Looking for some green gift ideas this holiday season? Here are some great ideas to get you started!
- You can create chore coupons listing a favor (like weeding), a load of fire wood, dinner at your house, or your favorite casserole delivered to your friend’s door.
- To help victims of Hurricane Sandy, “Occupy Sandy” has launched online “wedding registries” on Amazon.com so people from anywhere, wishing to give aid, can contribute useful things. Other gift registries have been created for Hurricane Sandy, too, including one in Staten Island and one in Long Island.
- Go to GreenAmerica.org to see a wide variety of holiday gift ideas that are kind to Mother Nature. Green America is a not-for-profit membership organization whose mission is to harness economic power—the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace—to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.
- Give the gift of energy saving: a wattage meter (about $20 to $30.) that will help people find out how much electricity their coffee maker, fridge, computer, television, etc. uses—including the phantom power when the appliances is presumably shut off. There are also more complicated and expensive ($200 or so) gadgets (one is called the The Energy Detective or TED) that monitor your electricity use all around the house, and help you make smart usage choices.
- Do you have gardening friends? Fill a garden tote with seeds, garden tools, gardening books, etc. Also, check out www.earthbox.com for self-contained self-watering planting systems.
- Give a gift membership to our own Audubon chapter. Children’s and seniors’ memberships are only $6. a year. Adults: $12. What a good stocking stuffer!
- Go to http://planetgreen.discovery.com/buying-guides. They list a bunch of stuff including green cleaning supplies, which might not be the most fun gift, but, point out that you are helping to keep the recipient healthier!
- Give a gift membership to the Delaware Highlands Conservancy, a land trust which helps to preserve open space and farm lands here in Northeast PA. Call them at 226-3164.
- Give a gift membership ($10. per family) to SEEDS (Sustainable Energy Education & Development Support) whose mission is to promote sustainable energy and sustainable living in our local community. Call (570) 630-0592.
- Shop locally for your gifts. It helps support your community and saves gas.
- Do you make pottery, grow things, sew things, weave, bake, or paint? Home-made or home-grown gifts are from the heart.
- Create a gift basket or fill a re-usable grocery bag with locally made items.
- Calkins Creamery has holiday gift boxes featuring their local cheeses.
Have a green holiday!
– Katharine Dodge