I’ve always gone out of my way to recycle, conserve electricity, and vote for government officials who take climate change seriously. But I didn’t understand the true gravity of environmental decline until I watched A Plastic Ocean on Netflix a few years ago. As I immediately purchased reusable water bottles for myself and every member of my family, the way I thought about shopping drastically changed.
Guilt about over-indulgent holiday shopping is a growing sentiment. We all get giddy when we find the perfect gift for someone, but consumerism really puts a damper on holiday cheer, especially when you think about how much packaging will be used, how many old tech items will be tossed to make room for new devices, or how many underpaid workers are putting in extra hours to get you that extra-cheap outfit on Black Friday.
As the climate crisis becomes harder to ignore, many of us wonder what we can do to help. Though ceasing plane travel and going zero-waste would be ideal on an individual level, they just aren’t feasible for the average person. However, environmentally friendly gifts that have a positive impact on our planet offer a tangible way to get involved — including products made from materials already in circulation or sustainable versions of items that are usually single-use.
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This isn’t to dismiss the fact that big corporations and their disastrous polluting habits are the root of the problem. We can’t talk about “sustainable gift ideas” without acknowledging that the whole idea of carbon footprints was created and fed to us by BP, one of the world’s biggest corporate carbon contributors, to shift the blame to people throwing straws away.
But making a point to be more eco-friendly on an individual level is still a good idea. The single-use plastic that we toss after 12 minutes will either sit in a landfill and release methane for hundreds of years or join the 8 million metric tons of plastic dumped in the ocean every year that end up in our drinking water and have deadly effects on marine life.
We haven’t hit the point of no return yet. If nothing else, that pack of reusable straws could be the gift that sparks a friend’s interest in the bigger sustainability movement.
Below, you’ll find a list of eco-friendly gift ideas and sustainable gifts you can shop at different price points. Affordable stocking stuffers like biodegradable toothbrushes or dishwasher-safe sandwich bags are just a less wasteful version of something they use every day. Bumping up your budget allows you to get them something that was probably on their list anyway, like a matching workout set or the comfiest comforter ever — both of which happen to be made from recycled plastic bottles. Regardless of how big on environmentalism they currently are, these gifts can help make this holiday season just a bit greener.
