Introduction
The most glorious period of the year will be Christmas, yeah, probably not that of environmentalists. The festive season also arrives with eco-unfriendly decor, consumer culture, and tons of garbage alongside love and wonder.
Let us glance at several aspects that Christmas affects the environment adversely and explore that you will have a sustainable Christmas 2020. It may sound like one of the most glorious times of the year, but there are some surprising ecological implications to our annual festivities.
Dark impact of Christmas on the environment
source: decoist.com
All take place in abundance during the holiday season. For presents, we use 125,000 tons of disposable wrapping and an incredible number resulting in our ecosystems. We submit sufficient Christmas cards that they will fill the world’s circumference 500 times if we put them next to each other.
Wrapping paper releases 3.5kg of CO2 for processing. Days and we use 227,000 tons annually, and that adds absurdly to our ever-growing carbon dioxide emissions. Our appreciation of Christmas decoration lights is detrimental to the use of energy and can create anxiety for the wildlife that deals with the incredible mosaics.
Holiday wastage
source: theverge.com
Our garbage makes its way into ecologically-damaging landfills and can’t correctly dispose of the ecosystem. Both the earth and the ocean are filled with contaminants, so it is necessary to minimize waste. By consuming less local retail goods and keeping to recycled materials, you will reduce solid waste.
It will also help you manage the holiday waste by composting the organic matter, such as coffee grounds and discarded fruit. It goes to a landfill where it disintegrates and creates methane, a greenhouse gas 26 times more active than carbon dioxide, as you dump the plastic pollution into the garbage can.
Carbon footprint
source: time.com
The definition of food miles applies to the journey food takes to meet your plate that your food would fly. The growing the nutrient miles, the greater the carbon footprint. Food that flies long distances implies more vehicles, wrapping, and even additives that burn carbon energy to keep it looking new.
Consuming local cuts, on the other hand, dramatically fixes these environmental problems. Plus, during Christmas, you will be helping small businesses and farmers.
Waste of decorations
source: partylite.com
There is no lack of reusable lights, mostly during Christmas 2020. Ahead of Christmas, most shops pump up their seasonal ads, only begging clients to engage in the new and most delicate holiday-themed items to add holiday joy to their households. We do not design most of these things to last until being dumped in the garbage, implying maybe a year or two on your trees or walls.
If the furniture is not reusable or recyclable, it can go immediately to the landfill to contaminate the earth. And from there, it’s elements can leach into the soil and infect it or find their way into the ecosystem, impacting biodiversity adversely.
Care of how long the new piece will last while ordering your Christmas decorations this year. Cling to gifts that are sustainable and not just cute. Try recycling it, not trashing it if you wish not to recycle an object.
Gift wrap packaging
source: theconversation.com
Without packaging, are presents gifts? That may be up for discussion, but one thing is not that a large amount of waste is generated by wrapping paper. Mostly, the packaging is used only once to be ripped apart and discarded in the garbage.
Reused or recycled gift wraps are a simple means of eliminating waste and greening the Christmas celebrations. A simple way to do this is to use old newspapers. Or you will inspire your family and friends with the lovely fabric wrapping process to pack your gifts.
Christmas trees
source: bhg.com
Christmas trees involve using soil, water, herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides, all chemicals that can theoretically affect the ecosystem.
Unless we produce Christmas trees on advanced plantations, unregulated forests’ degradation can cause extreme ecological instabilities and climate changes. This can lead to natural catastrophes such as landslides or flooding or threaten animals with coniferous forests as their home.
Since they disintegrate, all Christmas trees are not adequately reused and then sent to household waste. This waste contains carbon footprint, methane, and nontoxic gas throughout that process, which poses a significant challenge to the environment and human health.
Solution
source: fortune.com
We guide to fulfill the market demands with food pouring off the tables and gifts stacked so high that we can’t see the tree. And then, to show the campaign for a more fair and responsible Christmas, we want everyone else to take responsibility. There are several simple and inexpensive ways to have a green Christmas and reduce your Christmas carbon emissions.
For next year’s gifts, reuse the Christmas cards as labels. If arts and crafts are not your favorites, it will save sufficient energy to recycle our cards. Turn to the regular printed paper with your stylish sparkly bubble wrap, and it can go right into the recycling bin. If we all did it with 1.5 billion Christmas gifts, we could recycle a lot of paper.
In the event your visitors go hungry, do you still need extra desserts? Take a list and keep to that before performing your annual Christmas food business. Do not let the store’s offerings trick you into believing you need to have the extra package. Not only are you going to save money, but you are also going to protect the environment.
Conclusion
source: illumination.com
We have stated almost all the reasons Christmas is bad for the environment, which adversely affects the environment and how it negatively harms the system. Although Christmas is the festival and celebration is a crucial part of life, there are various sustainable ways to do that instead of wasting resources and damaging the ecosystem. Also, we have mentioned the solution to celebrate Christmas reliably.
