Green Options

A man who stabbed an Emu to death ‘because he wanted to eat it for Christmas lunch’ has been fined almost A$4,000 (US$2,500) for animal cruelty.

An Australian court heard that, two days before Christmas, Patrick James Andrews, 23, crept into the Emu enclosure at Alexandra zoo in south-east Queensland, where he repeatedly stabbed a 30-year-old Emu named Mary, before cutting its legs off. Zoo staff later found the animal dead in its enclosure.

The gifts are all gifted and your green Christmas party was a hit! Now, that poor Christmas tree is looking a little sad and you’re wondering about the best way to dispose of it.

[Trash Day. Creative Commons photo by Brooke]

You’re not alone. North Americans buy over 30 million Christmas trees each season. Luckily, Earth 911 can help you recycle that tree rather then sending it off to the landfill!

It used to be that people exchanged handwritten greetings during the holidays. Not so much anymore. Sending commercially printed holiday cards is a relatively new concept that began in London in 1834 and it really caught on.

About 2 billion holidays cards are sent every year, making Christmas the largest card-sending occasion in the United States. So, you are not alone when trying to decide what to do with the collection of holiday cards you have amassed. The good news is that whether its for a for a good cause or a good project, there are all sorts of ways to keep cards out of landfills.

1. Until February 15 St. Jude’s Ranch, a home and treatment center for abused, neglected and abandoned children, is accepting used greeting cards of all kinds, which their children use to create “new” (and green) cards that they sell.

2. For those of you in California, Arizona and Nevada, you can drop off cards at bins in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets until January 20.  They will recycle them and donate the proceeds to American Forests. Last year, the holiday card recycling program raised enough money for American Forests to buy and plant 1,000 trees in areas devastated by wildfire. Amazingly, there does not seem to be a similar national program for recycling holiday cards. (is there an opportunity here…)

What are you going to change about Christmas 2009 to reduce your GHG emissions? Have you thought about the issues that effect your carbon footprint? Now that Christmas has passed and we get back to less festive times, its maybe time to look at things.

I was prompted to post on this by an evening drive I took with my family to Lawley Street (-25.780785°  28.242231°) in Waterkloof, a suburb of Pretoria, South Africa.

Lawley Street is some 1.8 km long and is the address for approximately 90 large suburban houses, many of them are diplomatic corps & embassy residences. This normally quiet suburban road was filled with cars crawling up and down its length, all their to see the houses glittering in Christmas lights installed  each year by the house owners.

Lawley Street Christmas Decorations

A simple calculation, admittedly involving many assumptions, gives good estimates of the carbon footprint of “The Lawley Lights”.

By now, most of the gifts are opened and we are left with piles of packaging, gift wrap, ribbons, bows and possibly a few unwanted gifts. What now?

If your family is anything like mine, among the fabulous handmade items we received (like the beaded cross necklace and crochet handbag my kids received and adore!) there are also lots of toys in cardboard and plastic packages.

You can recycle those packages, but it takes a little work on your part.

First: Separate out your wrapping paper. Any foil accent paper cannot be recycled. Use this for craft projects like Thank You cards or Decoupage. Place the rest of your paper into the recycling bin (we like to fold ours up so it isn’t all crumbled).

Now that the presents have all been opened many houses are covered in torn pieces of wrapping paper, ribbons, and tags. You can gather it all up and toss it in the recycling bin, or reuse it yourself for some recycled craft fun. Recycle your used wrapping paper into thank you cards to let people know how much you loved their gifts. Making handmade cards like these is just one way to create special memories in your family.

Twas the night before Christmas,
when what was to be seen,
Not a fossil fuel stirring, as Santa went green.
He’s already horse-powered, no petrol on his list,
But this year he’s adding a new sustainability twist,
In our crazy-busy world, we needed someone to share,
A way to live with joy and appreciation, a reason to care.
Too many messages today of fear, emptiness and dread,
Santa wanted transformation to dance in our head.
So as young and old nestled all snug for the night,
Santa’s sleigh took off in a different light.
Sure he packed toys for good kids but there was more,
Something that comes from a garden, not just store.
Santa dug in his root cellar and brought out his . . .
Yukon Gold . . .

No one will find this post on any search engine. It’s not a snazzy or snappy title. Or a timely news item. But that’s okay.

My husband and I just went into the basement and to put all the kid’s presents in bags and label them.

During the process we both stopped and had to give each other pep talks. That’s because we took turns freaking out.

There aren’t that many presents! Only a handful for each and some little things for the stockings. Are we bad parents? Are we depriving our kids? Of course we want to shower them with all good things!

When the you’ve grown up in the 80s, and you’ve seen too much media, piles and piles of presents under the tree are burned in your retinas. Normal Rockwell paintings, or Maxwell House coffee commercials. Happy, shiny faces surrounded by mountains of gifts. Even if we fight it, even if it doesn’t fit in with our life philosophies, we still doubt ourselves in our decisions. At least that is what we did.

Did we do enough for them? Will they feel enough love and happiness?

Que the voice of Boris Karloff…

It was quarter past dawn…
All the Whos, still a-bed,
All the Whos, still a-snooze
When he packed up his sled,
Packed it up with their presents! The ribbons! The wrappings!
The tags! And the tinsel! The trimmings! The trappings!

When the Grinch stole Christmas, he not only stole the presents, he stole all the things that accompany Christmas that end up as waste. He  stole the ribbons, the wrappings, the tags, the tinsel, the trimmings, the trappings plus the Christmas trees and the food for the feast.

And what was the Grinch going to do with all that stuff he really didn’t want?

Three thousand feet up! Up the side of Mt. Crumpit,
He rode with his load to the tiptop to dump it!

Pretty much the same thing most of us have done in the past with all our Christmas leftovers, right? We dumped them. Not off the side of Mt. Crumpit, but in the trash.

This year, when we’ve got things leftover from Christmas, let’s be responsible with their disposal.

Giving Mother Earth a Gift This Holiday Season by Cooking Green.

Can a winter’s holiday feast be local and sustainable? It doesn’t seem such an easy task, even for a locavore like myself as I contemplate turnips, a few remaining pumpkins and sweet potatoes. Even so, with some resourcefulness and help from regional chefs of the Bon Appetit Management Company, we can all have a Low-Carbon Christmas — even in the frozen tundra of the upper Midwest.

Bon Apetit, a company that offers corporations, universities and colleges onsite catering and food service with a commitment to sustainable, local cuisine, had four of its chefs from various regions of the country put together low-carbon, high-flavor menus for the season.

The regions include Upper Midwest (follows), Northeast, West Coast and Southeast. Each of the menus will be featured in an Eat Drink Better post beginning with the upper Midwest menu, below.

General tips for parties and seasonal gathering that keep things low carbon include not using bottled water or disposable dinnerware. Don’t use bottled water and compost food waste as much as possible. Use less beef and dairy products.

Menu after the jump.

Is your Resolution to Kickstart the Next Clean Revolution?

A post by contributing writer Melissa Chungfat.

I talked to one of my friend’s yesterday and she told me that the staff Christmas party wasn’t nearly as joyful as in previous years. Half of the people who came to the party were let go. There have been record layoffs since the economy has gone south, and it’s hard to talk to someone whose family hasn’t been impacted in some way.