Simplify the holidays

by | Dec 18, 2013 | Energy Conservation

comics for gift wrap

The holidays are coming!

Most people have mixed reactions to that statement! Although we usually post articles on renewable energy and energy conservation, we’re taking a slightly different tack this month. In the spirit of simplifying and de-consumerizing Christmas, we submit a new SAGE challenge for the holidays this year.

Take the SAGE challenge

[image src=”https://sage-energy.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/comic-gift-wrap.jpg” align=”left” border=”image_border” link=”#” alt=”” title=”” lightbox=”false” ]

There are lots of great resources online for ways of celebrating a green Christmas, an alternative Christmas, and even a buy-nothing Christmas. We’ve compiled a list of some of our favourite resources here for you, and we want to challenge YOU to give even just one of the suggestions here a try.

We’ve left it a little late, I know, but if you’re anything like us you’re still gearing up for Christmas (or even scrambling) and many of these ideas take hardly any time at all. In fact, they may even prevent you from that last-minute mad, desperate rush to the nearest mall right before Christmas… imagine that.

Here’s our top five:

  1. Simplify the Holidays – for those who want the holidays to be wrapped up in meaning, and not more stuff.
  2. Buy Nothing Christmas – This initiative started on Canada’s West Coast in 2001 and is now coordinated by a few individuals on the Great Plains. We’ve mentioned it many times in the past years, and we still use their website as a resource.
  3. Green Gifts – For when you still want to buy stuff.
  4. Green Christmas – Excellent suggestions for ways to green up your Christmas and support local businesses.
  5. Small Space Christmas – Yearning for that real tree but just don’t have the room in your small home or apartment? Don’t despair. The only thing that’s missing is your imagination–and your willingness to set a new tradition for your family. We ourselves have had driftwood trees, ladder and rope trees, and always enjoy building and coming up with new ideas. This link is just one of several for ideas for building your own Christmas tree (or other decorations you think you can’t do without).

We wish you the best of luck with your holiday celebrations this year! If you simplify your holidays or do other things to have a more eco-friendly Christmas, let us know–we’d love to see your comments and any photos you’d like to share!