Dreaming of a green Christmas

No doubt about it, Christmas is one of the most wasteful holidays of the year. You can almost see Big Fat Santa Claus’ double chin bobbing in hearty agreement. In the US, it’s called Black Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving, when the Christmas shopping season officially begins — when the shops stay open longer than usual and shoppers buy more than usual. Because there are sales all over, people can’t resist the urge to splurge. Of course, you know that all this shopping, packing, the monstrous traffic jams, and holiday overconsumption are causing carbon dioxide emissions that pose added threats to the environment.

It’s not only bad for the environment, it’s also bad for the health, like binging on all those holiday goodies and piling on the pounds until you’re as big as Santa. Ho! Ho-hum!

 And now, EcoWaste Coalition cordially invites all Filipinos to have a “Toxics-Free Pasko: Handog Natin sa Mundo” (“Toxics-Free Christmas: Our Gift to the World”) to draw attention to the risks and dangers of exposure to hazardous chemicals and empower everyone to make sound decisions on what practices, products, and services to choose.

“We hope to educate and encourage the public to be cautious about what they buy, consume, give, and discard during the joyful holidays, to avoid exposing their families and neighborhoods to nasty chemicals that could make them very sick,” says actor and green warrior Roy Alvarez of the EcoWaste Coalition.

Talking green, too, this Christmas are beauty queens for the environment led by Karla Paula Henry, Miss Earth 2008. Accompanying her at a recent eco press conference were Andrea Leon, Miss Ecuador 2008; Marie Raquel Equia, Miss Philippines-Air 2008; Michelle Oblea, Miss Philippines-Water 2008; Kristelle Lazaro, Miss Philippines-Fire 2008; and Cathy Untalan, executive director, Miss Earth Foundation (MEF). Karla and Cathy sat in the panel of green advocates, with popular TV host Juddha Paolo and zero waste activists Roy Alvarez, Gigie Cruz, and Sonia Mendoza who took turns in discussing ecological alternatives to some toxic practices that people often take for granted as they enjoy the holidays. Here are some handy tips for a toxics-free Christmas:

• Decorate green: Miss Earth beauties Karla Henry and Cathy Untalan shared beautiful tips on “decorating green” with eco-friendly ornaments such as the traditional belen and parol from used or locally-sourced biodegradable materials to bring home the true message of Christmas — a babe born in a lowly manger in swaddling clothes.

• Give green: Juddha Paolo talked about “giving green” with eco-gift ideas that do not endanger children’s health and safety with hazardous chemicals, do not promote a culture of violence, and do not add to the usual mountains of holiday trash. His gift ideas: Give non-material gifts such as teaching a skill or participating in community activities.

• Party green: Sonia Mendoza, chairperson of the Mother Earth Foundation, said we can all have a guilt-free, green party this Christmas by making a conscious effort not to be lavish or wasteful, such as by using reusable party ware and segregating party discards for easy recycling or composting.

• Clean green: Gigie Cruz of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives gave hot tips on “cleaning green” using non-toxic cleaning materials for spring cleaning our homes for the holidays. A big no-no: pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides that contain very harmful toxins. Do dump or burn trash.

• Rejoice green: Roy Alvarez, EcoWaste Coalition vice president, invited everyone to “rejoice green” and welcome the New Year without blasting expensive and polluting firecrackers and fireworks or burning used tires. Instead, use substitute noisemakers that emit no pollutants and pose no threat to life and limb.

Those who attended this media event did not just listen to the speakers who talked garbage (quite literally). They also watched and listened to youth artists from the Malayang Sining Community Theater who presented a mime-dance showing how the health of children can be put at risk with exposure to hazardous substances such as lead in toys.  (FYI: Lead is a chemical that can cause devastating brain damage in children.)

Wasting no time to unwrap its Christmas message, EcoWaste said its toxics-free Pasko should rouse the government and other stakeholders to pay more attention to the adverse health effects caused by exposure to hazardous chemicals in line with the chemical safety objectives of the Strategic Approach on International Chemicals Management that the Philippines and other governments agreed to pursue.

Going, going, green!

Eco-Gift Ideas

With the fragile state of the economy and the environment, the group drew up several suggestions on how to simplify as well as to detoxify the grandest — and longest — celebration in the country. Among those who gave top tips for eco-gift ideas that are either free or low-cost and, definitely, environment-friendly were Manny Calonzo, Ines Fernandez, Marie Marciano, Bang Palacio, and Danton Remoto.

As Marie Marciano of the EcoWaste Coalition’s Task Force on Inner Ecology put it, “Christmas is not about how much you can buy or spend but how much love you can give. You cannot give what you don’t have, so nurture love within by removing all the “inner toxics” that choke the real love and peace in your heart and see your best self come to full bloom.”

By inner toxics, Marciano, president of the Mother Earth Foundation, was referring to “unforgiveness, petty resentments, envy, malice, judgmentalism etc.” “Love is the best gift you can give to yourself and to everyone around you. It’s also the best gift we can give to the Babe in the manger who is increasingly losing out to commercialism on His birthday, His message and gift to humanity drowned out by the pomp and glitter,” she added.

Here are some Christmas gift ideas that are friendly to the environment and kind to the budget:

• Give a gift that grows such as vegetable seeds, kitchen herbs, medicinal plants, tree saplings, and flower shoots.

• Give a gift that helps in nourishing the soil such as compost, wormcastings or worms for composting.

• Give a gift for the garden such as bamboo wind chimes and flower pots from used tires.

• Give a gift to the community such as voluntary work to spruce the multi-purpose hall, sweep the park, weed the church patio, teach a skill or co-organize the activities lined up for the yuletide season.

• Give a gift of service such as making a promissory certificate redeemable at a certain time (e.g., Saturday or Sunday) or at the recipient’s time of need for things like neck and shoulder massage or back rubdown, taking over a chore or running an errand.

• Give a gift that rekindles a family tradition such as compiling favorite recipes into a family recipe treasure book.

• Give a gift that brings to mind loving ties and relationships such as old photos placed in improvised frames made from used corrugated boxes.

• Give a gift that allows the recipient to savor your favorite dessert or dish such as your own version of homemade dips and spreads, preserved fruits, pickled vegetables or even bagoong alamang (shrimp paste).

• Give a gift that you can produce out of your kitchen discards like homemade vinegar from the peels of common tropical fruits such as banana, jackfruit, and pineapple.

• Give a gift that helps minimize the use of plastic carry bags such as making reusable bags from old clothes, fabric scraps, used curtains, ricesacks, and other materials.

• Give a gift made from local native materials such as baskets, trays, and bayong as well as from recycled paper, cloth or plastic materials.

• Give a gift that will show your immense creativity such as making your own “mixed medium” Christmas card from whatever materials you can find such as soil, sand, stone, shell, leaves, twigs, etc. Baby foot or handpainted Christmas cards are very pleasing cards to send.

• Give a gift that encourages children to learn outside the classroom such as a visit to the National Museum, Museong Pambata, Planetarium, and other places where one can know more about history, science, art and culture.

• Give a gift that teaches kids how to save and recycle resources such as easy-to-do recycling instructions for children that are available for free download from the Internet.

• Give a gift that opens a person’s heart and mind to what is happening to our climate and planet such as green books, magazines, and other information sources.

Yes, have yourself a refreshingly green Christmas!

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