This guest post is brought to you by Joanna Young.
As we approach the last two shopping days before Christmas, people around the world are buying gifts as if there was no tomorrow. But if countries in the developed world are already consuming resources at three times the rate that the planet can renew them, how long can this buying frenzy go on for? Are there alternative ways that we can buy gifts without wrecking the planet?
I’ve tried hard this year to explore as many ethical alternatives as I could. I guess I’m lucky that I don’t have too many people to buy for just now. And it’s easier again because most of the people who are on my list are heart sick of consumerism and materialism themselves. Plus I have a natural advantage in that I’ve never enjoyed high street shopping in the first place. So exploring some different ways of buying gifts shouldn’t be too much of a hardship…
Image by BrokenBat.
But it doesn’t come without its challenges. These are the 10 alternatives that I tried this year — along with some thoughts and questions about how much difference I was really making:
- Shopping online. This reduces my fuel consumption, makes me less stressed (a win for me), and means I buy more efficiently. (Fewer purchases that are of throwaway value.) Not sure about how my fuel savings compares to the resources needed to deliver my parcels.
- Christmas cards. There’s no excuse not to buy recycled cards, and there are a million ways to make sure the proceeds go to charity. I guess we’re still using a huge amount of resources in printing, sending and eventually recycling the cards though.
- E-cards. I sent out e-cards to people who live in other parts of the world — and those whose addresses I don’t know! It was easy to combine this with a charitable donation too. No resources used up — but do we want to end up in a world without any cards to put on our mantle piece?
- Caring Christmas trees. For the last couple of years I’ve bought a tree through a social enterprise in Edinburgh, with the proceeds going to a homelessness shelter. It’s a good way of using the money I would otherwise have spent on a tree — but would it be better for the planet if I didn’t buy one at all?
- Less unnecessary gifts. When I look back over the years I groan at the amount of value-less gifts I’ve given and received. I’m making an effort to cut it down this year — easier because there are no small children in my house and I’m not working in an office any more. There are economic consequences if we all buy less though — something we need to learn to manage.
- Make it Fairtrade. I don’t buy much chocolate but this year I’ve made sure it’s all Fairtrade. Does this outweigh food miles concerns though?
- Buy from charity shops. I’ve bought quite a few gifts from local charity shops, some of their own brand stuff, and some donated goods. The donated goods are high quality and come with a big plus — that you’re reusing resources rather than consuming more. Only downside is that I’m not 100% sure how the recipients will react…
- Buy donated goods online. The ever enterprising Oxfam is now selling donated goods online which means I can find just the right present (books mainly) from anywhere in the UK. Again, there are some resource consequences in delivering the parcels.
- Purchase alternative gifts. You can now “buy” alternative presents from donkeys to school books through services like Oxfam Unwrapped. I know there were some reaction a few years ago about the sustainability of some of these schemes but most of them seem to be part of longer term programs, not stand alone “gifts”.
- Or you can support less tangible alternatives like campaigns for workers’ rights run by organisations like War on Want — but again it’s not everyone who’d appreciate this being their Christmas “gift”.
Even with a positive intention to shop ethically it’s not always easy to work out what the “right” thing to do is. There’s a balance to be struck between the economic impact of your purchase, the environmental impact you make, the resources that go into it — production, packing, transport, delivery (and maybe recycling again when the recipient disposes of it!) and the positive difference you can make by supporting local, national or international charities. And we still have the usual gift-givers considerations to take into account — how our purchase will make the other person feel, what message it conveys, whether we we are expressing our own feelings of love, affection, and the desire to give.
If we take ethical giving too seriously it can steal some of the pleasure of giving. It can paralyze our decision making as we try to weigh up economic impact, environmental resources, food miles and fair trade. And it can mean that we end up not buying — not getting a tree, not sending cards, not buying gifts. Maybe that’s where pure ethical giving would take us — but it’s not a choice that enough people are ever going to buy into to make the necessary difference.
Image by Manassas Cakery.
I have some sympathy with Seth Godin when he talks about the limitations of a buying strategy that’s about “less”.
I’m more and more convinced that the best hope for the eco movement is to tell a story of efficiency and growth and ingenuity. More is easy to sell. Less almost never is.
- Source: Getting sad at Whole Foods (more vs. less) @ Seth Godin
Gift giving in particular is never going to work if it becomes rule-based. We need to leave room for impulse, for generosity, for nonsense – because that’s the way that humans are.
I guess my own principles for “how to buy gifts without wrecking the planet” would come down to this:
- Look for ways to reduce the amount of resources we’re consuming through our gifts.
