We live in an increasingly materialistic society in the United States, and often take all the “stuff” we have for granted. With our communities surviving a very difficult economic time, it seems important to pull back on the gift giving and push forward with giving from the heart. It is not about how many gifts we give; it is about the love in our hearts when we give them.
When you do give a gift, consider giving a good-for-the-earth-gift. Green and sustainable gifts are the best gifts because they keep on giving even after the holidays are over. Try gifting your friends and family with green and sustainable presents this season and make a difference for our world. Below are a few of the best green gift giving guides online; great resources for you and your family to tap into this holiday season.
Sustainability expert and landfill rescuer, Kay McKeen, runs a School & Community Assistance for Recycling & Composting Education center in Illinois, also known as “SCARCE”. This organization has rescued millions of books from the landfills for free donation to local and international schools. SCARCE staff spends hundreds of hours educating locals on the benefits of living green and this year have built a terrific online green gift guide. To view SCARCE's local-to-Chicagoland Green Gift Guide online, visit their web site – http://s-c-a-r-c-e.org or telephone (630) 545-9710.
Another online gift guide is annually published by Inhabitat.com, which is a sustainable design blog site, and features an entire website filled with easy to navigate categories listing green gifts specifically for the 2009 season. To view Inhabitat.com’s Green Gift Guide, go to this web site - http://greenholidaygiftguide.inhabitat.com.
Treehugger.com, a Discovery Channel Company, has one of the most fantastic green guides out there for the 2009 holiday season. They present many categories of gifts combined with beautiful full page photography to give you a close-up description and view of why the products they recommend are considered good for the environment. To view Treehugger’s Green Gift Guide, go to this web site - www.treehugger.com/giftguide.
When you buy gifts this holiday season think “green and healthy” to help planet earth, it is definitely the best purchase choice. What are my favorite green gifts? I have several listed this week on my gardening blog, The Casual Gardener, and a wonderful wind sculpture in here on Gardening Nude.
However, my preferred green gift is “time”. Our days are filled with such busy schedules that it is difficult to find time to breathe, let alone share it with others. Case-in-point; the top photo of my daughter snuggling with one of her best friends playing a shared video game. That was important time for these two little girls – friend time. We all need more special shared moments in our lives.
Taking the time to specifically be with a good friend or someone you love, just to hold their hand or play a game together, means more than almost anything you could possibly buy for them. Do it this season and be rewarded with returned love and more.
Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com
Doing good for each other - always a wonderful positive!
Shawna
Posted by: Shawna Coronado | December 08, 2009 at 03:08 PM
Great post, we all should learn something about this gift idea, it keeps us happy as well as we are saving our planet.
Posted by: eco friendly rugs | December 08, 2009 at 03:05 PM
Doug,
I am happy to put you in contact with the manager at SCARCE - she's fantastic and would love to help you I'm sure. You should tour her facility - I get tears in my eyes every time I see it. :-)
Shawna
Posted by: Shawna Coronado | December 03, 2009 at 08:58 AM
great post ... great site...i would love to know how to set up a landfill rescue center here in springfield il.. keep up the good work
www.censys.org/blog
Posted by: doug nicodemus | December 03, 2009 at 08:48 AM