Going Green for the Holidays

Why does holiday gift shopping have to be such a stress-inducing chore? Short answer: it doesn’t. By rethinking how and what you buy this holiday season, you can make gift-giving more pleasant, more meaningful and more environmentally responsible.

Build your gift idea list through online browsing. Instead of making multiple trips to the mall, start by perusing thousands of ideas for green, organic and fair-trade gifts through the listings at Co-op America’s National Green Pages.

Buy locally. Once you’ve decided on your gift ideas, keep an eye open for possibilities whenever you’re out and about. Every gift you buy when you’re already out shopping for groceries, hardware or dog food translates into one less separate excursion to the mall.

Rather than giving Dad yet another tie he won’t wear or Casey another toy car that will eventually settle to the bottom of his toy bin, give gifts people will really use. Think unique, healthful and organic foods; organic and chemical-free soaps; shade-grown coffees; flowering or fruiting plants; drawing or writing sets with recycled paper and non-toxic ink pens; or memberships to an area zoo, museum or other child-friendly place.

Choose gifts that help reduce energy consumption or protect the environment. These can range from solar-powered cellphone and battery chargers, sun-driven garden fountains and bat boxes (for attracting nature’s most effective mosquito-zapper) to bicycles, organic-cotton sheets and pillowcases, and natural beeswax candle sets.

Look for gifts that also help others build healthier and more sustainable lives. Organizations like Global Exchange, A Greater Gift and Ten Thousand Villages offer fair-trade products grown or made by farmers and artisans in developing countries from Bangladesh to Zimbabwe. You can find other fair-trade retailers, both online and off, at TransFair USA and the Fair Trade Federation.

Give a gift that keeps on giving. Shopping for someone who has everything? Why not give to someone less fortunate on his or her behalf? Heifer International, for example, lets you buy anything from a flock of chicks to a cow that will be given to a family for an ongoing food source. Or shop through FundraiserRewards, which connects you with retailers online and off that donate a portion of your purchase price to the organization of your choice.