It's not easy being green.
The holiday season puts a strain on one's environmental desires with endless rolls of gift wrap, chemical-laden trees and bags of packaging waste.
Michael Kalmanovitch, owner of Edmonton eco-store Earth's General Store, encourages consumers to embrace the iconic holiday colour in more ways than one this year by adopting an environmentally conscious lifestyle.
"Christmas is a pretty weird time and the reason is because we have so much propaganda to tell us how it is supposed to be done," he said. "I think that we need to tear down those kinds of pressures that we put onto ourselves about what … Christmas is about. It is about being together."
With that in mind, he said consumers could decrease their carbon footprint many ways when it comes to decorating their homes and trees for the holidays.
Kalmanovitch said a great, low-cost way to reduce energy consumption is to replace strings of incandescent lights with strings of light-emitting diode (LED) lights.
"LEDs are the only way to go as far as I'm concerned. They're durable, they're stupidly energy efficient compared to anything else on the market and they don't produce a fire (hazard) because they don't heat up and they're pretty," he said.
When it comes to purchasing a tree, Kalmanovitch said it is important to think about the energy that went into growing and transporting the tree.
The best option with the smallest environmental impact is to go without a Christmas tree or to find an alternative, such as using a houseplant.
If a tree is paramount to your holiday celebrations, he said cutting down your own through either the Government of Alberta's tree cutting program or a local tree farm is ideal, as trees shipped from the United States are often sprayed with harsh pesticides.
Sustainable Resource Development offers temporary non-commercial timber permits that allow an individual to chop down up to three Christmas trees from designated Crown land.
"I know you're using energy to go and drive to these kind of places but it's a sense to see where it came from. It was not a mono-culture Christmas-tree lot," Kalmanovitch said.
Real trees left curbside between Jan. 10 and 31 will be picked up by city crews for composting.
Synthetic trees, if used for a long period of time, can still be an acceptable choice.
"You want to be able to use it 10 to 15 years out," he said. "We have to get out of this idea of a disposable world."
Cathy Carlson, owner of Seriously Green in St. Albert, agreed, adding a lot of energy goes into growing a real tree, which is only used for a short period of time.
"If you were buying a fake tree, use it for a long time," she said. "If you're buying it and buying a new one every couple of years you're just filling the landfill."
Giving green
If one opts for a Christmas tree, it will likely feature a collection of gifts wrapped in colourful paper and glittery bags come Christmas morning.
Carlson said it is important for people to reuse wrapping materials and gift bags each year to reduce overall waste. She said individuals can also make an effort to purchase products that are light on packaging.
Kalmanovitch said people could repurpose magazines, calendars, comics and newsprint as inexpensive and environmentally friendly wrapping.
He also suggested wrapping a gift in a gift — using gifted clothing or towels to wrap other items.
Gift giving, however, is something Kalmanovitch said isn't always a necessity.
He said people should consider giving up gifts this season, to benefit both the environment and the wallets of gift givers.
Another eco-friendly and wallet-friendly gift is the gift of time — he recommended offering to cook dinner, babysit or teach music lessons or golf lessons instead.
"It's something that gives all year round and really didn't cost anybody anything and it connects people to one another. You're giving the gift of time," he said.
If you are adamant on purchasing gifts for loved ones, he recommends shopping locally, buying ethically and thinking about the environmental and human impact.
"A lot of toys are actually made in developing countries and places like China where a lot of the workers are exploited," he said, adding Fair Trade Certified items ensure people aren't being exploited during production.
He said items like compact fluorescent or LED light bulbs are a great gift for new homeowners while rechargeable batteries are practical and green.
Carlson's shop in downtown St. Albert offers a wide range of recycled and upcycled Canadian products that she said would make great gifts, such as a pair of mittens made from repurposed wool sweaters.
Purchasing Canadian-made products reduces the amount of transportation needed to get items from warehouse to shelf, which reduces ones' carbon footprint. It also helps support local business owners and artisans, she said.
"Lots of the products that we have just don't have any toxic chemicals in there, so that again is helping with the environmental impact," she said.
Conscious cooking
A significant chunk of time is spent in the kitchen during the holidays in preparation for the Christmas feast.
Although many people have become accustomed to having a turkey as a centrepiece for their meal, Kalmanovitch says it is not the most environmentally friendly.
He said switching to a plant-based diet can reduce the amount of energy required to produce foods, especially when compared to cheese and meats.
He realizes this is a hard sell for many, especially at Christmas, and said people can start by purchasing turkeys that are locally grown and certified organic.
"The money stays in our local economy (and) the organic respects the animal and the land much better than conventional," he said.
