Green Must-Haves/Dos for the Holidays

We at All Shades want to wish you the happiest of holiday seasons in 08!

Nobody wants to take the fun out of the holidays, including us.  There are loads of ways to load up on holiday fun and meaning while being conscious of our impact on the environment at the same time.

Here are a few to consider:

By switching to LED-powered holiday lights you'll save up to 80% of the electricity conventional incandescent string lights eat up.  They'll even last you 20 years!

For no-waste gifts, choose those with less packaging (we've all spent mornings trying to cut plastic and undo twist-ties) and wrap your gifts in found objects around the house like reused packing paper, old stationary you don't plan on using, newspapers, or beautiful bits of fabric you may have lying around.

Speaking of gifts, make sure to get ones that will be good for the world and good for the getter.  90% of everything manufactured ends up in a landfill within a year in the U.S.  Pretty shocking.  So make sure to be mindful of the kinds of things you're getting your loved ones so that they'll stay on or in their drawers, kitchen, walls, desks, and closets for years and years to come.

Consider getting a rosemary bush or indoor plant for your Christmas tree.  If you want a big one, go for the real deal as the artificial ones are plastic-heavy and can't be mulched in January. Find out more about recycling your live holiday tree from the L.A. Bureau of Sanitation.

We'll be sharing many more less-impact holiday ideas at our FREE workshop, How to Have a Green Holiday on Sunday, December 14th at 10:00 a.m.! Hope to see you there.