- Go for the options that deliver a positive impact — by supporting a charity or a worldwide movement like Fairtrade.
- Keep it pleasurable — ethical doesn’t need to mean giving less or putting in less thought. We need to keep looking for ways of shopping and giving that are pleasurable to us, are good for the planet, and will still bring a smile to the face of the receiver.
Joanna Young writes at the Confident Writing blog where she coaches people to realise the power of their own words.
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“Gift giving in particular is never going to work if it becomes rule-based. We need to leave room for impulse, for generosity, for nonsense – because that’s the way that humans are.”
i agree- that’s why we aren’t ‘celebrating’ the holidays anymore. not in traditional senses. we don’t do birthdays and other holidays either- we give gifts to folks when we want to. when we can. i would rather have my husband spend money on a plane ticket once a year to see his family than send crap they don’t need or want- and use postage to do it. we all have to take stock of our own lives. many of the people in my life- friends and family- already have what they need or want. it is difficult to buy and give gifts for each other. so- we compromise and do small gift giving for the small children- no adults. the conversation and getting together for food is enough for the adults. i realize we can’t do that with everyone- so hubby and i have decided for us- not to gift. there are only so many clothes, electronics and other baubles any one person needs- and then it ceases to be special anyway.
Hi Betmo, I think that’s a good principle:
“we give gifts to folks when we want to, when we can”
I still find it hard to shake off the expectations of Christmas though I think (hope) I’ve bought a lot less unnecessary stuff this year, and made more of a positive impact too.
Joanna
It has been a while since I last got anybody a gift. I will usually go shopping with my Mum and younger sister in December (we shop for new clothes and shoes for Christmas as well as for the Chinese New year) but Mum is usually the Santa Claus :D
Hmm Pelf, you’ll need to work out your sustainable gift giving strategies before it becomes your turn to play Mother Claus!
Joanna
Yeah, I think I should. Plus, practice makes perfect, right?
I hope you had a blast, Joanna :D
Hi Joanna! Great list. I thing #6 is good also. Fairtrade is an important ethical issue and the miles involved in transport is usually not as simple as the total number of miles traveled to the consumer. There are other factors that can compensate for some added distances. The article I wrote on December 7th touches on some of these.
http://willtaft.com/local-food-sources/reasons-to-buy-locally-produced-food/
-Will
Will, I do get a buzz from buying Fairtrade food and I guess with things like chocolate there isn’t (for me) a local option, so it’s a choice of Fairtrade vs non-Fairtrade which is an easy one (unlike the choice of buy chocolate or not buy chocolate!)
Buying local is very valuable and thanks for the link to your piece. Local food in Scotland has traditionally been unexciting foods like potatoes, turnips, cabbage so there’s some resistance to what is seen as ‘going back’ to a dull diet. But I think people are getting more innovative at ways of growing a variety of products, and consumers are starting to respond, partly cos of concern at the quality of the food they buy, concerns at processing methods and chemical use, as well as food miles.
Joanna
Another charitable way of giving is to use a ‘Give Card’.
My mom recently told me about Giving Tree, which is a company that sells debit gift cards. The really neat catch is that they require all of the gift card recipients to donate 10% of the money on the card to nonprofit organization.
Apparently, they have something like 1.5 million nonprofits that the recipient can choose from. I gave some of these cards as gifts and they were very well received. It’s always interesting to see which charity or nonprofit people choose to donate their 10% to.
Well, we’re hearing a lot about Fairtrade and non-Fairtrade, but I’m afraid I’m not very sure what it is all about. Perhaps you have time for an article on “Fairtrade”, Joanna? :D
@Leanne, hi and thanks for the heads up on the giving tree cards. I like the way it includes an element of choice as to how you spend your donation.
@ pelf - good question, I’ll make that my contribution for January :-)
Hi Pelf! Here is a link about a specific type of Fair Trade. There are a couple of other links in the article itself. I am not an expert on the ins and outs of it, but as the link shows, it is something that is available in all sorts of food and non-food items. I look forward to Joanna’s article on the specifics.
http://willtaft.com/sustainability/a-cup-of-fair-trade-coffee-with-your-football/
-Will
Joanna - That choice of “buy chocolate or not buy chocolate” is an easy one for me. Especially if it is dark chocolate! There is a lot of evidence that a piece or two per day is actually healthy for you. So don’t resist, come on over to the dark side.
-Will
Come over to the dark side…. hmm, now there’s an invitation it’s hard to resist!
Joanna