Here are some gift giving ideas that are great EVERYDAY of the year!
Flowers - What is more green than flowers? Most commercial roses are grown using heavy-duty pesticides then jetted from one hemisphere to another leaving a fairly large carbon footprint for such a delicate thing. Instead consider buying bulbs or a blooming houseplant from your local nursery. Lilies are good for purifying the air, and will fill your house with a welcoming fragrance long after the gift giving has passed. If you just MUST have that fresh cut roses consider supporting a certified sustainable bouquet from places such as Veriflora or The Bouqs.
Cards - Let's get real. For most of this the cards are going to end up in the garbage a few days after. Hopefully, most of you at least toss it into the recycling bin. Save the $5 bucks and a tree by sending e-cards instead. Want something hand written? Crafts aren't just for kids. Look around the house for items to create a truly personalized card out of repurposed materials and love. The extra time and love you give the card might just ensure it stays out of the recycling bin a little longer.
Limo Ride - Instead of hopping in a gas guzzler, why not make the journey the date? Take a walk out your front door and discover the beauty in your neighborhood. Hop on a bike and reach your date location with exercise induced endorphins running through your veins and less pollution in the air. Or join RUN for the LOVE of it for their morning run on Saturday. What better way is there to start the day than enjoying some fresh air and sunshine with those you love most.
Gifts - Nobody likes boring and cliche. Get creative and consider giving a gift that can show love to mother nature all year long.
Sustainable Jewelry. From forced child labor to entire mountain sides destroyed from mining, do you really know what it took to get that piece of jewelry to the local mall store? Skip the mass produced and support a sustainable jeweler instead, such as Julia Failey. Her items can be found at Root'd on Main St in Park City.
Reusable Water Bottle or Coffee Cup - 500 plastic water bottles are used in the U.S. each second! And, only 1 in 5 will be recycled. The rest get tossed in a landfill to sit there for generations and generations. The US could fill 6,000 Olympic sized swimming pool with the single use coffee cups wasted each year. Mother Nature is paying in a big way for our single use habit. Remember, the beginning of the saying is REDUCE. Reduce your waste to ensure we continue to ski on mountains, not piles of single use cups. Most tap water is CLEANER than bottled water anyway. Stop by the lululemon store to pick up a functional and fashionable bottle today. Each time it gets refilled your loved one will think of you.
Cloth shopping bag - Plastic is Mother Nature's Kryptonite, and we just keep throwing it at her. Enough plastic is thrown away each year to circle the Earth 4 times. We are literally suffocating our planet with it. The majority comes from single use water bottles and plastic bags that are used for an average of just 12 minutes before thrown away. Plus they ALWAYS break and tear when your arms are full. Save yourself the hassle of chasing down run away apples and give a cloth bag for a gift. Or better yet, skip the wrapping paper on your present and wrap it up in a reusable cloth bag. lululemon shoppers make a great green alternative, and we know your significant other will be excited to see what is inside.
Love- Do you really need more? I know my closets are filled, my cabinets aren't empty and I have plenty of food in the fridge. SOMETHING isn't going to make me happy. TIME is. What I really want is moments that make me laugh until my cheeks hurt, hugs that fill me with love and maybe a good bottle of sustainably produced wine. I'll be doing yoga at lululemon on Sunday morning, so I'll justify that extra glass of wine.
