Thursday, December 3, 2009

Green Holidays: Tips on D-ECO-rating

Click for Green Holidays Web site Festive doesn’t have to mean wasteful. Green can be your holiday color as well as your way of life. This year the King County EcoConsumer team has expanded their Green Holidays resources to offer new and innovative ideas to green up your celebrations. Here are some of their suggestions:

Eco-tastic Holiday Decor
Energy-efficient LED (light-emitting diode) or solar-powered lights add a sleek look to your holiday decorations,Green Holidays: LED lights and may save you $30 or more on your winter electric bill. Make sure your cut tree gets composted and turned into mulch after the holidays. Consider a living tree. These potted Christmas trees, available at many nurseries, are usually smaller than cut trees.

Wrap It Up, Sent It Out
Green Holidays: wrapping paper Wrap presents in old calendars, maps, posters, sheet music, wallpaper scraps, kids’ drawings or the Sunday color comics section of the newspaper. Consider wrapping a kitchen gift in a kitchen towel to make the packaging part of the present.

Give It Up 
Draw names for family giving so everyone just gives one personGreen Holidays: gift exchange a gift instead of buying for everyone. Nearly every family who switches to this method loves it! Pick a friend who you know will be receptive, and agree not to exchange gifts. Go out for dinner or drinks instead. If you're not sure what to give someone, gift cards can be a greener gift rather than just taking a wild guess at what they want. The recipient gets exactly what they desire, which usually reduces waste.

Redmond Library Board

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