacy, the rainforest, children's health, or animal welfare - and shop to benefit it. I got to feel extra cool when I did a bunch of holiday shopping there last night, got cool stuff from people who need help, and funded 325 cups of food with my purchases. Capitalism with a conscience, yo.
Other options: In the US or Canada, see if there's a Ten Thousand Villages store near you. Novica can be pricey, but they have neat stuff. Check the Fair Trade Federation's member listings for ethical merchants near you.
- Keep an eye on the packaging. You know all those objects that come in a bag that's in a box that's in a bag in a box? Yeah, you do. Try not to buy that stuff. This tip is good because it allows you to buy gift cards and movie tickets guilt-free. You're not lazy, you're minimizing packaging!
- Don't wait till the last minute. Plan ahead. Overnight shipping is an environmental blight. Air transit uses about five times as much fuel as trucking. So get your butt in gear and get it done early. When your adorable nieces and nephews who desperately need the newest Fisher-Price whatsamadoojit are taking full breaths fifty years from now, they'll thank you for it. They might even have fewer asthma attacks now, allowing you more time to rile them up at bedtime and then hand them back to their parents. :)
When you wait until the last minute, you're also more likely to buy stuff that doesn't really suit the person, increasing the chances they'll pitch it; spend more, which hurts your wallet; and go someplace open way late, like the evil empire of Wal-Mart, an official NOW Merchant of Shame. So do a little planning. I'm nerdy enough to keep a spreadsheet of gift ideas that I update year round, but don't feel that you have to be as freaky as me. Just do some thinking about the people you're buying for, set a budget, and when you head out to shop, take a list with you and stick to it. For you beleaguered introverts, planning ahead and shopping year-round allows you to avoid those soul-crushing holiday crowds at the mall and the post office. A savings of energy on so many levels!
- Get creative with gift wrap. Regular gift wrap is typically not recyclable, so stay away from it! If you're not crafty, try gift boxes or bags that you can use again. In my family we have several bags and boxes that have been making the rounds for years, and it's weirdly comforting to see them pop up again. "Oh, goody, I get the violin bag this year!" Look for that post-consumer recycled and recyclable gift wrap. Or use appropriate sections of the newspaper: business for your accountant buddy, comics for your wacky pal, arts and leisure for musicians, etc.
If you are crafty, well, freak out with your bad self. Turn paper grocery bags inside out and go to town with paint or rubber stamps. Fold yourself some origami boxes. If you have old holiday cards kicking around, cut out the pretty pictures and use them for gift tags. Got sequins or beads left from a project? String them on thread and use that as ribbon over brown paper - looks gorgeous. Get some new ideas at Eco-Artware, Homemadesimple, or this cool little county site. Did you bake, or do you eat oatmeal? Re-decorate and re-purpose empty oatmeal or corn meal containers (the kind with airtight lids) as gift boxes for cookies or other homemade goodies. At the recent Stitch craft fair, I bought Feto Soap's cute little strawberry soaps in a green plastic berry basket from the grocery store. Weave some frisky ribbon through the little holes, and that's an adorable hostess gift. You could do the same with mini blueberry muffins, or a collection of fruit-scented organic lotions.
Some nice hints for packages you have to ship: to dress them up in ways that will survive shipping, unlike the traditional bow, think about doing a tree silhouette, tying on a tree ornament or some pretty candles for a menorah, or taping on perpendicular lines of a few contrasting ribbons - weaving them over-and-under looks damn cool. Thus will your packages be festive, not depressing, upon arrival.
So that's what I gathered in just a few hours of looking around on the net and actually writing down things that I've done in the past. This is by no means definitive, so if you've got more tips or plugs, please do pass 'em on!
I'm not Santa and I'm not keeping a list of who's been naughty and not done any of this, so fear not. But if you can do just a few of these things this year, you'll be making a difference. The US generates six million tons of extra waste every year between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Bleargh. But now you know, so you can do something about it. Set yourself a reasonable goal - don't buy gift wrap this year, buy three presents at a small independent store instead of Target, or make a carbon-offset donation that covers your trip home. If everybody does one thing, that turns out to be a whole bunch of things.
I wish everyone happy, minimally stressful, and guilt-free holidays.
